SMT & Inspection |
How can you compare your performance this quarter with the corresponding quarter in 2009? 2009 was not really a fantastic year for us, but we saw an increase in orders starting in 3Q and going well into 4Q of 2009. This has also continued to be the case in 2010. It is therefore difficult to compare the quarters—and the year—but it was a little bit quiet in 2009. In 2010, the pace is really picking up. We have reached a more stable level. So you believe in a continuation of this positive trend throughout the year? Absolutely. We see that there is a need in the industry for machines that give you higher accuracy. Of course, there is still some second hand equipment on the market, but we see an increasing demand for applications where you need higher accuracy. In addition to our traditional market, we are also heavily involved in other growing industries, such as LED manufacturing, Medical equipment, Life science, etc. Here we experience a lot of growth. This—for us being a growth industry—has helped us in 2009. Which of the segments that you service were the hardest hit by the downturn? That was the Mobile Phone business. However, that has been picking up again over the past few months. The coating industry—one of our strong segments—was not as hard hit as the rest I have to point out. Where you able to compensate the decrease with the results in other segments? Yes. This is a very good question. You know we have more fields to play on and here again the aforementioned growing industry segments. This has helped us a lot. A number of customers have transitioned from wire-bonding technology towards chip& board and flip-chip. Here we can come in and help them with our expertise. So, this has helped us a lot to achieve a decent turnover in 2009. You have been present at APEX this year—a home show so to speak—and then at the S.E.E. in Stockholm. Why this show? We have a very well established network—and a huge install base—here in Scandinavia and the Baltic Region. So of course we are here to present ourselves and meet customers. This year we have partnered with our distributor. They have a demo machine in their lab and we also shipped a dispensing machine, because we feel that now the Nordic region in Europe is ready again to buy equipment. It is very important to be here and it feels like a little home market for us too. What plans do you have for Europe over the next time? Let’s say a new sales office, more distributors, etc. We have a very stable network of distributors and representatives all over Europe. Right now we focus our efforts to keep that level of service and coverage. Additional to that we keep a very close eye on the developments in Russia. We see a fast growing market over there—they are currently benefiting from the higher oil price—and they spend a lot of government money on investments in the electronics industry. Speaking of investments; we have a full scale lab and organisation at our European headquarter location in Maastricht. Over the past 15 years we have developed it from scratch to a full fledged organisation, with customer service, application & service engineers, sales & marketing, etc. Where do you manufacture your machines? We manufacture everything in California. We want to keep the core technology in our own hands. Of course, we do use a few subcontractors for some minor production steps, the final assembly is something we do ourselves. We have one facility in California—around 10’000 m² and currently around 400 employees. Thank you for the interview.
Nordson Asymtek set for growth in Europe
We have talked to Lars M. Nielsen, Global & Key Account Manager (Nordic, Baltic & Russia) about the future plans that Nordson Asymtek might have for its European business. Here are his answers.
How can you compare your performance this quarter with the corresponding quarter in 2009? 2009 was not really a fantastic year for us, but we saw an increase in orders starting in 3Q and going well into 4Q of 2009. This has also continued to be the case in 2010. It is therefore difficult to compare the quarters—and the year—but it was a little bit quiet in 2009. In 2010, the pace is really picking up. We have reached a more stable level. So you believe in a continuation of this positive trend throughout the year? Absolutely. We see that there is a need in the industry for machines that give you higher accuracy. Of course, there is still some second hand equipment on the market, but we see an increasing demand for applications where you need higher accuracy. In addition to our traditional market, we are also heavily involved in other growing industries, such as LED manufacturing, Medical equipment, Life science, etc. Here we experience a lot of growth. This—for us being a growth industry—has helped us in 2009. Which of the segments that you service were the hardest hit by the downturn? That was the Mobile Phone business. However, that has been picking up again over the past few months. The coating industry—one of our strong segments—was not as hard hit as the rest I have to point out. Where you able to compensate the decrease with the results in other segments? Yes. This is a very good question. You know we have more fields to play on and here again the aforementioned growing industry segments. This has helped us a lot. A number of customers have transitioned from wire-bonding technology towards chip& board and flip-chip. Here we can come in and help them with our expertise. So, this has helped us a lot to achieve a decent turnover in 2009. You have been present at APEX this year—a home show so to speak—and then at the S.E.E. in Stockholm. Why this show? We have a very well established network—and a huge install base—here in Scandinavia and the Baltic Region. So of course we are here to present ourselves and meet customers. This year we have partnered with our distributor. They have a demo machine in their lab and we also shipped a dispensing machine, because we feel that now the Nordic region in Europe is ready again to buy equipment. It is very important to be here and it feels like a little home market for us too. What plans do you have for Europe over the next time? Let’s say a new sales office, more distributors, etc. We have a very stable network of distributors and representatives all over Europe. Right now we focus our efforts to keep that level of service and coverage. Additional to that we keep a very close eye on the developments in Russia. We see a fast growing market over there—they are currently benefiting from the higher oil price—and they spend a lot of government money on investments in the electronics industry. Speaking of investments; we have a full scale lab and organisation at our European headquarter location in Maastricht. Over the past 15 years we have developed it from scratch to a full fledged organisation, with customer service, application & service engineers, sales & marketing, etc. Where do you manufacture your machines? We manufacture everything in California. We want to keep the core technology in our own hands. Of course, we do use a few subcontractors for some minor production steps, the final assembly is something we do ourselves. We have one facility in California—around 10’000 m² and currently around 400 employees. Thank you for the interview.
