About Us

Digitalisation is central to ensuring zero defects in customers’ production facilities. It has allowed IMBU to implement Quality 4.0 alongside Industry 4.0. The company’s metrology equipment can be integrated seamlessly into a customer’s manufacturing environment so that digital metrology data can be fed back automatically to optimise production. Measurement should not be a simple arbiter of pass or fail, but a means of adjusting a process on the shop floor to ensure that every component passes. In this way, the quality function is able to drive the manufacturing process via a closed loop, guaranteeing the production of premium products faster and at lower cost due to minimisation of downtime, rework and scrap.

Automation is important, not just to reduce labour costs but also to provide sufficient data for meaningful analysis, as close as possible to real-time and unaffected by the variabilities of human intervention. Artificial intelligence is being used more and more to analyse the large amounts of information generated and correlate the quality control data with the CAD model of the component. It allows component accuracy, repeatability, reproducibility and traceability to be ensured, the aim being 100 per cent product yield.

To realise successful metrology projects in industry and secure the trust of customers, Nikon’s market-leading products, software and services are deployed such as Laser Radar, X-ray CT and video measuring systems. These three core technologies, all of which may be delivered with robotics and other automation options, are offered alongside the best conventional metrology equipment available. A particular area of expertise that contributes to the generation of reliable data, apart from the group’s renowned optics, is the precision mechanics built into the systems.

There are many examples of automated turnkey quality control solutions delivered by Nikon to leading, globally-renowned customers. One involves the use of Laser Radar for highly accurate gap & flush inspection of vehicles at the end of automotive production lines. Modern X-ray CT systems have greatly speeded up the ability to inspect the inside of lithium-ion batteries as they are being manufactured to ensure their safety. In the electronics industry, NEXIV video measuring technology has been combined with automatic wafer handling to automate the inspection of chips by detection and correction of process drift.

There is a constant focus on R&D to accelerate the creation of technological innovations that further differentiate IMBU’s largely non-contact measurement and inspection systems from those of competitors. Within this business unit alone, more than 250 people are employed worldwide in research and development, representing close to 10 per cent of turnover. Only in this way is the company able to deliver ever better solutions to suit each user’s specific requirements in order to enhance efficiency, flexibility and competitiveness.

IMBU sees a world coming in which it has a transparent, data-driven, synergistic existence alongside its global customers in both physical and cyber space. This scenario will increase value-added benefits for all concerned by removing unnecessary cost and increasing the speed with which projects are managed.

For the benefit of society as a whole, leveraging innovative technology will also reduce waste and pollution and promote decarbonisation. The Nikon group is aligning its Corporate Social Responsibility priorities with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations.

Likewise, technological advancement will continue to enhance the quality of life of Nikon employees and those of its customers by providing a sustainable, safe, healthy working environment in which people from diverse backgrounds are able to socialise, learn, create and demonstrate their professional abilities.

The client-handling and-servicing in Europe is managed by 3 pan-European expert-teams, each of them bringing together all available expertise around a specific product-line to guarantee the best technical knowledge regardless of geography.

At the same time, with each expert-team working from ‘hubs’ in Germany, UK, France and Belgium and on top representing an even broader arrange of languages spoken, we are closer to your local teams and circumstances for an in-depth understanding of your issues and solutions (a strength that is further amplified by our vast network of longstanding reselling-partners in several geographies).