INTERVIEW: BUILDING A BUISNESS


Analysis and Opinion section sponsored by


Steady growth, tripling revenue and the roadmap to greater global impact


Jeremy Picot-Clemente, EPIC’s Technology Manager for Optics and Green Photonics, talks to Bernd Dietz, CEO at nortus Optronic, a Germany-based manufacturer and supplier of optical components and optical systems about why remaining niche is the focus for the company’s future success


Tell us how you came to be CEO of nortus Optronic I started my career in 2001, working in customer support for autronic-MELCHERS, a Karlsruhe- based producer of display measurement systems for LCD and OLED displays. When I started, the company was basically a start-up and, over the next five years, we developed autronic-MELCHERS into a market leader, supplying measurement systems for mobile phone and TV manufacturers. By 2008, I’d become Head of Customer Service but, wanting a new challenge, I moved to Pickert & Partner, a company producing software for production management. In 2010, I founded nortus


Systronic GmbH with Jürgen Kreis, a friend and former colleague who was head of sales at autronic-MELCHERS. We mainly focused on establishing business relationships for small and medium-size companies with companies from China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Among others, we worked for the former DÖHRER Elektrooptik GmbH, whose owner expressed his intention to sell his company as he wanted to retire. Seeing it as a great opportunity, I bought the company in 2011, renamed it as nortus Optronic in 2016 and began to change nortus


34 Electro Optics February 2024


Systronic into a company that manufactures optical measuring devices and sells systems from partners. In 2016, we moved both companies to the same premises in Wörth am Rhein.


How have the companies developed? Developing the optics side of the business has been relatively straightforward because what we essentially did was take over an existing company that had been in existence for almost 20 years. We inherited a strong customer base with a specific focus – for instance, in research institutes – but we have also had to find new customers and new products. nortus Optronic now provides a range of advanced optical components including nonlinear crystals, optical modulators, InGas Photodiodes, optical and opto- mechanical components to customers worldwide. Developing nortus Systronic’s


laser technology has been more problematic as it’s a more complex technology and more difficult to sell. Nevertheless, we’ve successfully developed a range of advanced system solutions covering optical metrology, image processing and machine vision, optical sensors, cooling systems, and automation and digitalisation of production processes. We have a worldwide network of


The Difrotec D7 Interferometer is one of a range of successful products by sister company nortus Systronic


customers, some of whom we advise on specific solutions. For instance, in Japan we work with Tsubosaka, providing that firm with solutions for quality control of optical components and systems and calibration light sources. We also work with companies such as Cognate, a leading provider of embedded systems and intelligent IoT gateways for the cyber-secure connection of machines and branches. Although at first glance


this has nothing to do with measurement technology, we have a number of customers in the field of optical production for whom this technology is


very interesting. A simple example of what we do with our partners is a Phase Shifting Common Path Point Diffraction Interferometer, which is based on a unique measuring principle for measuring and testing optical surfaces. Its value for customers lies in the fact that it creates its own internal reference wave front, so it doesn’t need any external reference – thereby considerably reducing the cost of ownership but also providing high precision, robustness, and ease of use. We currently have a


workforce of six, and we are more or less fabless – as we


www.electrooptics.com


nortus Systronic


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48