profile
been number one and two in galvanometer- What Rofin had to do May says: ‘Each Rofin subsidiary is obliged
based marking systems so, while there were
after buying Baasel was
to support and service any Rofin lasers that
many areas that were complementary, there enter their territory, even if it’s not economic to
were some where difficult decisions had to be somehow bring the two big do so. We are a global company, so we make
made. Rofin was stronger in high-power CO
2
laser companies and their
that commitment to our customers. We have
so the Baasel subsidiary in this area was wound had a few exotic lasers that have come to the
down. The Rofin high-power business is based customers together and UK through OEMs, and we have had to spend
around Hamburg, where Sinar began, the
make one plus one equal
a lot of money on spares and training to support
marking business is based in Gunding, near those customers. It is part of the commitment
Munich, and the Rofin Micro business is now more than two we make to OEMs that, if they have one of our
based at Starnberg, where Baasel was based. lasers in their system, then it will be supported
Andy May, Rofin-Baasel UK’s managing OEM, which is building a very specialised wherever that laser ends up. It can cost us some
director, says: ‘What Rofin had to do after application of which a laser machining or money, but that is just a price we have to pay to
buying Baasel was somehow bring the two big marking system is one small part. give our customers confidence.’
laser companies and their customers together He says: ‘Many of our OEM customers are One of the most important markets for the
and make one plus one equal more than two. building a production line for their customers micro business is medical devices, including
Historically Rofin’s customers were – who themselves just want to put raw materials dentistry, and Rofin has complete systems for
predominately OEMs and integrators because, in one end and have finished product coming processes such as stent cutting, where fine
historically, it was a laser source company – but out the other. As part of this there may be laser tubular material has to be cut in extremely
Baasel was more of a laser systems company and marking or trimming systems, but they are just complex ways. It also has a large business in
its customers were mostly end users. The part of the application. These companies do not medical marking, which covers everything
products were brought together on a global want to deal with a thousand suppliers; they from dosing information to traceability. Rofin
scale by breaking out the product range into prefer to deal with one of the specialists and we also has a device called EasyMark, which looks
three areas: macro, micro and marking. Macro may just sell them a source or a source plus a little bit like a microwave oven, and is
is the high-power industrial lasers. Generally, beam delivery. becoming popular in a lot of production
we only make the light sources and sell them to ‘It is in some niches where we sell the environments because it is easy to use, flexible
well-known OEMs in that market. Marking is complete solution, such as a welding system for and reliable.
self explanatory, and micro refers to low-power, jewellers. When you sell a light source you are He says: ‘I have noticed in the past 15 years
small-scale processing products. In reality, we just selling something that has to conform to a a change from the approach of a single
are in three businesses, marking, welding and specification that can be written down. End user production line to a more cellular approach
cutting on different scales. sales mean you are selling a solution to a where people prefer to buy many units of a
‘There is always logic for a laser source particular problem, and that is a much more simpler machine and use them together. This is
company to take over a laser systems company, difficult process.’ partly because the price of these devices has
because it is obviously gaining a customer. After taking over so many companies, the been driven down, which means that you do
There is a danger, however, that the laser source new group had to reorganise its sales and service not need to use a lot of automation and handling
company may end up competing with its own operation around the world. For a lot of the to feed a single laser. Also, these simpler devices
customers. The vast majority of our products product lines this was a major boost, because need very little intervention; you just plug them
for micro and marking use Rofin sources, but as smaller independents they were unable to into a socket and get on with it.
occasionally we buy from someone else. Those support the kind of service infrastructure that ‘Much of this business has become
sources are also sold on the open market. the new Rofin could put in place. commoditised and one of the ways you can
‘Over the years Rofin has taken over a number
of companies that make components and sell
those components sometimes to rival
companies. One of the things I think Rofin has
done very well is in keeping those companies
separate, so that really it is only at the very top
of the company that they are sharing any
information – and that is mostly financial. The
companies operate in the market separately and
that is shown by the fact that they are still able
to sell components to their traditional customers
without anyone worrying about them being part
of Rofin. We have started breaking out
components in the financial statements, which
shows that this is important to us.’
May says that the micro and marking business
is not totally comprised of end user customers.
The difference is that it is selling a system to an Rofin-Baasel’s UK headquarters.
www.lasersystemseurope.com issue 2 • lASer SYSTeMS eUrope 9
LSEspr09 pp08-11 Profile.indd 9 3/3/09 10:42:29
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