Orbotech
Encyclopedia
Orbotech Ltd. is an international developer and producer of automated optical inspection
(AOI) and related imaging and computer-aided manufacturing
systems. The company's imaging tools are used in the manufacturing of printed circuit board
, flat panel display
s, and IC packaging, among other applications. These systems aid manufacturers by providing highly accurate, high-speed, and automated optical inspection
, allowing faster production speeds with less waste and at lower cost. The company is headquartered in Yavne
, Israel
and operates in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific.
, a leading Israeli holding company. After 18 months of development, Optrotech was first to market with its first-generation Automated optical inspection
product, although a number of other companies also had been working on their own automated inspection systems.
As the first to market, Optrotech was able to become the market leader in its field helping transform the printed circuit board
industry, enabling companies to begin the first of a series of dramatic productivity improvements. The faster production times and greater volumes helped drive costs down, and the steadily dropping prices of printed circuit board
s provided still further stimulation for the development of the global electronics and computer industries.
In 1983 a fellow Israeli company Orbot was founded by brothers Yochai and Kobi Richter, Shimon Ullman
and Zvi Lapidot; with the financail backing of Ormat Industries
. Orbot successfully launched competing automated optical inspection
solutions and by 1986 overtook Optrotech as the AOI market leader.
In 1984 Optrotech had an initial public offering
on NASDAQ
raising $10 million USD. The funds raised enabled Optrotech to develop the next generation of its automated optical inspection
technology and launched an effort to diversify its market, beginning development of its first CAD/CAM system.
subsidiary Orbot Instruments (which was later sold to Applied Materials
). The resulting business was then renamed Orbotech and managed to capture 70 percent of the AOI market.
processing solutions for financial institutions, launching a new subsidiary Orbograph Ltd.
In 1996, Orbotech established a joint venture
with Germany's Jenoptik AG
, to develop a laser-based direct imaging system for the production of PCB prototypes. The partnership came under full ownership of Orbotech in 2000.
In 1997, Orbotech acquired the AOI business of Germany's W. Schuh GmbH, a company thtat specialized in the production of assembled printed circuit board inspection equipment.
In 1998, Orbotech boosted its presence in Japan
by acquiring Toyo Ink Manufacturing's PCB sales and marketing operations, as well as Toyo's computer-aided manufacturing
(CAM) product line, which was developed by its Israeli subsidiary EIT.
In 1998, Orbotech entered into an agreement with Valor Computerized Systems Ltd. (which is now part of Mentor Graphics
), to form Frontline PCB Solutions, a joint venture
that develops CAM software for PCB fabrication. Frontline PCB Solutions is owned equally by Orbotech
and Mentor Graphics
.
(LCD) flat panel displays. In 1999 Orbotect acquired Japan's KLA Acrotec from the KLA-Tencor Corporation, which enabled the company to develop a leading position in the LCD Inception market.
arm , Orbotech Technology Ventures Ltd., in order to invest in technology start-ups.
In 2004, as part of the company’s strategy of diversifying into new growth areas for imaging technologies, Orbotech established a new subsidiary Orbotech Medical Solutions Ltd., to focus on the medical market. In 2005, Orbotech Medical acquired Imarad, a privately-held Israeli company that developed a technology to manufacture high performance, solid state cadmium zinc telluride
gamma radiation detectors, for $7.0 million; and in 2007 Orbotech Medical acquired 3D Danish Diagnostic Development A/S, a privately-held Danish company engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of gamma cameras for use in nuclear cardiac imaging, for approximately $41.0 million.
In October 2010, Orbotech entered into an agreement with General Electric
in which it sold Orbotech Medical Solutions to a subsidiary of GE, GE Medical Systems Israel Ltd. (formerly Elscint
Ltd.).
In September 2011, Orbotech's subsidiary Orbograph diversifies into healthcare revenue cycle management through the acquisition of Correct Claims Now, a company that provides healthcare payments processing services.
Automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection is an automated visual inspection of a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards , LCDs, transistors, automotive parts, lids and labels on product packages or agricultural products...
(AOI) and related imaging and computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a...
systems. The company's imaging tools are used in the manufacturing of printed circuit board
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
, flat panel display
Flat panel display
Flat panel displays encompass a growing number of electronic visual display technologies. They are far lighter and thinner than traditional television sets and video displays that use cathode ray tubes , and are usually less than thick...
s, and IC packaging, among other applications. These systems aid manufacturers by providing highly accurate, high-speed, and automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection is an automated visual inspection of a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards , LCDs, transistors, automotive parts, lids and labels on product packages or agricultural products...
