Photon Dynamics Ushers in Next Phase of Yield Management and Expands European Electronics Presence
SAN JOSE, Calif.--Nov. 6, 2001--Integrated Yield Management Enables Global Manufacturers to Achieve a
Higher Level of Competitiveness with Sustainable Yield Edge
Photon Dynamics, Inc. a leading supplier of integrated yield management solutions for the display, electronics, and glass markets, today announced its commitment to address the mounting pressures on manufacturers to achieve a sustainable yield edge. The company's approach -- integrated yield management -- goes beyond traditional machine vision inspection to give manufacturers the ability to automate and integrate key steps in the defect detection process and rapidly diagnose and repair process-related defects at the point where they occur.
Photon Dynamics' acquisitions, CR Technology and Intelligent Reasoning Systems, Inc. (IRSI), have provided the industry's highest ease-of-use and best defect detection technology, which serves as the core foundation of the company's advanced integrated yield management solutions.
To better serve its global customers in fast-growing markets, Photon Dynamics' new London office is fully dedicated to meeting the requirements of the exploding European electronics market.
"In today's uncertain economy, maximizing manufacturing output is more critical than ever before. To address the challenges of shrinking product cycles, escalating costs and intensified global competition, manufacturers are adopting advanced yield management solutions," said Vincent Sollitto, president and CEO of Photon Dynamics. "Photon Dynamics has strategically expanded its organization, thus gaining momentum for its new vision and ambitious industry agenda. We are a fast growing, technology-driven, integrated company focused on the next step in yield management -- integrated solutions to attain maximum yield edge."
The goal of integrated yield management is to use the least amount of input to produce the maximum amount of output. It lets manufacturers acquire and leverage the enormous amount of data generated in today's complex processes, automate and integrate key steps in the defect detection, classification, measurement and mitigation process, and make more timely beta and production process adjustments. Ultimately, integrated yield management aims to help manufacturers to reduce ramp-up time and quickly stamp out yield crashes to achieve the maximum possible output.
Strategic Acquisitions Provide Core Technologies
Over the past two years, Photon Dynamics has executed an aggressive, strategic corporate acquisitions campaign. Its leadership position in yield management combined with the integration of new core technologies, makes Photon Dynamics best positioned to bring yield management solutions to the next level.
CR Technology's inspection equipment has earned an outstanding reputation for ease-of-use, fast set up time and high value. Its defect detection technology is recognized as the easiest to get up and running. IRSI brings defect detection that has proven unbeatable in system evaluations. Using the best elements of these technologies, Photon Dynamics offers a superior inspection platform as the core of its integrated yield management strategy.
"As processes get more complex and product lifecycles decrease, integrated yield management allows manufacturers to identify defects earlier and make process repairs more quickly. It lets them achieve maximum yield production and maintain it for the life of the product," said Alan Cable, Managing Director of European operations for Photon Dynamics' Electronics Division. "We come to the market with the best ease-of-use and defect detection in the industry and we have the technology, worldwide infrastructure, financial resources, and strategic intent to make integrated yield management a reality for our customers worldwide"
Customers will be able to implement inspection systems faster and with lower cost of ownership. They will be able to tie the data from these systems back into the assembly process, thus achieving unprecedented yield control and improvement. Improved yields translate into higher efficiency and lower costs.
Photon Dynamics Europe
Photon Dynamics is well positioned to support the European market, which accounts for 20 to 25 percent of the world's electronic assembly business, and holds a dominant share of the mobile communications industry.
The company has sales offices in Eindhoven, Netherlands, and Redhill, London, focused on the European electronics industry. The London office will provide a strong two-way interchange between customers and the factory, giving European customers very high visibility in development projects and extending the company's global product offering.
Photon Dynamics has over 125 systems installed in Europe. Key customers include: Philips, Alcatel/Bell, Flextronics International, Celestica, Magnetti Marelli, Marconi, British Aerospace and Thomson/Thales.
About Photon Dynamics, Inc.
Photon Dynamics, Inc. is a leading global supplier of integrated yield management solutions for the display, electronics and glass markets. The company's products enable manufacturers to collect production line data, analyze it, and quickly diagnose and repair process-related defects. This decreases material costs and improves throughput, giving manufacturers an incremental yield edge critical to their success.
Photon Dynamics' solutions, based on patented technologies and systems engineering expertise, are used for flat-panel display test, inspection and repair; CRT display and automotive glass inspection; and advanced semiconductor inspection and PWA packaging solutions.
Founded in 1986, Photon Dynamics has sales offices and customer support services in San Jose and Aliso Viejo, California; Austin, Texas; Beijing, China; Eindhoven, Netherlands; Hsinchu and Taipei, Taiwan; Markham, Ontario, Canada; Redhill, Surrey, U.K.; Seoul, Korea; and Tokyo, Japan. For more information about Photon Dynamics, visit its Web site: www.photondynamics.com
Safe Harbor Statement
The statements in this press release relating to Photon Dynamics' projected future financial results are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current expectations on the date of this press release and involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to: the recent economic downturn, terrorist attacks and military action in Afghanistan have created substantial economic uncertainty, which may cause Photon Dynamics' customers to reduce investments in Photon Dynamics' products below that which Photon Dynamics projects until the markets become more certain; recent economic conditions may cause an increase in competitive pricing pressures; and the risk of the introduction of competing products having technological and/or pricing advantages. As a result, Photon Dynamics' actual results may differ substantially from expectations. For further information, refer to Photon Dynamics' most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Forms 10- 10-Q, S-3, and 8-K. Photon Dynamics undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new developments or otherwise.