The Jenoptik Group has pooled all its activities on the Chinese market and combined them within a 100 percent owned subsidiary. The official opening of the new business premises was celebrated today together with customers and attended by the Jenoptik Executive Board and the entire Jenoptik Group Management.

Due to the pooling and expansion of the Chinese activities Jenoptik now has a strong local organization. This will create benefits both on the market and for the customers. Since he took up his post in 2007 Michael Mertin, Chairman of the JENOPTIK AG Executive Board, has pushed the integrated expansion of and a direct presence for the Jenoptik Group in the key markets in Asia and North America. "We are expanding internationally and by having our own structures we are better placed to meet the requirements of our customers worldwide" he said this Thursday at the official opening attended by approx. 100 guests, among them numerous Jenoptik customers like Volkswagen, Bosch and Yanfeng Visteon.

Today, Jenoptik employs more than 60 personnel in China, the majority of these at the Shanghai location in the Pudong Industrial Zone. Now a 100 percent-owned subsidiary, the company will be called Jenoptik (Shanghai) Precision Instruments and Equipment Co. Ltd. with immediate effect. Jenoptik's other locations in China are in Beijing, Chongqing and Wuhan and are therefore primarily based at centers of the Chinese automotive manufacturing and supplier industries.

At the official opening, Jenoptik Chairman Michael Mertin emphasized that: "We will only be able to achieve our corporate objectives with the help of proportionately higher growth abroad. We must operate in these markets, especially China, with the same reliability as we do in the home market. To achieve this we must have a local presence and break down barriers, including those in people's minds. In future a company's success will depend more than ever before on its ability to adapt quickly and flexibly to customer needs on the international level".

Teams from the Industrial Metrology, Lasers & Material Processing and Optical Systems divisions now have a local presence. In addition to being close to the market and customers, having our own presence also creates advantages in the internal processes along the entire value-added chain. "Our aim is to also increasingly shift added value to the dynamic growth center. We need impetuses from this region not just on the sales side but also for our innovations and value added. We are now taking the first steps to turn us from a global seller to a global player" said Michael Mertin. The Shared Service Center Asia was established locally in September this year and in future will combine support processes in Asia, particularly in the purchasing area. At the headquarters in Shanghai Jenoptik now has a state-of-the-art location covering more than 3,000 square meters over two floors.

The Industrial Metrology division is already utilizing a modern Application Center in which customers are able to test their systems and machines. It is intended to open a similar center for the Lasers & Material Processing division in 2012. In addition to the Application Centers, Jenoptik also has local production facilities for assembling electronic components and entire customer-specific systems, primarily for the Industrial Metrology division. An integrated Chinese Internet site for the Jenoptik Group went online at the end of November (www.jenoptik-china.com). The Jenoptik Industrial Metrology division has had a sales presence in Asia since the 1980s. Together with its Korean partner Telstar Hommel Corp., it established a joint venture in China in 2006 in which Jenoptik has been the sole shareholder since November this year.

Alongside North America and Europe, Asia is the Jenoptik Group's core region

Over the last two years Jenoptik has been pressing strongly ahead with the expansion of its own presence in Asia. Capital expenditure from 2009 to 2011, including acquisitions, totaled approx. 8 million euros. The highlights include the formation of Jenoptik Korea in July 2009, the opening of the Laser Application Center in South Korea in spring 2010 and the formation of Jenoptik Japan in November 2010. Jenoptik also set up a joint venture in India in June 2008. In Asia Jenoptik employs a total of 101 personnel as at September 30, 2011.

In the first nine months of the current fiscal year sales in Asia totaled 38.3 million euros, approx. 10 percent of group sales. This share is expected to continue rising significantly over the coming years. In 2011 Asia has been the strongest growth region for the Jenoptik Group. Nine-month sales increased by nearly 40 percent compared with 2010. "Our aim is to continue achieving a higher level of growth in Asia, primarily in China. To this end we will continue to expand our local organization in 2012 and the subsequent years" said Jenoptik Chairman Michael Mertin. There are plans to expand the sales and service network in China, particularly in the inland areas. In addition, the Chinese Shared Service Center is expected to become the central support point for all Asian companies. The aim is to primarily expand the support structures in the area of human resources, logistics and procurement.

The history of Jenoptik in China

The Industrial Metrology division has been represented in the Chinese market since the mid 1980s - initially through a local authorized agent. In 1998 a Representative Office was opened in China's capital Peking, this was followed by offices in Shanghai and Chongqing in 1999 and 2005. In 2006, in conjunction with a local partner and the longstanding partner in Korea, Jenoptik formed Hommel-Telstar Co. Ltd. which started its business operation at that time with 18 employees. At the beginning of 2009 Jenoptik acquired AES Auto Equipment Co. Ltd., expanding its know-how in the project business, including the assembly capacities and sourcing know-how for electronic and mechanical parts and which has since been available to the Group's other divisions. These activities had already been pooled during the course of 2009.

More information at www.jenoptik.com/ and www.jenoptik-china.com/