1/2011 - Jenoptik AG

Twenty years ago, the Group’s future was not looking as bright.
Jenoptik was created during the reunification period from the
publicly owned enterprise VEB Carl Zeiss Jena, from which the
“Treuhandanstalt” (Trust agency) initially founded JENOPTIK
Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH. This reflected the Jenoptik brand, which
had existed since the fifties and, from 1971, was used for Zeiss
Jena products in the Western states.
Negotiations between the Trust, Carl Zeiss in the East and
West as well as the state governments in Thuringia and Baden-
Württemberg were completed in June 1991 with an agreement
in principle on the restructuring of the Jena parent company
with 13 businesses and about 30,000 employees. Carl Zeiss Jena
GmbH and JENOPTIK GmbH, in which the state of Thuringia
had a 100 percent holding, emerged out of JENOPTIK Carl Zeiss
Jena GmbH. JENOPTIK GmbH assumed the business areas of
optoelectronics, systems engineering and precision manufacturing,
as well as the majority of Zeiss property, as the legal successor
of the Zeiss collective. Jenoptik was considered not capable
of being restructured, with around 17,500 Zeiss employees laid
off by the end of 1991 in Jena alone.
According to the trust deed, the former publicly owned com-
pany was to be “liquidated” with 3.6 billion DM. Minus debts,
pensions and subsidies for outsourced businesses, about 600
million DM remained for Jenoptik, which was to cover losses
until 1995 by which time Jenoptik should really have been a part
of history. But Lothar Späth, as the first Managing Director of
Jenoptik, former Premier of the federal county of Baden-Württemberg,
had other plans. He developed, restructured or sold
Zeiss property. Jenoptik was able to offset the losses in business
operations and to report a small profit already in 1993. Above
all, it was possible to buy companies with established distribution
networks in the western states. One of the largest acquisitions
was the Meissner + Wurst GmbH in Stuttgart in 1994,
which specialized in clean-room technology for chip factories.
Jenoptik has been operating as an Aktiengesellschaft (pub-
lic company) since the start of 1996; from 1997, the state of
Thuringia held 49.99 percent of Jenoptik. Jenoptik was restructured
in preparation for the IPO in June 1998. After the IPO,
Jenoptik increased its focus on the traditional core businesses
of lasers, optics, sensors and mechatronics. As early as 1997,
Jenoptik acquired ESW-Extel Systems GmbH, which strengthened
the Photonics and Sensors units and is today the largest
subunit of the Defense & Civil Systems division. ROBOT Foto
and Electronic GmbH, purchased in 1999, is now the Traffic
Solutions division, while Hommelwerke GmbH from Villingen-
Schwenningen, purchased in 2000, represents the Industrial
Metrology division. In 2006, Jenoptik separated from M + W
Zander, and thus 85 percent of sales at the time. For the first
time in its existence, Jenoptik focused on the traditional hightech
businesses surrounding optoelectronics, which continues
to this day.
This concentration on core competence has been supported
with a new divisional structure since 1997 under the new
leadership of Michael Mertin. With its five divisions of Lasers
& Material Processing, Optical Systems, Industrial Metrology,
Traffic Solutions and Defense & Civil Systems, Jenoptik is more
closely oriented to the global markets and its customers, which,
in particular, include companies from the semiconductor and
semiconductor equipment manufacturing industry, automotive
and automotive supplier industry, medical technology, security
and defense technology as well as the aviation industry.
Apart from commercial operations, Jenoptik carries responsi-
bility for youth, science and social affairs. Jenoptik has been
the third partner in the “Jenaer Bildungszentrum – Schott,
Carl Zeiss, Jenoptik” (Jena Educational Center) since 2009, in
which the three companies combine their training in Thuringia.
Jenoptik cooperates with the Jena universities in research and
development, among others at the Abbe School of Photonics.
Social responsibility is also reflected in the day care center
“Saaleknirpse”, which had been built on behalf of JENOPTIK AG
in Jena to give employees a better work/family balance.
In the 2011 anniversary year, Jenoptik is ”a financially and
economically sound company,” as Michael Mertin highlights.
The positive development of the Group is continuing in 2011
and has been reflected in its best first quarter in the company’s
recent history. A big thank you to all employees and supporters! www.jenoptik.com
pr@jenoptik.com
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