, allowing faster production speeds with less waste and at lower cost. The company is headquartered in Yavne
Yavne
Yavne is a city in the Central District of Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , at the end of 2009 the city had a population of 33,000.-History:...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and operates in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific.
Early years
Orbotech was founded in 1981 by a team of engineers at Electro-Optical Industry Ltd. (El-Op) led by Dr. Shlomo Barak, who was developing electro-optical systems for military use, but saw commercial use for them as well. The company they formed was called Optrotech and received financial backing from Uzia Galil of Elron Electronic IndustriesElron Electronic Industries
Elron Electronic Industries is a technology holding company based in Haifa Israel; since 1962 the company has been involved in setting-up, funding and developing over 30 companies and is considered one of the foundation stones of the high-tech industry in Israel...
, a leading Israeli holding company. After 18 months of development, Optrotech was first to market with its first-generation Automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection is an automated visual inspection of a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards , LCDs, transistors, automotive parts, lids and labels on product packages or agricultural products...
product, although a number of other companies also had been working on their own automated inspection systems.
As the first to market, Optrotech was able to become the market leader in its field helping transform the printed circuit board
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
industry, enabling companies to begin the first of a series of dramatic productivity improvements. The faster production times and greater volumes helped drive costs down, and the steadily dropping prices of printed circuit board
Printed circuit board
A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
s provided still further stimulation for the development of the global electronics and computer industries.
In 1983 a fellow Israeli company Orbot was founded by brothers Yochai and Kobi Richter, Shimon Ullman
Shimon Ullman
Shimon Ullman is a professor of computer science at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. Ullman's main research area is the study of vision processing by both humans and machines. Specifically, he focuses on object and facial recognition, and has made a number of key insights in this field...
and Zvi Lapidot; with the financail backing of Ormat Industries
Ormat Industries
Ormat Industries Ltd. is a provider of alternative and renewable energy technology. To date the company has installed over 750 power units worldwide...
. Orbot successfully launched competing automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection is an automated visual inspection of a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards , LCDs, transistors, automotive parts, lids and labels on product packages or agricultural products...
solutions and by 1986 overtook Optrotech as the AOI market leader.
In 1984 Optrotech had an initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
on NASDAQ
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
raising $10 million USD. The funds raised enabled Optrotech to develop the next generation of its automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection
Automated optical inspection is an automated visual inspection of a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards , LCDs, transistors, automotive parts, lids and labels on product packages or agricultural products...
technology and launched an effort to diversify its market, beginning development of its first CAD/CAM system.
Merger of Optrotech and Orbot
In 1991 due to a slowdown in the global AOI market Optrotech and Orbot started discussing a merge of their complementary operations. In August 1992, Optrotech and Orbot reached a merger agreement, in which Optrotech absorbed Orbot, excluding its semiconductorSemiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
subsidiary Orbot Instruments (which was later sold to Applied Materials
Applied Materials
Applied Materials, Inc. is a capital equipment producer serving the semiconductor, TFT LCD display, Glass, WEB and solar manufacturing industries....
). The resulting business was then renamed Orbotech and managed to capture 70 percent of the AOI market.
Growth by diversification and acquisitions
In 1995, Orbotech adapted its technology to provide automatic checkCheck
Check may refer to* A small crack in the glass, also known as a check, in the glass container industry* Cheque , an order for transfer of money* Check box, a type of widget in computing...
processing solutions for financial institutions, launching a new subsidiary Orbograph Ltd.
In 1996, Orbotech established a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
with Germany's Jenoptik AG
Jenoptik
Jenoptik is an optoelectronics group located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany and a descendant of the pre-war Zeiss company. The business is divided into five divisions: Optical Systems, Lasers & Material Processing, Industrial Metrology, Traffic Solutions and Defense & Civil Systems.- Company profile...
, to develop a laser-based direct imaging system for the production of PCB prototypes. The partnership came under full ownership of Orbotech in 2000.
In 1997, Orbotech acquired the AOI business of Germany's W. Schuh GmbH, a company thtat specialized in the production of assembled printed circuit board inspection equipment.
