business profile galvo Leaders in red Aylward
Cambridge Technology has evolved from a galvo company to a total scanning solution company, as Warren clark discovers
T A MERGER OF GIANTS
In 1995, Cambridge Technology was acquired by Excel Technology, a holding operation that has assembled a range of laser companies. The growth and profi tability of Cambridge Technology at the time of the acquisition attracted the attention of the investors, and founder Bruce Rohr was looking for an exit strategy. The technology Cambridge offered sat well alongside the other companies in the group, so the acquisition was a natural fi t all round. There was a signifi cant leap in the size
and market share of Cambridge Technology two years ago, when it merged with General Scanning, a company founded in 1968 by Jean Montagu. The latter was part of GSI Group, which acquired the Excel group in 2008. As Cambridge and General Scanning were in the same business, it made sense to merge the entire operations under one brand in January 2009 – Cambridge Technology.
6 electro optics l APRIL 2011
he roots of Cambridge Technology can be traced back to the 1960s, and it has been synonymous with galvanometer-based optical scanning throughout its history. The company originated in 1980 – and at the time, the company operated in a different fi eld altogether. Founded by Bruce Rohr, its fi rst products were instruments for the medical market, such as fl uorometers, luminometers and muscle- pullers. These latter products were actuators to test the strength and health of muscle tissue – using galvanometers from General Scanning (see panel), who invented the original galvanometer scanner. Rohr saw an opportunity to develop his own galvo motor, and patented a design that ultimately enhanced his medical products. At the same time, laser technology was emerging – and, in particular, the use of galvo motors with mirrors to provide accurate positioning of the laser beam. At the beginning of the 90s, the company developed further patented motor designs, and shifted away from the medical market toward the growing laser galvo scanning markets. Ultimately, the medical side of the business was sold. Red Aylward joined the company in 1994
as director of sales and marketing, later moving to VP of sales and marketing, before becoming president in 1999. An electrical engineer, he had spent 20 years at Genrad, fi rst in R&D and later sales, marketing and product management, before joining Cambridge Technology. Aylward’s early time at the company was spent ‘getting closer to the market’. ‘We had a few OEM customers, and a market that was growing rapidly as new laser and galvanometer applications developed. We identifi ed core markets and directed our R&D efforts accordingly. ‘We moved very quickly from being a company that had the best technology to one that was the market leader. We have continued to improve our technology every year. When I joined the company in the 90s, “high speed” meant a step
response time of around 2ms. Now, we achieve 100 to 200µs step response times. Accuracies that were only achievable in larger and expensive capacitive position detector galvos are now offered in more compact and lower-cost galvos, with time and temperature stability specs that have improved by factors of three to fi ve. Our new digital servo and now digital galvo technologies have improved those accuracy specs by a factor or 5 to 10X. ‘Applications that have previously only been
served with XY stages can now take advantage of the higher speed and lower cost of galvo systems.’ The merger of Cambridge Technology and General Scanning in 2009 (see panel) resulted in surprisingly little overlap. ‘The two companies were involved in different ends of the spectrum of scanning technology,’ says Aylward. ‘General Scanning was focused more on the high end – and had technologies we’d never invested in, while Cambridge held the mass market. The merger has created a much greater force.’ Customers have a choice of scanning
technology. On a rising scale of the speed and accuracy required, the choice ranges from open and closed loop galvanometers, through to resonant scanners, polygon scanners and, at the top end, acousto-optic modulators. ‘Before the merger, Cambridge’s expertise was fi rmly in closed-loop galvanometers and all the supporting technology. General Scanning brought us open loop galvanometers and resonant scanners, so you can see how our market coverage has improved.’ Aylward places value on innovative scanning
technology. ‘We have always taken pride in driving our R&D efforts towards patented technology. With the merger, we now possess more than 50 patents and the most experienced R&D team in scanning technology. The 40-strong scanning team is all focused on scanning, scanning control technologies and scanning applications.’ Looking at the market today, Aylward says that scanning technology closely follows developments
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