Daily News Briefs

Walter Shephard has been appointed CFO, vice president/finance and treasurer of Zygo Corp., a Middlefield, Conn., supplier of optical metrology instruments, precision optics and electro-optical design and manufacturing for the semiconductor capital equipment and defense/aerospace industries. Shephard was formerly vice president and CFO of hardware manufacturer/software developer GenRad Inc., where he participated in its acquisition by Teradyne Inc. in 2001. Zygo said that its former CFO, Richard Dressler, will assist the company for a short time during Shephard's transition.. . .Hawthorne, Calif.-based OSI Systems Inc. said its new OSI Laserscan division has received orders worth about $1.1 million for its AutoSense scanning systems, to be deployed at toll-road installations. Shipments will begin immediately and are expected be completed by the end of the 2005 first quarter. AutoSense is a laser-based scanning system used to detect and classify vehicles in toll and traffic management applications.. . .Nanopositioning and piezo technology specialist Physik Instrumente (PI) announced it has formed Physik Instrumente LP in the US, reflecting the physical and financial separation in 2002 of the Physik Instrumente and Polytec parent businesses in Germany. Previously, PI was jointly owned with Polytec and known as Polytec PI. Physik Instrumente LP president Brian Lula said, "We have taken the strategic step of separating these two companies so that each can focus on their distinct markets while building on the brand awareness each company has developed worldwide as PI or Polytec." Physik Instrumente LP is based in Auburn, Mass., and has an office in Tustin, Calif.