So what are the benefits from this merger for group members and customers?
Franchi: When you look at the business focus of the group members you will find that it is not at all competitive, but very much complementary: Chromasens is a world leading manufacturer of line-scan cameras that matches perfectly to the high-speed specialist Mikrotron and the high-end industrial generalist Tattile. Still, there is massive room for synergies. This includes shared sales channels, management resources and research and investment programs. Let me make this more concrete: When Mikrotron joined the group in 2015; the company was facing many of the typical issues I just explained. Since then we addresses several fields to find synergies. For instance, as a group we can share personnel costs and were able to hire more sales people who are now trained to distribute Tattile, Mikrotron and quite freshly also Chromasens products. We also integrate and bundle the R&D teams of the group members in order to profit from individual strengths as well as to avoid shortage of highly-skilled R&D employees. Another action we take is that we bunch the procurement of the individual group members in order to create economies of scale where this is economically attractive, e.g. in the negotiation with sensor suppliers. Better prices means more room for R&D and subsequently better products for our customers. As a group we not only can employ more sales people now, but have also access to the customer base of all group members instead of just one individual company. And through the complementary product range of Tattile, Mikrotron and Chromasens the choice of cameras and solutions we can offer has multiplied.
So will the brand names Tattile, Mikrotron and Chromasens disappear in the near future?
Franchi: Clearly not. Each of the group members has its own, well-known reputation in the market that we do not intend to abandon. What will happen, however, is that the name Lakesight will be heard more often wherever we bundle activities as I just pointed out. Trade shows are another example where we plan to have a Lakesight booth in future under which the independent brands, currently Tattile, Mikrotron and Chromasens have their appearance.
You say ‚currently‘ – does this mean you have further acquisition plans?
Franchi: In principle yes. We are still acquisitive and certainly do not close ourselves for new opportunities. The Lakesight project is still open; and interested machine vision companies which currently think about joining a larger entity are encouraged to contact us.
