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TWST: What is Virtek?
Mr. Sandness: Virtek Vision International is the leading provider of
precision laser-based templating, inspection, and marking and engraving
solutions for industrial material processing. Virtek serves customers
from around the world in the prefabricated construction, transportation,
metalworking, tool and die and mold-making industries. Our products
enable our customers to create their own products faster, better, and at
a lower cost. The majority of our sales are in the United States and
Europe. We are headquartered in Waterloo, Ontario, and have about 174
employees who serve an international customer base from facilities in
both Waterloo and in Boston. We also have facilities in Ludenscheid and
Nuremberg, Germany and in Ebina City, Japan. In terms of the history of
the company, we started in 1986 as primarily an R&D organization, and
then around 1996/1997 the company focused on targeted industries with
specific products and at the same time became publicly traded. Since
then, we have had a number of significant milestones, including a number
of major contracts awarded from companies like Lockheed Martin and
Airbus Corporation for our new ILS or Intelligent Laser System
technology, as well as having a great deal of success around the world
in terms of our marking and engraving solutions. That is a quick
overview of our business. TWST: I would imagine most investors who aren't familiar with the
company are amazed that engraving and those types of mechanical
processes are still around.
Mr. Sandness: In effect, engraving and marking are still essential
items. For example, if you want to mark the parts of a gun to ensure
that they are very difficult to ever remove, then a laser is the best
way to do that. That is what we are doing for one gun manufacturer, for
example. In the mold making business, particularly with plastic
injection molding, you have complex surfaces with very detailed textured
logos to put down, which are very difficult to do with conventional CNC
machining. A laser engraver can do that very easily, however. For
instance, we have one customer that took 24 hours to do it with CNC
technology, yet we can do it in about 45 minutes using laser technology.
This is a big productivity gain for complex mold making.
Tickers included in this excerpt: VRK:TSX
For more information call (212) 952 7433. The
Wall Street Transcript does not endorse any of the comments made by interviewees, and does
not make stock recommendations.
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