Thorlabs completed the acquisition of JML Optical within this month and will expand the optical lens business

On January 16, Thorlabs, an American diversified photonics company, announced that it had agreed to acquire JML Optical Industries, a precision optical company based in Rochester, New York, the United States, and the two parties had reached a final acquisition agreement. The M&A is expected to be completed by the end of January, and Thorlabs will further expand its products in optical components.

JML Optical Industries, founded in 1972 by Joseph M. Lobozzo II, provides a series of spherical, aspheric, planar, cylindrical and non-cylindrical lenses, as well as professional knowledge in coatings, fast-rotating optics and optical system design, covering a wide range of market areas. The company was acquired by five point capital, a private equity company, in 2011. It now has 70000 square feet of space and is committed to the design, production and testing of lenses and multi-element optical equipment.

According to Thorlabs, after the completion of this acquisition, JML team will stay in Rochester, the United States, where it will establish a new department called Thorlabs Lens Systems (TLS), and commit to make "major" investments to expand its business.

Thorlabs completed the acquisition of JML Optical within this month and will expand the optical lens business
Thorlabs pointed out that the operation of TLS as a R&D and production facility will increase Thorlabs' existing optical manufacturing space and capacity. At present, the optical category in Thorlabs' park in New Jersey occupies 120000 square feet of vertically integrated production space and 24000 square feet in factories in South Carolina and California. "

Expand the global influence of optical business
For this transaction, Bob Bicksler, president and CEO of JML, commented: "In the past 50 years, JML optical team has set benchmarks for lens components and lens assembly development for many times. We are proud to be the leader in providing optical solutions. We think this merger is a good opportunity to increase the exposure of our products through Thorlabs' extensive global influence."

Bill Donovan, head of Thorlabs optics department, added: "We are very pleased to welcome the experienced JML team to join Thorlabs and look forward to using their mature optical capabilities to further serve the photonics industry. Rochester is one of the most important and dynamic communities of optical technology in the United States, where there are many key design and manufacturing businesses.

Thorlabs will further provide the capabilities needed for innovation for the future development of photonics."

Paul Melone, global optical manufacturing director of Thorlabs, said that this part of the business will be further expanded in the near future, He said: "I look forward to helping JML team integrate into Thorlabs ecosystem. Their QuickTurn Optics (QTO) function is well known in the market and has a high synergy with Thorlabs' existing rapid listing concept. We have planned to make major investments in expanding the Rochester team and its manufacturing capacity and capability."

This cooperation is expected to be completed by the end of this month. At that time, Thorlabs and JML will participate in the SPIE Photonics West technology exhibition in San Francisco and display corresponding laser and optical products.

About Thorlabs
Thorlabs is a manufacturer of vertically integrated photonics products, established in 1989, focusing on the research of vertically integrated designers and manufacturers' photonic devices, as well as industrial, life sciences, biomedical and defense applications. Products include optical machinery, motion control, optics, optical fiber and optical fiber processing systems, optical analysis, laser and SLD, optical amplifiers, imaging components and microscope systems. The company has branches in 9 countries around the world, and has manufacturing plants and sales centers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden, Japan, China and Brazil. The company has more than 20000 kinds of products, ranging from simple optical components and mechanical equipment to sophisticated complete sets of detection and measurement systems.

About JML Optical

JML Optical is a precision engineering customized optical solution provider, serving the laser and optoelectronic research market. At present, the company mainly focuses on precision engineering customized optical glass solutions, rapid design and prototype lenses and complete components. The company's advantageous businesses include: advanced optical and optical mechanical design, clean room components and prototypes, cylindrical/aspherical/spherical/planar/planar optical and film coating manufacturing, and the prototype assembly can be completed in 4 weeks or less.

Source: OFweek