A new identity Bühler

A NEW IDENTITY

Since January 1, 2015, Leybold Optics GmbH is operating as Bühler Alzenau GmbH. The company, which has been a business area of the Bühler Group since May 2012, is thus concluding its successful integration into the Swiss Group. The Alzenau-based specialist in vacuum coating technologies has benefited in many ways from the incorporation into the multinational Bühler Group. This allowed for significant business growth in the current fiscal year and a record number of orders received in 2014 in market segments such as Optics, Automotive, Web and Glass.

Following the change of name, the name Leybold Optics will still be employed for the purposes of corporate communications. “The legal unit is renamed,” explains Antonio Requena, who has 25 years of experience at Leybold Optics and has been its managing director since 2013, “but the tradition-rich name continues to be used in the names of our well known machines and in our business area within the Bühler Group.”

After the consolidation of the business in Alzenau and the integration of the subsidiaries into the Bühler Group, the strategy of the business area will be retained, Antonio Requena emphasizes. However, Bühler is striving to strengthen the ties within the ‘Advanced Materials’ corporate area to fully exploit synergies. He continues: “As part of Bühler, we are stronger than ever before. Even more important than the name are our values – satisfied customers, sustainability, motivated employees, profitability and growth – which remain the same and that we can continue to drive forward with Bühler.”

Perfect complement to Bühler

The Swiss Bühler Group bought Leybold Optics in May 2012. The strategic acquisition was a key step towards expanding its capabilities to include the production of functional coatings. “These display highly attractive potential for growth – thanks to global trends, for which Leybold Optics provides tailored solutions, for example in the areas of architectural glass, flexible electronics, food packaging, precision optics, ophthalmic optics, and the automotive industry,” Antonio Requena explains.

The acquisition of Leybold Optics was an ideal complement to Bühler’s overall portfolio when it comes to both technology and market access. For example, Bühler is the market leader in light metal die-casting solutions for the automotive industry. Furthermore, with its bead mills it is also the leader in the field of paint and coating manufacture for the automobile industry.

Reinforcing competitiveness

But it is not only the parent company that has benefitted from the acquisition – Leybold Optics has too and will continue to do so in the future. “With Bühler, we have a parent company that allows us to fully develop our strengths,” Antonio Requena explains.

For the traditional Alzenau-based company, being a part of Bühler will enable it to take an active part in the growth of the group and, in the process, make use of the advantages of the global Bühler platform, for example in the area of sales. “We now have access to many Bühler specialists throughout the world with the expertise and experience to help improve processes

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and generate new application areas,” Mr Requena continues. “This will help our company to remain competitive globally.”

Belonging to Bühler

Its membership of Bühler means the outlook is good for the Leybold Optics business area. Thanks to the synergies, it has achieved, more resources have been freed up to enable it to remain competitive in a future-proof manner. “We reinvest a significant amount each year in research and development,” explains Antonio Requena. “Among other things, we are driving forward developments initiated over the past few years to target the fast-growing markets of emerging industrial countries.” “When it comes to service, investments are being made in the global Bühler network, above all.” Many sales and service stations have already been integrated. In China and the US, the sites there continue to be independently responsible for the Leybold Optics business fields.

“Thanks to our heightened presence as part of the Bühler network, we will be able to improve the quality of our customer service even further, in particular when it comes to retrofits and upgrades,” he concludes. “With our new products and a significantly improved service, customers receive real added value, which they can successfully make use of in their own company. We are proud to be part of this success story at Leybold Optics and we are ready for a new era under Bühler Alzenau GmbH.” n