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TWST: Would you begin with a brief historical sketch of Brooks
Automation and then give us a picture of the company at the present
time?
Mr. Grady: Brooks Automation is a supplier of semiconductor capital
equipment subsystems, primarily in the semiconductor automation space,
both hardware and software. The company started as a subsystem supplier
in vacuum robotics more than 15 years ago. The company grew and went
public in 1995. Since that early stage, we've grown the company to a
little over $600 million in sales. TWST: There have been a lot of acquisitions, I believe.
Mr. Grady: We've done 25 acquisitions ' 24 between 1998 and 2002. TWST: What are your criteria for acquisitions?
Mr. Grady: Our criteria have changed over time. Initially, the strategic
concept was called focused diversification. While staying focused on
semiconductor capital equipment automation, we diversified into all of
the components of semiconductor automation. We have since moved in a way
that I'd like to take some time to explain. Automation has multiple
parts in a fab. In addition to the tool automation, there's the fab
level automation, which is moving large things around, and then there's
the software that is the underlying control for the whole fab. In
focused diversification, the company pursued all of those activities. We
are now much more focused on the tool automation segment. The factory
automation segment has largely commoditized, and we now see that as not
a very strong business opportunity in the near term, given the design of
current semiconductor fabs. So as we look forward, a greater growth and
business opportunity for us is to focus on the newer semiconductor fab
designs, on the tool automation and wafer management systems in the
semiconductor fab. Meanwhile, in our software side, which has largely
been a semiconductor-based business, we are now focusing not only on
semiconductors but also on other discrete manufacturing opportunities,
where the automation and information management inside of a discrete
manufacturing operation needs to be managed. There are new emerging
businesses requiring manufacturing execution systems. Those include
medical device manufacturing and anything that's a discrete assembly
operation ' automobiles, aerospace assembly, that kind of thing. That's
in contrast to other process level automation, like pharmaceuticals and
oil and gas refinery businesses that are much more processed.
Tickers included in this excerpt: BRKS
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