An important guest from the Far East: Taiwanese minister for economic affairs visited LEYBOLD OPTICS
Alzenau, 12/2004
Newspaper clipping from an article published in 'Main-Echo' on 14th December 2004. Please find the German original attached as a PDF.
Alzenau. On Sunday afternoon, Helmut Frankenberger, managing director of LEYBOLD OPTICS in Alzenau, welcomed a prominent visitor: Mrs Mei-Yueh Ho, the Taiwanese minister for economic affairs, had chosen the lower Main region as the starting point of her one-week tour of Germany with the object of promoting, first of all, the economic contacts between German and Taiwanese companies. The high-tech think tank in Siemensstrasse was the first stop on her tour and also the only one in the Rhine-Main area.
LEYBOLD OPTICS is a classical representative of the regionally strong, internationally renowned surface technology industry in “Material Valley”. The company produces systems used in coating glass, plastic or metal substrates; it is doing this quite successfully and, as market analyses show, to a growing extent for Asian customers.
An interesting market Consequently, Mr Benjamin Knöfler, public relations consultant for LEYBOLD OPTICS, confirmed that Taiwan was a very interesting market. He said the management was very pleased about the minister’s visit and really “appreciated the great honour”.
An entourage of 15 captains of industry Due to the semi-official character of the visit, the presence of the high-ranking politician from the Far East, in whose entourage 15 influential Taiwanese captains of industry are travelling, caused hardly any outside effects in the region. Before going on the obligatory tour around the factory, Mei-Yueh Ho and her company were introduced to all eight business units of LEYBOLD OPTICS by means of a presentation show.
Helmut Frankenberger had some very informative facts from the company’s balance to tell to his audience: in 2003 the company, which employs about 400 staff in 13 branches world-wide, still gained approximately half of its annual turnover of 1000 million euros on the European market. With about 30 per cent Asia came second, before the USA. This year shows an entirely different picture: LEYBOLD OPTICS has handled 55 per cent of its business in Asia so far, only 28 per cent in Europe, and 17 per cent in North America. China and India have already become the most important market for systems for coating flexible materials, the so-called “web-coating”.
The Far East is therefore the number one growth area for the specialists from Alzenau who, according to Mr Benjamin Knöfler, have only five competitors world-wide - a fresh acid test for the pioneer spirit already shown by the firm’s founders Ernst Leybold and Wilhelm Karl Heraeus as long as 150 years ago. The wide range of products is a great help when trying to gain a foothold in Taiwan: systems made by LEYBOLD OPTICS can coat nearly everything, from reflectors for clear glass headlights and displays for TFT screens to special lenses for endoscopes and microscopes. In an effort to remain a successful global player the company keeps its own research and development department.
Further stops unknown Guests and hosts wanted to be on their own inside the company buildings and nothing tangible was made public about the further itinerary of the Taiwanese minister in Germany - mainly for reasons of security, they said. The visit had been organized and prepared by the Frankfurt trade department of Taiwan’s diplomatic mission in Munich. (Oliver Klemt)
About LEYBOLD OPTICS
As a prominent manufacturer of vacuum coating systems and developer of processes for the thin film technology, LEYBOLD OPTICS is represented in thirteen countries worldwide. The main focus of our processing technologies is on evaporation, sputtering and plasma-assisted coating processes for display technology, ophthalmics, precision optics, reflective and protective coatings, web coating, R&D, and special applications.
The basis of our success was laid in Germany 150 years ago by Ernst Leybold and Wilhelm Carl Heraeus. They addressed their pioneering spirit to the search for new manufacturing processes and founded our internationally recognized vacuum-technology company, which has set market standards ever since.
