For Subscribers

Get the complete article now!

TWST: Could we begin with a historical sketch and overview of Jenoptik?

Alexander von Witzleben: In three steps, Jenoptik was founded approximately 150 years ago by a guy called Carl Zeiss. The name Zeiss is very famous in Europe and maybe to some people in the US too as he developed the industrial production of the microscope. So, that is the big story about optics. Today, Jenoptik is a group with a holding company on top, which is Jenoptik AG itself. Then we have two business divisions. The bigger division is Clean Systems which designs and builds clean rooms for the semiconductor industry, the pharmaceutical industry, flat panels, and car paint shops or wherever you need clean rooms. The second division is Photonics where we build lasers and make high precision optics and sensors. We call the whole process the “Photonic chain” creating photons, manipulating and transmitting photons and catching them. That is the idea behind it.

TWST: What have been the main developments in your two divisions this year?

Mr. Von Witzleben: In Clean Systems, we did half a billion euros in order intake. Our guidance for the second quarter was somewhere around the same level and I think that we will meet that goal. There is no bad news there, which also means that there is a pick up in the industry which everybody was hoping for. Perhaps not as strong as some people were hoping for, but it is okay for us. We will see a positive development in next year, which means those orders I’m taking in now will show on my profit and loss statement next year. So clearly the message is that the order intake is fine, and we will see growth next year again. This is going to be a tougher year than I have mentioned a couple of times before but not dramatic. With Photonics we had a very good first quarter. The second quarter looks good, and we are going to meet our targets for the whole year, which means a little bit better in revenues and profits compared to 2001. For 2003, we have a pretty good order intake, and order backlog and nice projects in the pipelines so there’s nothing to worry about. The former third division Asset Management, our optics-focused venture capital holding, we have deconsolidated as of June 30, 2002. So we have had just two main divisions since July 1, 2002. This helps to improve the quality of our prognoses for the whole group. As we now own below 50% in our Asset Management, it will show only below EBIT on the financials. Compared to other venture capital companies, Asset Management is really not doing so bad, but still the market is in poor shape, although we do see one or two opportunities in the second half. So I still think Asset Management itself is going to be profitable on a whole-year basis. Mr. Von Witzleben: Within Clean Systems we see growth very clearly in Southeast Asia at the moment. We are not seeing any business in the US at the moment. It’s very poor there. In Europe, it’s almost the same. Both growth and order intake are coming almost 90% from Singapore, Taiwan and China.

TWST: Can you comment on your diode laser technology in the Photonics space? What are the developing trends and opportunities here?

Mr. Von Witzleben: Well, the diode laser business is interesting because it is a technology we have developed. It is replacing CO2 lasers in an existing market. You have, for example, welding machines in the car industry that are using CO2 lasers today. Those lasers are going to be replaced by diode lasers because the yield is up to ten times higher and that replacement is going on strongly. So the growth is coming from an overall laser market that is still growing plus replacement which is taking place and that is going to last quite some time. We are also seeing more applications on the medical side – dermatology, ophthalmology - for diode lasers.