Spectrum anniversary edition

About us
Quantum Design Europe – Who we are
and since when
The European idea became popular
in our company a long time ago. QD
(at that time still LOT) had realized
in the seventieth that international
suppliers liked it very much if their
products were distributed all over
Europe – and not only in the German
speaking countries.
European chronicle:
Austria was traditionally taken care
of from Darmstadt.
In 1977, the Swiss office started as a
freelance, one-man business. In 1989,
Patricia Reinecke joined the company.
She says: „I started in what was
then called the LOT Group and have
experienced many changes since
then. We started with two people,
grew to seven and returned to two
people in 2013. I enjoy my work in
this dynamic company ...“ Almost since
then Julien Dumouchel is in charge
„I started fifteen years ago, and
I am still here and happy to assist
customers and colleagues… Coming
from the sea (Le Havre, Normandie), I
have always been attracted by mountains.“
Four children crown his life.
The French office was founded in
1985, and since 1990 QD France has
been an independent office with ten
employees. It is managed by the dual
leadership of Lionel Sudrie and Nicolas
Tcherbak. Some of our French
employees have also been with us
for a long time: Isabelle Soares, who
is responsible for logistics, has been
working with us since 1987, and Sakina
Chetouane, who joined us in 1985,
is responsible for the sales administration.
In 1989, the Italian branch was founded.
The Italian office has grown
continuously and now has 11 employees.
Since 1991, the Italian office
has been an independent subsidiary.
It is managed by Diego Vitaglione,
who joined us in 2000 as sales engineer.
In 1990, a subsidiary in the United
Kingdom was founded. LOT UK has
completed a pre-Brexit and left the
former LOT group in 2017 to become
more independent. However, they still
belong to the large Quantum Design
family.
In 2003, a „Nordic“ sales office was installed
in the north of Europe to cover
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland.
Four years later, Staffan Eriksson joined
us to take over the office. He has a
young family and loves the beautiful
Swedish outdoors.
In 2005, our BeNeLux office was established.
It has been run by our Belgian
colleague Stephane Struyve since
2011. Stephane is a “bon vivant” in the
best sense of the word – He not only
loves fine food and modern interiors
but also to work hard. He lives in Grimbergen
(near Brussels) with his family,
including three teenage daughters.
We’ve been having two offices in Poland
since 2006. This was when Dr.
Agnieszka Kowalczyk started working
for us, not long after she had completed
her doctorate. She represents
the majority of our product range. In
Chorzow, where she lives with her family,
she can „go hiking, trekking and
cycling, but also attend interesting
pop and rock concerts.” The second Polish
office underwent a generational
change. Since 2017, Piotr Dluzewski
has continued his father‘s work. He
loves the mountains and just recently
became a father too. „Apart from trekking,
I love skiing (my first job ever
was as a ski instructor), sailing on the
Masurian Lakes and basketball.“
Since 2008, Xavier Boira has been responsible
for the QD office on the Iberian
Peninsula, based near Barcelona.
Besides his family – he has an 8 year
old daughter – he enjoys very much to
read and listen to music. Furthermore,
he is a real supporter of automobile
and motorcycle sports.
Partnering with QD Europe has
allowed us to connect with and
serve the European research community
in a way that aligns with
our core company values. Our
local reps have added a layer of
application expertise to the overall
customer experience, helping
us to provide technical solutions
that accelerate end-user productivity.
We really admire the role QD
has played in helping to advance
scientific discoveries worldwide
over the last 50 years. We are excited
to continue our partnership in
pursuit of this shared passion!
Montana Instruments
Luke Mauritsen
CEO & Founder
The Romanian office was set up in
2008 and Octavian Buiu has been with
our company since then. He lives in
Bucharest, is an enthusiastic scientist,
and also loves photography.
Also since 2017, Cecilia Steinbach has
continued her father‘s work in Hungary.
„My father started working with
LOT more than 15 years ago. I started
working in the company in 2017 after
I obtained my doctorate in physics“
and about her private life „I live in Budapest
with my husband and my three
little sons. In my spare time... oh, normally
I don‘t have any free time, but
when I do, I like to go hiking, work in
the garden, sew and do DIY projects“.
Our cooperation and representation
in Tchechia an Slovakia started in
1997. They then sold our light sources,
spectrographs and detection cameras.
Today, Martin Klecka and his cheerful
team – which has grown rapidly and
very successfully – offer the complete
Quantum Design product range
in Czech and Slovac republic. „As the
business raised over the last 10 years,
we have added service technicians
to the team to be able to support our
customers not only in the selection of
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