Amid fanfare, Carl Zeiss SMT opens North American headquarters

-- Test & Measurement World, 4/25/2008 9:36:00 AM

PEABODY, MA—At what the company billed as "the smallest ribbon-cutting ceremony in history," Carl Zeiss SMT (www.smt.zeiss.com) opened its North American headquarters here on Wednesday, April 23. Speaking to an invited audience of around 50 people including customers, local politicians, and the press, Carl Zeiss president Frank Averdung explained that the company's instruments can measure distances "from stars to atoms."

Dr. Dirk Stenkamp, Frank Averdung, both from Carl Zeiss; and Dr. Bernd Rinner, Deputy Consul General, German Consulate, Boston, push a button to start the "nano-ribbon cutting" ceremony.

Averdung cited the company's reason for locating its North American headquarters near Boston. "It's a high-tech area with universities, government, and a pool of highly skilled people," he said. The Peabody facility houses engineering, manufacturing, technical support, departments, and demonstration rooms for the company's nanotechnology product line of microscopes. Products include scanning-electron microscopes, crossbeam microscopes, and helium-ion microscopes. Currently, Carl Zeiss SMT employs 70 people in Peabody, but executives expect that number to rise to 150.

Following Averdung, Dr. Eric Martin, Technical Director of Harvard University's Center for Nanoscale Systems, commented on how Carl Zeiss SMT supports nanotechnology research at Harvard. The Center for Nanoscale Systems has a Zeiss helium-ion microscope, the only microscope of its kind in a shared facility. The microscope helps researchers in nanotechnology, medical imaging, materials science, solar power, and fuel-cell technology.

Dr. Michael T. Postek, Chief, Precision Engineering Division, Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) told the audience that NIST has the first commercial version of the helium-ion microscope. "Accurate measurements are more important than ever," he said. "Metrology is necessary because if you can't measure something, you can't manufacture it." He continued, "For every $1 spent on measurement at NIST, industry sees $3.36 in return."

Following the speeches, visitors saw a video presentation, "The world's smallest ribbon cutting."  Visitors saw the image of a blue ribbon from a high-power microscope as a beam cut the ribbon.

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