Gooch & Housego unites under one brand

15 Jan 2008

Global integration of five photonics companies acquired by Gooch & Housego is helping to improve efficiency and drive growth.

“By acting as one company - suddenly we are a much bigger and more capable organization.”

Five photonics companies have been integrated under the Gooch & Housego brand name in a bid to enhance the products and services offered by the company and drive the next phase of growth. A new internal management structure has been introduced to accommodate the global scale requirements.

"As five different brand names, our companies have delivered the highest quality optical solutions and have each become a major player in their respective fields," Gareth Jones, CEO of Gooch & Housego, told optics.org. "Now, we have harnessed the offerings of each of these companies and consolidated them with a reorganized management structure to operate under one banner - Gooch & Housego."

The integration involves Gooch & Housego UK, Cleveland Crystals, NEOS Technologies, Landwehr Electronic and Sifam Fibre Optics. The new combined company has revenues in excess of $50m, delivering customized optical components to the global industrial laser, bio-medical, defense and metrology market places. Gooch & Housego has sites in the US, UK and Germany and Jones believes that acting as a joined up entity is not only more efficient for the organization, but also offers improved interaction for its customers.

"We are a much more efficient organization and this is beneficial for our customers as it makes dealing with us much simpler," commented Jones. "We can give our customers greater clarity and make sure that they are aware of all of the goods and services that we can offer. By acting as one company - suddenly we are a much bigger and more capable organization. This will help us to grow and ultimately increase revenues and profit."

One of the company's aims is to meet the market demand for reduced supplier numbers and simplified supply chains. "We found that we sometimes had multiple relationships with the same company. Customers would have five different sales contacts, five accounts and five shipping arrangements and it was not always obvious that the five were linked," explained Jones. "We are trying to remove market confusion for customers by providing a single contact to promote a more efficient and direct relationship."

In order to support their global integration, Gooch & Housego is introducing a new internal management structure. "Although we have brought in one or two people from outside to strengthen the team, we already have the vast majority of skills and expertise that we need in-house," explained Jones. "However, their roles will change to take on a more global perspective."

According to Jones, Gooch & Housego's acquisition plans do not stop here. "Over the next several years, Gooch & Housego will continue to acquire businesses in the optoelectronics area," concluded Jones. "The companies we look to acquire will always be of a similar type to Gooch & Housego, which means that they will be a leading player in the markets in which they operate."