Cognex Corporation Acquires Image Industries; Acquisition makes Cognex market leader in the U.K.Business/Technology Editors NATICK, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 2000 Cognex Corporation Cognex Corporation is an American corporation that manufactures commercial machine vision systems. Cognex is the world leader in its field, holding an array of patents and employing academic experts. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :CGNX), the world's leading supplier of machine vision systems, announced today that it has acquired Image Industries, a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. located in Surrey, England. Under the terms of the acquisition, Cognex has purchased all of the outstanding shares of Image Industries for an undisclosed amount of cash and stock. Image Industries, founded in 1987, is the leading provider of machine vision systems to end users in the United Kingdom. The company's principal product, Checker check·er n. 1. a. One, such as an inspector or examiner, that checks. b. One that receives items for temporary safekeeping or for shipment: a baggage checker. 2. , is a compact, fully integrated vision sensor A device that measures or detects a real-world condition, such as motion, heat or light and converts the condition into an analog or digital representation. An optical sensor detects the intensity or brightness of light, or the intensity of red, green and blue for color systems. that is used in the electronics, automotive, and consumer goods consumer goods Any tangible commodity purchased by households to satisfy their wants and needs. Consumer goods may be durable or nondurable. Durable goods (e.g., autos, furniture, and appliances) have a significant life span, often defined as three years or more, and industries for applications such as inspecting automotive electronics, cellular telephone components, and package and container inspection. The company markets its products primarily in the United Kingdom. The acquisition was completed on April 20th, and will be accounted for under the purchase method of accounting. Cognex expects to retain the 15 employees of Image Industries, and to maintain operations in the current facility. The sales and support staff will be integrated with Cognex's existing sales and support organization in the U.K. The Research and Development team of Image Industries will operate as a remote product development group, and will focus on the development of highly compact, low-cost vision systems for the end-user market. "This acquisition is a very exciting follow-on to our recently announced acquisition of the vision business of Komatsu, Ltd.," said David Schatz, Cognex's Vice President of Corporate Development. "Similar to that acquisition, this transaction immediately establishes Cognex as the leading provider of machine vision systems to end users in a new geographic region. It also provides Cognex with an additional group of experienced development and sales engineers who are experts in the design and distribution of low-cost vision sensors. Working with our existing product development and sales teams, this new group will help accelerate our introduction of new, low-cost, machine vision products for end users around the world." "We are very pleased to be joining the world's leading machine vision company," said Peter Neve, Founder and Managing Director of Image Industries. "We are looking forward to leveraging our extensive experience in industrial machine vision to help accelerate Cognex's growth both here in the U.K., and throughout the world." Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision systems, or computers that can "see." Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped to date more than 100,000 machine vision systems. Cognex's Modular Vision Systems Division, headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts Natick (Pronunciation IPA: /ˈneɪtɪk/) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Natick is located near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 32,170 at the , specializes in machine vision systems which are used for automating the manufacture of a wide range of discrete items and for assuring their quality. Cognex's Surface Inspection Systems Division, headquartered in Alameda, California Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on a small island of the same name next to Oakland, California in the San Francisco Bay. An additional part of the city is Bay Farm Island, which is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. , specializes in machine vision systems which are used for inspecting the surfaces of products manufactured in a continuous fashion, such as metals, paper, and plastics. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices located throughout North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. , Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. . Visit Cognex on-line at http://www.cognex.com. Certain statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. . These statements are based on the company's current expectations and estimates as to prospective events and circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES, evidence. The particulars which accompany a fact. 2. The facts proved are either possible or impossible, ordinary and probable, or extraordinary and improbable, recent or ancient; they may have happened near us, or afar off; they are public or which may or may not be in the company's control and as to which there can be no firm assurances given. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. The company wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. Further discussions of risk factors are also available in the company's registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. |
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