The specialists for high-performance motion control and positioning systems, Aerotech and Micronix USA, have announced their global strategical partnership.
From now on, both partners want to offer complementary precision solutions for industry and research together, in particular for high-precision nanopositioning.
By working together, both partners want to expand their core competencies while advancing the development of new industrial applications which require powerful and user-friendly nanopositioning products. By cooperating, Aerotech and Micronix USA are able to launch a larger selection of steppers, controllers, drives and software for positioning in the most cutting-edge applications on the market.
The LASER trade fair in Munich was the first event where both partners presented themselves together in Europe. While Aerotech manufactures high-precision motion control components and systems for laboratory and industry applications, ranging from components such as motors, controls and drives to full multi-axis systems, Micronix produces miniature adjusters with various drives (linear motor, voice coil, piezo stepper) for a wide range of applications in industry and research. The core competence of Micronix lies with manufacturing micro- and nanopositioning components for biomedicine, research, optics and various other areas. Their specialities are linear and rotary tables with a millimeter or milli-degree lift, which are significantly smaller than conventional components.
As part of their partnership, Micronix and Aerotech will be distributing and marketing each other’s products from now on. “The modular approach of Micronix to miniature nanopositioning expands our product portfolio of nanopositioning and allows us to address additional automation applications,” explains Brian O’Connor, director of product and market development at Aerotech Inc. According to him, this strategic partnership aligns with the core strategy of Aerotech, i.e. allowing the customer to optimally control all kinds of positioning systems from a single control platform.
Utilizing a comprehensive control platform has the benefits of simpler integration, in turn reducing costs for the user while also increasing throughput by coordinating axes with low latency. The premium product portfolio of Aerotech will allow Micronix to address applications in core markets even more comprehensively. The forward-thinking piezoelectric nanopositioners by Aerotech perfectly complement the miniature piezo steppers with a large lift by Micronix. Another central point is the industry-leading control platform by Aerotech for complex motion control requirements.
It was also planned to expand the Aerotech-specific product configurator with piezo products by Micronix within the next few months. As a result, step- and servomotors by Micronix may also be controlled via drives by Aerotech in the future. “Our teams have put increasingly more effort into building a strong foundation for this strategic partnership for the sake of our customers in industry and research,” explains Simon Smith, European Director Aerotech.