rus
The FEI company (the Netherlands) and its Russian partner – Technoinfo company – were among the sponsors and active participants of the XIX Russian Symposium on scanning electron microscopy and analytical methods of solids investigations. FEI is one of the world leaders in the field of electronic, ionic and correlative microscopy operating in the market for over 60 years. The company offers wide range of solutions of different levels for scientific research and industrial measurements of objects in the micro-, nano-, and picometer scales. Devices by FEI are successfully used in materials science, life sciences, electronics, natural resources, as well as in many other fields. Equipment of the company is installed in the largest Russian scientific and educational centers. About the main directions of development and market trends in microscopy told Ernst-Jan Vesseur, Product Marketing Manager & Sr. Application Scientist at FEI.
How do you estimate positions of FEI in the market for electron microscopy?
The market is divided between five major producers, and the share of FEI approximately equal with competitors share, or roughly 20%. However, the market is heterogeneous, since the microscopes are differ according to the degree of complexity and, accordingly, price. FEI focuses on the top segment, i.e. high-tech systems. In our devices are implemented all of the most advanced developments in the field of electron microscopy, including proprietary know-how and patented solutions. We are the only ones on the market offer all kinds of electron microscopes: TEM, SEM, focused ion beam (FIB) systems and DualBeam (FIB/SEM) systems.
The FEI equipment is manufactured in modern factories located in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), Portland (USA) and Brno (Czech Republic). Last year the factory in Brno has been upgraded and expanded, becoming one of the largest factories in the world in the production of electron microscopes. The software is developed by our division in France. Thus, it can be argued that from the point of view of technology and innovations, we are the market leaders.
What are the challenges faced FEI as a developer of high-tech measuring devices?
From the point of view of market requirements the main challenge is a large range of applications. This is true primarily for science, where each study is unique, so the device must meet specific requirements. To match them, we should, on the one hand, to create a more versatile and exible devices, on the other hand, to make the equipment easier to use. In industry tasks are largely standardized, so the main requirement is to simplify the entire workflow from sample preparation to instrument settings and user interface.
What is the structure of sales of FEI’s products by market sectors?
We focus on four main areas: materials science, electronics, life sciences, natural resources. About 40% of the revenue of the company brings a segment of materials science, 30% – electronics and 20% – life sciences, and 10% – natural resources. However, the greatest potential for growth are the last two segments, in particular the oil and gas industry, where modern methods of analysis can significantly increase the efficiency of exploration. In Russia most of the projects related to the field of materials science, but also been a noticeable increase investment in the development of life sciences.
How important for FEI is R&D?
The research and development division is one of the largest departments of the FEI, in which is invested a significant part of the company’s revenue – about $ 100 million a year. For the last 1.5 years, we launched 20 new products, which speaks for itself. We believe that technological leadership is the strategic competitive advantage of our company, so high investment in technical development is extremely important. This provides our clients confidence that buying a FEI’s devices, they get the best product in its class.
What are in your opinion the main directions of improvement of the microscopes?
In the field of electron microscopy, the objective is to further increase the image quality. Because the physical limit of resolution improvement is actually achieved, the main areas of research are the improvement in contrast and details by optimizing receiving and processing the signal. For this are improved both hardware and software.
In the field of FIB I would like to note the introduction of a plasma ion source, which allows to perform milling with a significantly higher speed than the gallium ion sources. A very interesting group of products are DualBeam system, which combines sample preparation by ion beam milling and analysis by means of electron microscopy.
In life sciences in demand are correlative solutions that combine light and electron microscopy. Integration into system of the microtome allows to increase considerably speed of the study, consistently consecutively performing the slices followed by microscopic analysis, and to obtain the three-dimensional image of a sample at the output.
In general, it should be noted that combining different measurement technologies in one working process and correlation analysis of the results is an important trend in the development of microscopy. The Goal is getting comprehensive information about the object, including images with different magnification from the micro- to the nanoscale with their linking to each other.
What are the special features of software for electron microscopes?
First, the interface must be user friendly so that the device can be used by customers of different level, secondly, advanced capabilities of measurement settings are required, as well as processing and analysis of obtained images, including creation of 3D-models, thirdly, it must be provided efficiency in processing of large amounts of data.
What is the sales and service strategy of FEI in Russia?
In Russia we work with three distributors: CMA, Melytec and Technoinfo. Each of these companies represents the whole line of our products, but focuses on different segments of the market. For example, Melytec has a good position in the market of industry solutions, and Technoinfo very successfully works with scientific and educational institutions. In our opinion this specialization is very important, as it allows a better understanding of customers to offer them the best solutions, which ensures the best results for us, distributors, and end users.
