The art of precision Peter Wolters

THE ART OF PRECISION

Peter Wolters is a world leader in precision surface solutions. Abigail Saltmarsh reports on recent developments at the growing company.

Pick an industry, says Dave Celli, CEO of Germany-based Peter Wolters, and you will find his company’s products there. With growth coming from geographical regions across the world and new products continually being developed, more and more companies within an ever-widening base of customers are demanding quality and are turning to its equipment.

“Our customer base is in silicon and sapphire wafer manufacturing, automotive, medical, aerospace, transportation, alternative energies, and every type of heavy equipment industry,” he explained. “We are already recognised as a world leader in our field but the achievements we are making are going to ensure we continue to be successful and profitable.”

Enhancing its position

The company began when Johann Peter Wolters started making carding machines in the little house Schlickum, in Mettmann, in 1804. Over the years, the shape and nature of the business has changed but the company’s innovative research and development

has reinforced its competitiveness in the area of super finishing and has enhanced its position in international markets.

Today the company, which is owned by Novellus Systems, offers a unique and comprehensive scope of high-precision processing machines. These range from singlewheel and two-wheel fine-grinding machines to double-side flat grinding machines, through-feed grinders and lapping, polishing, honing and deburring machines for flat work pieces up to compact, high-precision multi-spindle machines for economic inner diameter and outer diameter grinding as well as cam profile grinding.

Serving customers’ needs

“We continue to develop new products to serve the needs of our diverse customer base,” said Mr Celli. “In particular, we are currently developing several new technologies for our customers in the silicon wafer manufacturing industry.

“That industry is struggling to make any profit at all, squeezed between increasing manufacturing costs and consumer expectations for lower-priced electronic products. We continue to develop and manufacture systems and processes that enable our customers to achieve higher throughput and

better yields. For example, our prime wafer polishing and grinding systems are currently targeted at 300 mm wafer substrates, but we’ve already done the engineering needed to prepare these machines for the 450 mm bare wafers that we’ll see in production in a few more years.”

He said demands from industrial customers, such as those in the automotive business, are also driving further development of ever finer grinding for small, hightolerance components.

A presence in Asia

The headquarters of Peter Wolters is in Rendsburg, where the company’s main production facility is located. It also has manufacturing facilities in Vaihingen, Germany, and in Des Plaines, Illinois, in the USA.

“Additionally, we have an OEM agreement with Dalian Machine Tool Group to manufacture some of our products specifically for the Chinese market,” he said. “Because

business is growing so rapidly in Asia, we really need a presence there. We signed the agreement in April of this year and should deliver the first equipment to our Chinese partners at the end of the month.”

Investing in the company

Investment is on-going, he continued, especially as customers are increasingly requesting “one-stop shopping.” They are looking for Peter Wolters to be able to meet all their surface finishing needs.

“We continue to invest both in internal research and development and through acquisition of complementary technologies. In 2009, we acquired the assets and intellectual property of Micron , a USA-based manufacturer of creep-feed grinding equipment that largely serves the aerospace and automotive industries,” he said.

Global growth

When Novellus acquired the company in July 2004, about 70 per cent of its business was in Germany and about 90 per cent in Europe. But this has all changed.

“Peter Wolters has a long history and a large customer base in Europe, but our business is developing rapidly in other parts of the world,” he said. “By 2012, we expect that over half of our business will be in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan.

“Peter Wolters is moving into every growing economy. We have recently opened a sales and service location in India and have taken our first system orders from Thailand. The BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are a major focal point for our sales and service activities.

“As these economies grow and wealth increases, there is a demand for better quality and better technologies. They therefore require equipment that is of a higher quality and capability.”

Looking ahead

He said future growth plans for Peter Wolters were multi-faceted. Its strong market presence in the growing economies of the world is an anchor to its strategy.

“Finding new technological solutions that enable profitability for our silicon and sapphire substrate manufacturing customers is key to market share growth,” said Mr Celli. “Continuing our growth through our acquisition strategy will enable us to add complementary technologies that will both grow our business and enable our customers by providing them with solutions to their hightolerance requirements. And, we’re always looking for new market opportunities. For example, we’ve recently been selling equipment and manufacturing consumables for the LED (light emitting diode) manufacturing marketplace, a sub-segment of the global lighting industry that is projected to grow very rapidly in the future.”

Mr Celli added “The next five years will be very exciting for Peter Wolters. If we execute our growth strategy in a disciplined manner, the sky is the limit!” n

www.peter-wolters.com