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news major acquisitions announced
The start of the year has seen the announcement of two major machine vision industry acquisitions: Allied Vision Technologies (AVT) has acquired 100 per cent of the shares of the camera producer VDS Vosskühler, while, pursuant to the transaction, Teledyne Technologies Incorporated will acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Dalsa Corporation.
The acquisition of VDS
Vosskühler, effective immediately, increases AVT’s portfolio – the company provides Gigabit Ethernet and FireWire digital industrial cameras – with the addition of near infrared (NIR) and long wave infrared (LWIR) camera technologies, as well as extensive competencies in the area of active camera cooling. It also further strengthens AVT’s overall market position in the area of industrial cameras.
Established in 1985 and based in Osnabrück, Germany, VDS Vosskühler develops, produces and markets industrial cameras in the NIR (0.9 to 1.7µm) and LWIR/thermography (8 to 14µm) spectrum range. The company also has a wide portfolio of CCD cameras for visible light. ‘We have been following the NIR and the LWIR markets for a long time already and see large growth potential,’ commented Frank Grube, CEO of AVT. ‘Now we are extending our product portfolio into the non-visible spectrum of infrared and can offer our customers this type of camera in the same high product quality as our other cameras.’ Jürgen Vosskühler, founder of
VDS Vosskühler, was looking for a strong partner to grow the company, including the extensive expansion of the sales force. Allied Vision Technologies is widely represented
news from UKIVA By mark williamson
With a cash injection of £600,000 announced by the UK coalition government, to help stimulate the adoption of automation in UK manufacturing, there is a golden opportunity for the UK vision industry to demonstrate the contribution that vision can make to this vital area. This financial boost follows a recent industry study, Application of Automation in UK Manufacturing 27 Sept 2010, which revealed that the main reasons for UK manufacturers’ lack of investment in modern manufacturing technologies were a lack of knowledge, skills and confidence. The study was commissioned by members of the Engineering and Machinery Alliance (EAMA) with support from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and sponsored by BARA (the British
Automation and Robot Association). BIS has allocated £600,000 to fund a two-year programme, which will allow experts to go into UK manufacturing companies and work with them to identify their automation needs. BARA president, Mike Wilson, said: ‘It is important to recognise that the purpose of this initiative is to help UK manufacturers understand the benefits that automation will bring to them in terms of reduced costs and waste, improved quality and productivity, and optimised energy usage. With BARA and UKIVA both being special interest groups of the PPMA (Processing and Packaging Machinery Association), the vision community can make a significant contribution to this process.’ From a UKIVA perspective, this initiative is to be applauded, as increased awareness of the benefits
of automation should also raise the awareness of the capabilities of vision. With GigE Vision now an established industrial vision standard, and other Ethernet products available for I/O, triggering and lighting control, a ‘network centric’ approach to running a production- line vision system provides a high level of automation and versatile processing and control possibilities. Integrating vision measurements into statistical process control (SPC) methods offers even greater potential productivity benefits by controlling the manufacturing process within its allowed tolerances. In many applications, 100 per cent inspection can be carried out, and by feeding these data into the SPC system, not only can trends be identified at an early stage, but random and sudden defects can also be identified. If
tolerances cannot be relaxed (for example in the automotive industry), then the vision system can still be used at the end of the production line in its ‘inspection’ role to weed out defective items. Clearly, education is a critical part of the initiative. The UKIVA was pleased to contribute a non- commercial introduction to vision technology as part of a full-day seminar in London on 18 February organised by the PPMA. In addition, BARA, with the assistance of members and other trade bodies, is organising a series of regional events, to be held in key manufacturing locations throughout the UK in early 2011. The automation awareness programme has been further enhanced with the publication of a 16-page brochure, entitled Automating Manufacturing.
in America, Asia and Europe. Vosskühler has handed over his position as CEO to Grube, CEO of AVT, but will continue to support and advise the company, especially during the integration phase. The agreement between
Teledyne Technologies and Dalsa sees Teledyne acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Dalsa, with the aggregate value for the transaction valued at approximately CA$341 million, taking into account Dalsa’s stock options and net cash as of 30 September 2010. The two companies’ product lines and customer bases are almost entirely complementary, with Dalsa producing advanced visible light imaging sensors and cameras for commercial applications, while Teledyne produces extreme resolution infrared sensors and subsystems primarily for government applications.
Headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, Dalsa provides high- performance digital imaging and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), with approximately 1,000 employees worldwide. For the 12 months ended 30 September 2010, Dalsa had sales of approximately CA$201 million. ‘The combined strengths of
Teledyne’s and Dalsa’s leading imaging technologies will allow us to develop new infrared and visible light products that serve our respective markets and customers,’ stated Dr Robert Mehrabian, chairman, president and CEO of Teledyne. ‘Furthermore, Dalsa’s custom MEMS capabilities will be augmented by having access to Teledyne’s extensive MEMS research activities and advanced process technologies.’
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the board of directors.
imaging and machine vision europe february/march 2011
www.imveurope.com
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