Discussion on European joint venture

Consolidation catches the test and inspection industries: One week after APEX closed, GenRad of West Port, Massachusetts, reported the acquisition of leading X-ray system supplier Nicolet Imaging Systems (NIS) of San Diego and its sister company, rework and repair specialist Sierra Research and Technology (SRT). The present owner ThermoSpectra, a subsidiary of Thermo Instrument Systems, made a $40m deal.

For GR, this latest acquisition is an important expansion of its corporate portfolio on its long way back to prosperity, engineered by CEO Jim Lyons in a courageous turnaround. As he comments, „The combination of these technologies with our leading software provides our customers with a full suite of solutions to optimize their manufacturing process.“ This combination of forces also reflects the continuing global restructuring of the electronics industry and its manufacturing processes. Both newly acquired firms will become self-contained GR divisions. Ron Lindell, president of NIS, will be managing both, directly reporting to Jim Lyons. „We are very excited about joining the GenRad family,“ he underlines. „The complementary nature of the companies‘ products and GenRad’s global infrastructure and commitment to expanded product development makes this combination one that will greatly benefit today’s electronics manufacturing.“ Fred Schlieper, NIS worldwide sales and marketing manager, ads, „Now we can offer a full line of inspection and process control. It’s even superior to Agilent’s.“

Obviously, besides this clear-cut situation in the US, there are a bit more delicate discussions underway solving just what is necessary in Europe. Some years ago, NIS and Macrotron Systems founded a joint venture (Macrotron Process Technologies, MPT). This off-spring is located in Munich and 49% of it belongs to NIS, but the lion’s share will be held by the partner. MPT is not only the European master distributor for NIS, but has also a small portfolio of its own products such as a software linking different stages of shop floor quality assurance together, a special x-ray system and a depanneling system. Eckhard Sperschneider, managing director of MPT, illustrating the situation: „As a matter of fact, we and GenRad have fully agreed to maintain the current sales channels in Europe. This joint venture has turned out very successfull. We are accounting for about 90% of worldwide sales of the NIS 3D systems, adding a lot of glo-bal acting companies to the customer list. For the other topics, we are in an intense and ongoing process of very constructive talks to the GR management in the US.“ ws/gbw

EPP 157