In 1998, Orbotech boosted its presence in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by acquiring Toyo Ink Manufacturing's PCB sales and marketing operations, as well as Toyo's computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing
Computer-aided manufacturing is the use of computer software to control machine tools and related machinery in the manufacturing of workpieces. This is not the only definition for CAM, but it is the most common; CAM may also refer to the use of a computer to assist in all operations of a...
(CAM) product line, which was developed by its Israeli subsidiary EIT.
In 1998, Orbotech entered into an agreement with Valor Computerized Systems Ltd. (which is now part of Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics, Inc is a US-based multinational corporation dealing in electronic design automation for electrical engineering and electronics, as of 2004, ranked third in the EDA industry it helped create...
), to form Frontline PCB Solutions, a joint venture
Joint venture
A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...
that develops CAM software for PCB fabrication. Frontline PCB Solutions is owned equally by Orbotech
Orbotech
Orbotech Ltd. is an international developer and producer of automated optical inspection and related imaging and computer-aided manufacturing systems. The company's imaging tools are used in the manufacturing of printed circuit board, flat panel displays, and IC packaging, among other applications...
and Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics, Inc is a US-based multinational corporation dealing in electronic design automation for electrical engineering and electronics, as of 2004, ranked third in the EDA industry it helped create...
.
Entry into the flat panel displays market
During the 1990' Orbotech started developing a new automatic inception product line to support the new, fast growing, market of Liquid crystal displayLiquid crystal display
A liquid crystal display is a flat panel display, electronic visual display, or video display that uses the light modulating properties of liquid crystals . LCs do not emit light directly....
(LCD) flat panel displays. In 1999 Orbotect acquired Japan's KLA Acrotec from the KLA-Tencor Corporation, which enabled the company to develop a leading position in the LCD Inception market.
2000's
In 2001, Orbotech established its own venture capitalVenture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
arm , Orbotech Technology Ventures Ltd., in order to invest in technology start-ups.
In 2004, as part of the company’s strategy of diversifying into new growth areas for imaging technologies, Orbotech established a new subsidiary Orbotech Medical Solutions Ltd., to focus on the medical market. In 2005, Orbotech Medical acquired Imarad, a privately-held Israeli company that developed a technology to manufacture high performance, solid state cadmium zinc telluride
Cadmium zinc telluride
Cadmium zinc telluride, or CZT, is a compound of cadmium, zinc and tellurium or, more strictly speaking, an alloy of cadmium telluride and zinc telluride. A direct bandgap semiconductor, it is used in a variety of applications, including radiation detectors, photorefractive gratings,...
gamma radiation detectors, for $7.0 million; and in 2007 Orbotech Medical acquired 3D Danish Diagnostic Development A/S, a privately-held Danish company engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of gamma cameras for use in nuclear cardiac imaging, for approximately $41.0 million.
In October 2010, Orbotech entered into an agreement with General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
in which it sold Orbotech Medical Solutions to a subsidiary of GE, GE Medical Systems Israel Ltd. (formerly Elscint
Elscint
Elscint Ltd. was an Israeli technology company that development, manufacture and sold medical imaging solutions, including: Nuclear medicine, computed tomography magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray scanners. Elscint's shares traded on the NASDAQ as well as on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. At its...
Ltd.).
In September 2011, Orbotech's subsidiary Orbograph diversifies into healthcare revenue cycle management through the acquisition of Correct Claims Now, a company that provides healthcare payments processing services.
See also
- Automated optical inspectionAutomated optical inspectionAutomated optical inspection is an automated visual inspection of a wide range of products, such as printed circuit boards , LCDs, transistors, automotive parts, lids and labels on product packages or agricultural products...
- Elron Electronic IndustriesElron Electronic IndustriesElron Electronic Industries is a technology holding company based in Haifa Israel; since 1962 the company has been involved in setting-up, funding and developing over 30 companies and is considered one of the foundation stones of the high-tech industry in Israel...
- Ormat IndustriesOrmat IndustriesOrmat Industries Ltd. is a provider of alternative and renewable energy technology. To date the company has installed over 750 power units worldwide...
- Silicon WadiSilicon WadiSilicon Wadi is an area with a high concentration of high-tech industries in the coastal plain in Israel, similar to Silicon Valley in California, in the United States. Silicon Wadi is considered second in importance only to its Californian counterpart...