LMN: We know Precitec’s “ProCutter” has been highly recognized by the market. This year, Precitec launched its new “EdgeTec” technology. Could you please introduce it? What are its main features?

Mr. Wersborg: So far, when you cut thick sheets with fiber laser or disk laser, the cutting quality has not been so satisfying. The company Trumpf has developed a system called “BrightLine”, with which the cutting quality is much better. Now Precitec offers the so-called “EdgeTec” technology, which can cut both thin and very thick sheets with high speed and high quality only with one cutting head. The ProCutter itself can cut thin sheets very quickly and reliable. However, if you want to have high quality on thick sheet as well, then the ProCutter with integrated “EdgeTec” technology should be your choice.

LMN: Could you please talk about the achievements of Precitec in 2016?

Mr. Wersborg: We are very proud to introduce our new cutting technologies “EdgeTec” and “PierceTec”, together with a lot of other products. All of them are proved to be very successful on the market. We are growing very fast in China and also in the rest of the world. Also in laser welding we are very successful with a lot of products and applications. In the automotive industry for example, our ScanTracker is the state-of the art tool in Aluminum welding.

LMN: Could you please talk about the global industrial development of cutting heads?

Mr. Wersborg: I think the most dynamic area is Asia, especially China. China has the most machine tools but meanwhile it is also the most competitive market in the world. One possibility to make profit is upgrading from low power to high power and high quality laser cutting machines. Precitec enables manufacturers to do so. The Chinese market is not only developing into high power, but also all over the rest of the world. Of course, Europe and the United States have many laser cutting machine OEMs, too. Nevertheless, the demands in the U.S. and in Europe are more in the automation area.

LMN: Precitec has more than 20 companies and offices around the world. They are all developing in an upper trend. But we can see that many Chinese laser companies are growing quickly. Do you think they will be challenges to the development of Precitec?

Mr. Wersborg: First of all: Growth in the laser business is very positive. We benefit from a growing laser market. Of course, growing markets attract competition; we have known this for 40 years: Those companies who compete come from China and from other areas. We do not fear competition – on the contrary, it keeps us focused to maintain and increase our technical advance. Our goal is to be a long-term strategic partner and to really enable our customers to grow in their field. China is our second largest market both in terms of sales revenue and number of employees. Last year we celebrated our 10^thanniversary in China. For us, it is very important to be very close to the customer to support them efficiently and to understand their needs. We have after sales & service centers both in Shanghai and in Beijing, which can quickly respond to customer needs. We built up a production line in China, which helps to shorten the lead time. Additionally, an advanced application center in Shanghai ensures that we are able to present our solutions to our customers. We are strongly committed to the Chinese market. Besides that, we always focus on technical innovation and launch new products adapted to the market requirements. That is how we hope to be competitive in the future.

LMN: What fields of market in China does Precitec consider as the most important?

Mr. Wersborg: Laser cutting is still the largest market in China. However, the laser welding market is developing quickly. We are very active in the field of laser welding and quality control. Our more than 40 years of experience is a major key to serve the market with excellent, industry proven solutions.

LMN: What will be the plan for Precitec in the technological aspect in 2017 or in the following few years?

Mr. Wersborg: We offer a complete product range from very cost-effective and simple heads to very sophisticated complete solutions. No matter which product solution customers wish to have, cheap or very comprehensive, we can offer the right solutions in laser cutting and laser welding.

Together with our “All-In-Light” solution we can offer our customers a complete cutting bundle including laser source, fiber and head that achieve more than the single component alone. We are passionate to help our customers to be more successful this way.