Concept Laser CEO Receives Award
Frank Herzog is named best chief executive officer in the additive manufacturing Industry
Posted: November 6, 2015
Yet another award for Frank Herzog, the founder and chief executive officer of Concept Laser GmbH (Lichtenfels, Germany). After being nominated for the 2015 German Future Prize, Herzog has now been voted best chief executive officer in the Additive Manufacturing Industry 2015 by the London-based publication European CEO. The award recognizes the outstanding entrepreneurship that has made his company so successful in the past 15 years since it was founded in 2000. The judging panel also honored his achievements in the field of laser melting with metals that have contributed to additive manufacturing as a groundbreaking technology.
The panel recognized solid growth as an expression of farsighted leadership. After increasing sales by 75 percent in 2014, a 35 percent increase in revenues was achieved during the first quarter of 2015. Whereas 45 systems were sold during the same period last year, 68 orders have been received this year, an increase of nearly 50 percent.
The company is planning to increase the number of machines sold to 150 units by the end of the year. Second quarter revenue grew by 35 percent due to sales of large-scale systems in the 1,000 W laser class and demand from the aerospace industry in the U.S. Staff numbers increased by 30 percent in the first half of 2015. The company currently employs 150 people.
In the past two years, the company has also made many investments in order to meet the structural challenges of this growth and set the stage for a successful future. In 2014 it opened a new development center to expand its research and development activities for systems, processes and materials. The center is now home to approximately 50 employees. This was followed by massive expansion of manufacturing and assembly capacities, culminating in a new and streamlined distribution center that opened in 2015.
The award also recognizes dedication and innovative contributions to additive manufacturing as a groundbreaking new technology and paradigm shift in design and production environments that means lightweight designs, new integrated functions, improved topologies or bionic structural elements will become a crucial part of the way engineers approach design. Ultimately, the geometric freedom inherent to this process will give rise to a continuous stream of new product ideas.
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