Moves & Expansions

In Lafayette, Colo., Rocky Mountain Instrument has formed a unit, RMI Infrared LLC, to manufacture and distribute high-grade zinc selenide (ZnSe) material and finished optics. The unit, which offers several fabrication options for its chemical vapor deposition-grown ZnSe, is dedicated to CO₂ laser makers, aftermarket distributors and laser job shops.

Germany-based Allied Vision Technologies (AVT) has opened a sales office in Shanghai, its second Asia-Pacific location, to oversee its expanding business in mainland China and to provide local support. AVT makes and sells cameras and components for image processing in industrial and life sciences applications, including machine vision.

Increased demand for volume Bragg gratings (VBGs) has led optical components maker OptiGrate to move to a new facility with 70 percent more space. The 10,000-sq-ft plant in Oviedo, Fla., nearly doubles the company’s office and manufacturing space, and includes a photo-thermorefractive glass unit, a VBG holographic unit and a VBG laser application development laboratory.

To support the rapidly expanding Chinese machine vision market, JAI Group of Copenhagen, Denmark, has opened a new office in the CTSHK building in Shanghai. Studies show that demand for small industrial cameras such as those manufactured by JAI has significantly increased in China, the company said.

Sick Inc., a subsidiary of Germany-based Sick AG and a maker of industrial automation products, has expanded, relocating all of its Minnesota production and warehousing to the Eagle Creek Operational Center in Savage, Minn.; its North American headquarters remain in Bloomington, Minn. The expansion doubles Sick’s floor space in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Semrock Inc. opens manufacturing facility

Semrock Inc., a unit of Idex Corp.’s Optics and Photonics platform, has opened a Rochester, N.Y., manufacturing facility capable of producing tens of thousands of optical filters per year. Shown at the October ribbon-cutting ceremony are (left to right) Craig Hodgson, Rob Beeson, Denis Lee and Michael Cumbo. The expansion will enable Semrock also to focus on high-volume miniaturized optics for the diagnostic and point-of-care markets.

Horiba Europe’s new 7500-sq-ft research and technology center at Saclay Technopole in Paris is now open.

The facility was built to serve as the European headquarters for the company’s 1700 employees in France, Germany and the UK. It will house the design and manufacture of Horiba Jobin Yvon’s spectroscopic diffraction gratings and scientific instrumentation; biophotonics specialist Genoptics, acquired by Horiba in 2012; and parts of Horiba’s Medical and Scientific Div. domestic sales teams.

The plant’s location, near academic labs, research centers and graduate schools, will help the company enter a new development cycle aimed at nanosystems, biotech devices and advanced computer-assist algorithm technologies, said Horiba Europe General Manager Michel Mariton.

“Horiba also seeks to collaborate with key French technology providers and to open opportunities for small, innovative high-tech companies to enter the Japanese market,” he said.