Global co. opens new headquarters in Peabody

PEABODY – Carl Zeiss SMT, a global leader in optical technologies, celebrated the official grand opening of their North American headquarters in Peabody Wednesday afternoon.Nearly 100 guests, including Mayor Michael Bonfanti, State Representative Ted Speliotis, and several keynote speakers attended the elaborate event with blue-lit hallways, bass-pumping techno music, and large television monitors displaying interesting facts and figures.The $5 billion, 150-year-old Germany-based business decided to make Peabody its home after their recent purchase of ALIS Corporation, the small, local start-up company responsible for inventing the world’s latest breakthrough in microscope technology, the helium ion microscope.The pricey million-dollar microscope delivers images with five times better depth and detail using a beam of helium ions as the imaging particles. The scientific tool is already being used at the Center for Nanoscale Systems at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and the National Institute of Standards in Maryland. It is currently only manufactured here in Tanner City.”North America has positioned itself at the forefront of nanotechnology for advanced materials, life sciences and semiconductor research and development,” said Dr. Dirk Stenkamp, member of the board of Carl Zeiss SMT. “With our major investments (over $10 million) in the new Peabody facility and its highly skilled staff for research, development, production, sales, marketing and services, we are directly addressing the increasing needs and expectation of our North American customers.”Company President and General Manager Frank Averdung said that “with our new Peabody facility, we are better positioned than ever to provide a world class experience in nanoscale imaging, analysis and structuring.”Averdung praised Peabody for its proximity to “world-class universities” and government institutions, and its vast body of highly skilled labor.”We anticipate that we will continue to grow our organization in Peabody, making it the gold standard of customer sales and service,” he said, adding that Peabody provides “an ideal cultural and scientific environment to stimulate imaginative and creative thinking for ongoing production and application development.”Over the last eight years alone, Carl Zeiss revenues have grown in excess of $1.6 billion. They currently provide more than 12,300 jobs worldwide, 1,700 of which are in North America alone. The Peabody location is the home office for 150 people, 70 of whom work on site daily. By 2010, Averdung hopes to increase that number to 2,000 employees.With that said, Mayor Michael Bonfanti couldn’t be more pleased with his city’s new business.”I’m very pleased that they chose Peabody as their national headquarters,” he said. “To have a new company come in and have potential for the growth they have, that’s terrific for us jobwise and opportunity wise.”