Nanopositioning and precision control company PI ramps up US manufacturing

PI (Physik Instrumente) L.P. (Karlsruhe/Palmbach, Germany) a leading manufacturer of nanopositioning and precision motion control equipment for industries including bio/nanotechnology, medical, optics, and photonics, says it is ramping up its manufacturing capabilities in the US. The move is important, says PI, because it will allow the company to become more competitive and flexible.

The focus of PI's US engineering effort is on developing standard and custom nanopositioning products specifically suited for the needs of the North American market, by working more closely with the customer's engineering teams and budgets. Last year, PI appointed as VP of Engineering and Manufacturing Philip Greene, who developed extensive technical knowledge of ultra-precision motion systems' design and manufacture while VP of Engineering at Dover Instrument Corporation (now part of Danaher Motion). Greene is based in PI's US headquarters in Auburn, MA.

"This move will also take advantage of the US's relatively low manufacturing cost compared to the EU and makes PI more competitive within the North American market" says Brian Lula PI USA's president. "Phil Greene's broad expertise in motion system design, test metrologies and manufacturing under a strong QA discipline will be greatly beneficial to PI's North American customers".

Greene has already started to build an engineering team at the company's Auburn, MA US headquarters. The group has completed the design of a number of new piezoelectric nanopositioning products which began shipping to customers in January 2009. Engineers have at their disposal modern design tools such as CAD and Finite Element Analysis to cut development time. A nanometrology lab with industry-leading Zygo interferometry test equipment promises that products meet PI's stringent performance standards.

For more information see PI's North American website.