25 years of steady growth TESCAN

25 YEARS OF STEADY GROWTH

TESCAN is one of the leading global suppliers of scientific instruments, having built its reputation and brand name on designing and manufacturing electron scanning microscopes and system solutions for various applications. In its 25 years of existence TESCAN has grown from a tiny company into a multinational corporation with over 400 employees around the globe. Romana Moares reports.

TESCAN, headquartered in Brno, Czech Republic, currently occupies a strong position among the top five most prominent worldwide manufacturers of electron microscopes. Evidence of its steady growth includes its ever-expanding range of products, which currently includes eight different types of electron microscopes. In order to satisfy growing customer demands, the company continuously develops not only its own scientific research activity and related manufacturing operations, but also synergic collaboration with leading scientific institutions and universities both within the Czech Republic and abroad.

Czech roots

In its 25 years of existence, TESCAN has installed over 2000 microscopes in more than 80 countries. Currently the group has two facilities in the Czech Republic and one in France, eight subsidiaries around the world (Czech Republic, UK, France, China, USA, Brazil and Benelux) and an extensive sales and service network operating worldwide. About 90–95 per cent of its microscopes are sold in exports markets, mostly in the EU, USA and the countries in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC).

“The success of a company is not measured by a single milestone or award, but rather by its refusal to stagnate and its willingness to grow,” claims the company CEO and co-founder, Mr Jaroslav Klíma. This is the path TESCAN has taken since its inception: from rented offices for its five founders, the company has grown into a multinational corporation with more than 400 employees around the world.

“We take pride in our roots in the Czech Republic, specifically Brno, which could be dubbed the Silicon Valley of electron microscopy. We have been headquartered here since the very beginning – all strategic and operational decisions are linked to this place, and we do not intend to change it,” says Mr Klíma.

Tailor-made to customers’ needs

TESCAN offers tailor made systems specifically designed for the needs arising from all fields of science and technology such as material science, life sciences, forensic sciences, and semiconductor industry. TESCAN’s portfolio includes thermion emission systems, field emission SEM systems, FIB-SEM systems, RAMAN confocal microscopy and, most recently, an advanced light microscope for QPI imaging. The company also develops special tools and detectors for diverse analytical purposes in a wide range of disciplines.

“We have always focused on the needs of the market and the customer, who is our number one priority. We are aware of the fact that the customer knows best what results they would like to achieve. We take advantage of our knowledge and specialisation so that we can provide the customer with an instrument or solution that opens the door to learning and achieving research objectives,” says Jaroslav Klíma. “We are able to offer stability and support not only to current partners, but future partners as well. We do not recognise the customary sales model in the form of an anonymous sales relationship between two parties; with us, everyone always deals with one specific individual. Our customers are also our partners.”

He stresses that the management is well aware that no success would be possible without the hard work of its employees. “Our people are the foundation of the company and of its future growth. We care about their development, offer a wide range of benefits and opportunities, take pride in our friendly atmosphere, and work on creating a pleasant work environment overall,” he says.

Cutting edge technology

Continuous development, expanding technological boundaries, and the related growing demands of existing as well as new customers have resulted in the introduction of a new technology on the occasion of this year’s 25th anniversary. “For this year’s anniversary celebration, we are preparing yet another milestone in the history of TESCAN. During the M&M exhibition in Columbus in the United States, we will introduce a new, cutting edge technology, enhancing the field emission microscopes,” says the CEO.

The new technology is next generation of TESCAN’s ultra-high resolution electron column. The new column achieves superb ultra-high resolution, providing scientists and technologists with ultimate surface sensitivity and outstanding contrast at low beam energies to resolve nano-sized features of beam high-sensitive or non-conductive samples.

The column excels in the whole range of accelerating voltage; however, its highlight is the ultimate resolution at low beam energies which makes this new column ideal for imaging beam sensitive materials such as low-k dielectric materials, photoresists, non-conductive materials and uncoated biological specimens.

Moving forward

As one of the world’s top five players in the field of electron microscopy, TESCAN is strengthening its position and expanding its portfolio with optical microscopes and other technologies in the area of chargedparticle optics. A speciality of the company comprises systems modified precisely according to customers’ requirements in order to fully meet their needs in research and industry.

TESCAN is continuously increasing its market share as a result of its own development as well as through partnerships with prestigious institutions and academic organisations. Examples of such successful partnerships include the awarding of the Cooperation of the Year 2013 prize to TESCAN and Brno University of Technology for their development of a revolutionary holographic microscope, and the 2015 Photonics Prism Award for the company’s unique correlative electron microscope.

With TESCAN’s continuing commitment to delivering the newest technologies to the market, its existing and potential new customers may look forward to hearing about a number of new projects to be announced soon. n Visit: www.tescan.com