We understand that to provide in such big country good users support, the rational organization of service structures is very important. In Moscow is organized the service center which consists of nine engineers, trained at our plant in Eindhoven. If necessary, they get the assistance of the European service center and specialists of plants, if the problem is highly technical.
I note that FEI appreciates the potential of the Russian market and we consider him a key to the future development of our business.
Thanks for the interesting story.
The interview was taken by D.Gudilin
The market is divided between five major producers, and the share of FEI approximately equal with competitors share, or roughly 20%. However, the market is heterogeneous, since the microscopes are differ according to the degree of complexity and, accordingly, price. FEI focuses on the top segment, i.e. high-tech systems. In our devices are implemented all of the most advanced developments in the field of electron microscopy, including proprietary know-how and patented solutions. We are the only ones on the market offer all kinds of electron microscopes: TEM, SEM, focused ion beam (FIB) systems and DualBeam (FIB/SEM) systems.
The FEI equipment is manufactured in modern factories located in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), Portland (USA) and Brno (Czech Republic). Last year the factory in Brno has been upgraded and expanded, becoming one of the largest factories in the world in the production of electron microscopes. The software is developed by our division in France. Thus, it can be argued that from the point of view of technology and innovations, we are the market leaders.
What are the challenges faced FEI as a developer of high-tech measuring devices?
From the point of view of market requirements the main challenge is a large range of applications. This is true primarily for science, where each study is unique, so the device must meet specific requirements. To match them, we should, on the one hand, to create a more versatile and exible devices, on the other hand, to make the equipment easier to use. In industry tasks are largely standardized, so the main requirement is to simplify the entire workflow from sample preparation to instrument settings and user interface.
What is the structure of sales of FEI’s products by market sectors?
We focus on four main areas: materials science, electronics, life sciences, natural resources. About 40% of the revenue of the company brings a segment of materials science, 30% – electronics and 20% – life sciences, and 10% – natural resources. However, the greatest potential for growth are the last two segments, in particular the oil and gas industry, where modern methods of analysis can significantly increase the efficiency of exploration. In Russia most of the projects related to the field of materials science, but also been a noticeable increase investment in the development of life sciences.
How important for FEI is R&D?
The research and development division is one of the largest departments of the FEI, in which is invested a significant part of the company’s revenue – about $ 100 million a year. For the last 1.5 years, we launched 20 new products, which speaks for itself. We believe that technological leadership is the strategic competitive advantage of our company, so high investment in technical development is extremely important. This provides our clients confidence that buying a FEI’s devices, they get the best product in its class.
What are in your opinion the main directions of improvement of the microscopes?
In the field of electron microscopy, the objective is to further increase the image quality. Because the physical limit of resolution improvement is actually achieved, the main areas of research are the improvement in contrast and details by optimizing receiving and processing the signal. For this are improved both hardware and software.
In the field of FIB I would like to note the introduction of a plasma ion source, which allows to perform milling with a significantly higher speed than the gallium ion sources. A very interesting group of products are DualBeam system, which combines sample preparation by ion beam milling and analysis by means of electron microscopy.
In life sciences in demand are correlative solutions that combine light and electron microscopy. Integration into system of the microtome allows to increase considerably speed of the study, consistently consecutively performing the slices followed by microscopic analysis, and to obtain the three-dimensional image of a sample at the output.
In general, it should be noted that combining different measurement technologies in one working process and correlation analysis of the results is an important trend in the development of microscopy. The Goal is getting comprehensive information about the object, including images with different magnification from the micro- to the nanoscale with their linking to each other.
What are the special features of software for electron microscopes?
First, the interface must be user friendly so that the device can be used by customers of different level, secondly, advanced capabilities of measurement settings are required, as well as processing and analysis of obtained images, including creation of 3D-models, thirdly, it must be provided efficiency in processing of large amounts of data.
What is the sales and service strategy of FEI in Russia?
In Russia we work with three distributors: CMA, Melytec and Technoinfo. Each of these companies represents the whole line of our products, but focuses on different segments of the market. For example, Melytec has a good position in the market of industry solutions, and Technoinfo very successfully works with scientific and educational institutions. In our opinion this specialization is very important, as it allows a better understanding of customers to offer them the best solutions, which ensures the best results for us, distributors, and end users.
We understand that to provide in such big country good users support, the rational organization of service structures is very important. In Moscow is organized the service center which consists of nine engineers, trained at our plant in Eindhoven. If necessary, they get the assistance of the European service center and specialists of plants, if the problem is highly technical.
I note that FEI appreciates the potential of the Russian market and we consider him a key to the future development of our business.
Thanks for the interesting story.
The interview was taken by D.Gudilin
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