Waldkirch / Singapore, February 2009 – SICK AG is officially opening its first Application Center (ACA) in Asia. With a floor area of almost 1000 m², system solutions for factory and logistics automation can be set up, tested and optimised for subsequent productive use under realistic conditions. The ACA also offers the opportunity to train customers and employees on the systems and applications under realistic practical conditions.

As a result of the strong growth forecast in Asia, SICK AG decided on the ACA, offering customers responses to detailed technical questions and special application requirements – without major time zone differences – to complement the activities of its sales subsidiaries.

The SICK Group founded its first Asian subsidiary in Japan more than twenty years ago. The company is now represented by its own subsidiaries in all important Asian markets. During the 2007 fiscal year, the highest year on year growth rate for all of SICK was achieved in the Asian-Pacific region.
Staff at the individual subsidiaries remain the first contacts for their customers. In order to be able to meet special needs, however, the employees of the Application Center are available for second level support: they are the contacts for detailed technical questions and special application requirements.

Automation applications and solutions can be realistically set up, tested and prepared for rapid implementation in a customer environment at a variety of stations, e.g. on a test conveyor or in the applications laboratory. In a total floor area of about 1000 m2. All current technologies and applications in factory and logistics automation are covered, such as high end vision based barcode reading systems or image processing.

Six employees will initially be available for technical questions, needs and specifications, preparing solution proposals for products and systems, and carrying out software adaptations to meet local requirements. “A widespread global structure offering close proximity to the customer is an important factor in the success of the SICK Group. For this reason, we are consistently following our customers to Asia in order to work out the best automation solutions in collaboration with them there”, explains Markus Paschmann, the SICK AG Executive Board member responsible for the Factory Automation segment.

The Group has already been running comparable Technology Centers successfully in the USA and Europe for many years, via which numerous interesting customer projects have been introduced.

SICK AG is one of the world’s leading producers of sensors and sensor solutions for industrial applications. The company, founded in 1946 and based in Waldkirch-im-Breisgau in Germany, employs more than 5,000 employees worldwide and achieved Group sales of EUR 708 m. in 2007. Further information on SICK can be obtained on the Internet at http://www.sick.com.