Expertise in glass and laser: Newly founded HEGLA boraident secures know-how in Halle (Saale)

Following a very brief period of insolvency after the company fell into financial difficulties, the 17 employees of boraident in Halle an der Saale (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) can breathe a sigh of relief.

The HEGLA Group, headquartered in Beverungen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (with approx. 550 employees worldwide), is taking over the site on 5th October, 2017. All current employees and patents will be incorporated into the newly founded HEGLA boraident GmbH & Co. KG.

There is also good news for former boraident customers: the company’s services, consulting and ongoing projects will continue unchanged, as will the product portfolio. In addition, customers’ familiar points of contact will remain available as usual.

The two companies are linked by their expertise in glass. Since 2004, they have collaborated on several customer projects, thereby expanding their know-how. As specialists in mechanical engineering, for over 40 years HEGLA has been a market leader and technological pioneer in glass storage, loading, cutting, residual sheet handling, and sorting.

Since the company was founded in 2000, boraident has specialised in the laser marking, structuring and functionalisation of glass. The company’s product range also includes technical applications and products for identifying machine-readable codes, as well as the laser-assisted production of glass diaphragms and test systems in the glass sensors division. 

The HEGLA CEO Jochen H. Hesselbach, stresses that boraident’s many years of knowledge and expertise in laser technology for glass can be retained in the new subsidiary, and sees a bright future for the new division. “We have known the boraident team for many years, and have enjoyed an extremely constructive, partnership-oriented, innovative working relationship with them”, he emphasises.

In the run-up to the foundation of the new company, Dr. Johann Dorner and Dr. Thomas Rainer held talks with HEGLA on behalf of boraident. “Against the backdrop of rapidly growing orders, we are looking forward to a secure future with a strong partner.

HEGLA will support us with new sales channels and additional glass know-how, and will create the framework conditions to further optimise the position of our products in the market”, say Dr. Dorner and Dr. Rainer with great conviction. Both experts will also hold central positions in the new company.

According to HEGLA COO Bernhard Hötger, customers of HEGLA will also benefit from the new subsidiary’s solutions. “The first step will be offering the option of machine-readable, material friendly laser marking for our cutting systems. In the second step, the laser technology will allow us to get a lot closer to our vision of Industry 4.0”, explains Bernhard Hötger.

The consistent use of laser marking on glass not only means that each sheet can be clearly identified at any time: "We can also fully digitise the entire production process, and consign it to each sheet of glass. This means that we can directly control the cutting process via the product, and can thus decentralise the process”, says the long-standing COO.

Another aspect of HEGLA’s strategy is also evident: thanks to the new company’s enhanced laser know-how, further developments in the laser-film cutting of laminated safety glass can also be expected more quickly.

It was agreed that the amount of the takeover bid should remain confidential.