 |
 |
17 Jun 2002
When II-VI Optics bought out Laser Power Optics in 2000, researchers Peter Muys and Eefje Vandamme faced unemployment. One year later, the first products are about to roll off their own production line. Michael Hatcher follows the rise of VDM Laser Optics.
From Opto & Laser Europe September 2001
Now here's a novelty - a European optics start-up that isn't targeting the communications sector.
Belgium-based VDM Laser Optics is focusing on the lower-profile end of industrial-laser applications:
high-power infrared optics for carbon dioxide lasers. Although it is undoubtedly a good deal less sexy
than the kinds of applications that feature "DWDM" and "exponential revenue growth" prominently in
their company mission statements, VDM's target market is still projected to enjoy substantial - if steady -
growth over the next decade. In August 2000, as II-VI was finally putting an end to the matter with an offer that UM
couldn't trump, VDM founders Eefje Vandamme and Peter Muys were still researchers at LPE. They
knew that II-VI would scrap LPE's European research facility to cut overheads, and when research jobs
in the US arm were not forthcoming their thoughts turned to going it alone. According to Vandamme:
"As soon as II-VI took over LPE we knew that we had to look for other opportunities." With its foothold
in the US defence market secured, II-VI subsequently dropped the European research and development
wing of LPE. Spurned but not deterred, UM acquired two UK carbon dioxide laser companies in
late 2000: zinc selenide specialist V&S Scientific and optical coatings and component supplier Tayside
Optical Technologies. "With the LPE deal II-VI created a monopoly in Europe," said Muys. He
and Vandamme knew that LPE's big customers - industrial-laser manufacturers Trumpf and Rofin-Sinar,
both based in Germany - would be unhappy with a market with just one supplier and that they would
welcome another manufacturer in the field. Muys is confident that the sector is crying out for a
new player: "Every laser firm faces a problem - one supplier, one price level, one delivery time. We
received a lot of attention at Laser 2001 in Munich." Ludwig Ulrich, who buys carbon dioxide
laser optics for Rofin-Sinar, agrees: "We have had a hard time since the II-VI takeover, and we are
happy to see another major player in the market. With a European supplier we can deal in euros and
avoid extra costs from currency exchange rates." And so in January 2001, five months after the
II-VI deal, Muys and Vandamme founded VDM Laser Optics (the initials come from their surnames).
Armed with EURO 2.5 million in bank loans, VDM now has a 300
m2 cleanroom manufacturing facility and R&D laboratory, which includes diamond turning
and coating machines. Optical components will start rolling off the production line later this month.
The pair have also teamed up with private investors and venture capital is said to be in the pipeline.
Incredibly, Muys says that the company has actually refused some financing because it was "too
early". Paul MacLennan is the managing director of V&S Scientific. He agrees that II-VI has a
monopoly in Europe, estimating that it has close to a 70% market share. Despite this, MacLennan says
that VDM might be surprised by the level of competition that it will come up against in Europe. He
added: "VDM might find it difficult unless it has some specific advantages, such as strong relationships
with potential customers." So how will VDM challenge II-VI and V&S for their captive market, but without such
an established manufacturing base? According to Muys the value that European laser manufacturers will
find when they deal with VDM will be common languages and time zones; technical support; and
experienced staff that can help advise on different resonator designs. To compete with II-VI on
price, Muys and Vandamme say that they will implement as much automation as possible, keeping the
number of staff to a minimum. That's not to say that VDM will not be recruiting. By the end of 2001 the
company hopes to have at least doubled its workforce. "II-VI's infrared group has 400 people, so to gain
a 10% share of the market we are going to have to expand to become a 50-person company in the next
few years," said Muys. Both Muys and Vandamme carry business cards that are adorned with the
job title "chief executive officer". So where do their individual responsibilities lie, and what happens when
they disagree? "It hasn't happened yet," laughed Vandamme. "We don't have a formal
arrangement because the company has developed so quickly. However, the general rule is that Peter is
more aligned with the technical side of things and I deal more with sales and marketing. At this early
stage, we are both covering a number of roles." Muys and Vandamme are working on two
product themes in parallel. The first is to supply standard replacement optics, and the second, to work on
customized solutions for individual systems and components, including those for equipment such as
telescopes and diffractive optics. They say that they already have two "substantial" orders for a few
thousand components from major laser OEMs on their books. The extra competition that VDM
generates should also increase innovation in the field of high-power optics. With their strong research
backgrounds it is unsurprising that Muys and Vandamme have some innovative products in the
pipeline. These include ultrasonic beamsplitters for high-power carbon dioxide laser beams, which
they hope to introduce some time in 2002, and a resonator design to produce
a carbon dioxide laser beam with a diffraction-limited Bessel shape (a ring-shaped beam). The
latter consists of a simple flat mirror and axicon (a beam-shaping element). By matching the apex angle
of the axicon to the particular resonator length, the Bessel function can be formed directly, unlike existing
schemes that produce a Gaussian-Bessel beam with spatial filters that inhibit the beam power. Muys says
that these improved beam-shaping and focusing possibilities could result in a new way to cut thick steel
with carbon dioxide lasers, and might also enable the remote cutting of metals from longer stand-off
distances. If Vandamme and Muys turn VDM into a success it should send the message to anyone
else thinking about starting a small firm that you don't have to target the high-growth (and, given the
current climate, high-risk) sectors to turn a profit.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| © 2024 SPIE Europe |
|
