Official Opening of Jenoptik's New Representative Office in China
JENA, Germany and SHANGHAI, December 5, 2011/PRNewswire/ --
Nearly all areas of the Group now have a local presence with state-of-the-art
infrastructure
The Jenoptik Group has pooled all its activities on the Chinese market and combined
them within a 100 percent owned subsidiary. The official opening of the new business
premises was celebrated today together with customers and attended by the Jenoptik
Executive Board and the entire Jenoptik Group Management.
Due to the pooling and expansion of the Chinese activities Jenoptik now has a strong
local organization. This will create benefits both on the market and for the customers.
Since he took up his post in 2007 Michael Mertin, Chairman of the JENOPTIK AG Executive
Board, has pushed the integrated expansion of and a direct presence for the Jenoptik Group
in the key markets in Asia and North America. "We are expanding internationally and by
having our own structures we are better placed to meet the requirements of our customers
worldwide," he said Thursday, Dec. 1, at the official opening attended by approx. 100
guests, among them numerous Jenoptik customers like Volkswagen, Bosch and Yanfeng Visteon.
Today, Jenoptik employs more than 60 personnel in China, the majority of these at the
Shanghai location in the Pudong Industrial Zone. Now a 100 percent-owned subsidiary, the
company will be called Jenoptik (Shanghai) Precision Instruments and Equipment Co. Ltd.
with immediate effect. Jenoptik's other locations in China are in Beijing, Chongqing and
Wuhan and are therefore primarily based at centers of the Chinese automotive manufacturing
and supplier industries.
At the official opening, Jenoptik Chairman Michael Mertin emphasized that: "We will
only be able to achieve our corporate objectives with the help of proportionately higher
growth abroad. We must operate in these markets, especially China, with the same
reliability as we do in the home market. To achieve this we must have a local presence and
break down barriers, including those in people's minds. In future a company's success will
depend more than ever before on its ability to adapt quickly and flexibly to customer
needs on the international level."
Teams from the Industrial Metrology, Lasers & Material Processing and Optical Systems
divisions now have a local presence. In addition to being close to the market and
customers, having our own presence also creates advantages in the internal processes along
the entire value-added chain. "Our aim is to also increasingly shift added value to the
dynamic growth center. We need impetuses from this region not just on the sales side but
also for our innovations and value added. We are now taking the first steps to turn us
from a global seller to a global player," said Michael Mertin. The Shared Service Center
Asia was established locally in September this year and in future will combine support
processes in Asia, particularly in the purchasing area. At the headquarters in Shanghai
Jenoptik now has a state-of-the-art location covering more than 3,000 square meters over
two floors.
The Industrial Metrology division is already utilizing a modern Application Center in
which customers are able to test their systems and machines. It is intended to open a
similar center for the Lasers & Material Processing division in 2012. In addition to the
Application Centers, Jenoptik also has local production facilities for assembling
electronic components and entire customer-specific systems, primarily for the Industrial
Metrology division. An integrated Chinese Internet site for the Jenoptik Group went online
at the end of November (http://www.jenoptik-china.com). The Jenoptik Industrial
Metrology division has had a sales presence in Asia since the 1980s. Together with its
Korean partner Telstar Hommel Corp., it established a joint venture in China in 2006 in
which Jenoptik has been the sole shareholder since November this year.
Alongside North America and Europe, Asia is the Jenoptik Group's core region.
Over the last two years Jenoptik has been pressing strongly ahead with the expansion
of its own presence in Asia. Capital expenditure from 2009 to 2011, including
acquisitions, totaled approx. 8 million euros. The highlights include the formation of
Jenoptik Korea in July 2009, the opening of the Laser Application Center in South Korea in
spring 2010 and the formation of Jenoptik Japan in November 2010. Jenoptik also set up a
joint venture in India in June 2008. In Asia Jenoptik employs a total of 101 personnel as
at September 30, 2011.
In the first nine months of the current fiscal year sales in Asia totaled 38.3 million
euros, approx. 10 percent of group sales. This share is expected to continue rising
significantly over the coming years. In 2011 Asia has been the strongest growth region for
the Jenoptik Group. Nine-month sales increased by nearly 40 percent compared with 2010.
"Our aim is to continue achieving a higher level of growth in Asia, primarily in China. To
this end we will continue to expand our local organization in 2012 and the subsequent
years" said Jenoptik Chairman Michael Mertin. There are plans to expand the sales and
service network in China, particularly in the inland areas. In addition, the Chinese
Shared Service Center is expected to become the central support point for all Asian
companies. The aim is to primarily expand the support structures in the area of human
resources, logistics and procurement.
About the Jenoptik Group
As an integrated optoelectronics group, Jenoptik operates in five divisions: Lasers &
Material Processing, Optical Systems, Industrial Metrology, Traffic Solutions and Defense
& Civil Systems. Its customers around the world primarily include companies in the
semiconductor and semiconductor equipment industries, the automotive and automotive
supplier industries, the medical technology, security and defense technology industries as
well as the aviation industry.
The Group was created out of the former Kombinat VEB Carl Zeiss Jena in 1991, as a
result of the German reunification. The Jenoptik Group headquarters are in Jena
(Thuringia). In addition to several major sites in Germany Jenoptik is represented in
nearly 70 countries. JENOPTIK AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and included in
the TecDax index. Jenoptik has more than 3,000 employees and generated sales of approx.
510 million euros in 2010.
The history of Jenoptik in China
The Industrial Metrology division has been represented in the Chinese market since the
mid 1980s - initially through a local authorized agent. In 1998 a Representative Office
was opened in China's capital Peking, this was followed by offices in Shanghai and
Chongqing in 1999 and 2005. In 2006, in conjunction with a local partner and the
longstanding partner in Korea, Jenoptik formed Hommel-Telstar Co. Ltd. which started its
business operation at that time with 18 employees. At the beginning of 2009 Jenoptik
acquired AES Auto Equipment Co. Ltd., expanding its know-how in the project business,
including the assembly capacities and sourcing know-how for electronic and mechanical
parts and which has since been available to the Group's other divisions. These activities
had already been pooled during the course of 2009.