Orbotech

Orbotech Ltd. a subsidiary of KLA Corporation and a technology company used in the manufacturing of consumer and industrial products throughout the electronics and adjacent industries. The company providing electronics reading, writing, and connecting solutions used by manufacturers of printed circuit boards, flat panel displays, advanced packaging, micro-electro-mechanical systems and other electronic components. The company is headquartered in Yavne, Israel and operates in North America, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific.[1]

Corporate history

Early years

Optrotech, one of the two companies which eventually merged to create Orbotech, was founded in 1981 by a team of engineers at Electro-Optical Industry Ltd. (El-Op) led by Shlomo Barak, who was developing electro-optical systems for military use, but saw commercial use for them as well. The company received financial backing from Uzia Galil of Elron Electronic Industries, an Israeli holding company. After 18 months of development, Optrotech was first to market with its first-generation Automated optical inspection product, although a number of other companies also had been working on their own automated inspection systems.[2]

2000s

In 2001, Orbotech established its own venture capital arm, Orbotech Technology Ventures Ltd., in order to invest in technology start-ups.[12]

In 2004, as part of the company’s strategy of diversifying into new growth areas for imaging technologies, Orbotech established a new subsidiary Orbotech Medical Solutions Ltd., to focus on the medical market. In 2005, Orbotech Medical acquired Imarad, a privately held Israeli company that developed a technology to manufacture high performance, solid state cadmium zinc telluride gamma radiation detectors, for $7.0 million; and in 2007 Orbotech Medical acquired 3D Danish Diagnostic Development A/S, a privately held Danish company engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of gamma cameras for use in nuclear cardiac imaging, for approximately $41.0 million.

In October 2010, Orbotech entered into an agreement with General Electric in which it sold Orbotech Medical Solutions to a subsidiary of GE, GE Medical Systems Israel Ltd. (formerly Elscint Ltd.).[13]

In 2009, Orbotech's Assembly Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) division, which had been started in 1997 by the acquisition of Schuh GmbH, was spun off into a separate company, ORPRO Vision GmbH.[14] The company sells self-contained machines for production line inspection in the automotive electronics, telecommunication, aerospace, medical and industrial electronics industries.

In September 2011, Orbotech's subsidiary Orbograph diversified into healthcare revenue cycle management through the acquisition of Correct Claims Now, a company providing healthcare payments processing services.[15]

In July 2014, Orbotech acquired British company SPTS Technologies, a manufacturer of equipment used to produce Micro ElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) and semiconductor devices, for total consideration of $371 million.[16]

In March 2018, semiconductor company KLA-Tencor announced that it would buy Orbotech for a price of $38.86 in cash and 0.25 of a share of KLA-Tencor common stock in exchange for each ordinary share of Orbotech, implying a total consideration of approximately $69.02 per share, a 10% premium on the share price.[17]

In February 2019 KLA completed the acquisition of Orbotech.[18]

type	Subsidiary
founder	Shlomo Barak Yochai Richter Kobi Richter Prof. Shimon Ullman Zvi Lapidot Ami Caspi
key people	Gil Oron (CEO)
industry	Electronics
num employees	2,400 (2019)
parent	KLA Corporation (2019–present)
divisions	Printed Circuit Boards Flat Panel Displays
subsid	Orbograph Ltd. Orbotech LT Solar, LLC Frontline PCB Solutions Ltd.
foundation	1981
location city	Yavne
location country	Israel
homepage	orbotech.com

Corporate history

Early years

Merger of Optrotech and Orbot

Growth by diversification and acquisitions

Entry into the flat panel display market

Entry into the flat panel display market

2000s

See also

References