LightPath Technologies Announces Expansion of Manufacturing Capacity
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- LightPath Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LPTHA) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a plan to significantly expand the production capacities for both the single mode fiber collimator product family and the free-space isolator products recently added through the acquisition of Horizon Photonics.
LightPath manufacturers a family of high-performance fiber-optic collimator and isolator products at its facilities in Albuquerque, NM and Walnut, CA, which are used in optical systems for today's advanced telecommunications networks. The Company's products have all been built and designed around proprietary automated manufacturing technologies that are targeted toward the traditionally labor intensive telecommunications equipment component marketplace. This expansion will be part of a $15 million investment, which will, in effect, triple overall capacity. The number of employees is also expected to double from the current level of approximately 80 to over 160 during the next twelve-month period.
Don Lawson, President and CEO of LightPath commented, "The demand for optical components continues to grow at unprecedented rates. Since the beginning of the year, we have experienced OEM acceptance of our optical components as the rigorous testing requirements have been satisfactorily completed. While we are now qualified with three major OEMs, the numbers of new customers buying and qualifying our products continues to grow rapidly. Our components, which have all been built around automated assembly methodologies, meet our customer's specifications and are being designed into their specific modules and sub-systems. This has led to significant increases in our sales bookings over the past four months and has prompted this action to aggressively expand our capacity beyond that previously announced. We will complete the expansion in two phases, both of which are already underway. Phase I will be in Albuquerque, NM and is scheduled for completion in June 2000. Phase 2 will be in Walnut, CA and is scheduled for completion in September 2000."
Previously in February 2000, the Company had announced an expansion of its strategic alliance with Hikari Glass Company of Japan. Under the terms of this agreement, Hikari agreed to invest $5 million in their own operations in Asia to procure production equipment necessary to build out a second facility for GRADIUM(R) glass materials and other products. During the same month, the Company also announced the establishment of a facility in Warren, NJ for the specific purpose of the development of an optical component enabling future optical cross connect products. Both of these expansion related projects continue to move forward on schedule.
LightPath manufactures its proprietary collimator assemblies and GRADIUM(R) glass products at its headquarters in Albuquerque. The Company's subsidiary, Horizon Photonics, manufactures isolator products utilizing its proprietary automation technology in Walnut, California. The Company has 22 U.S. patents, plus 4 more pending, associated with its optical technologies. In addition, various foreign countries have issued a total of 8 patents with 9 patents pending. LightPath common stock trades on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market under the stock symbol LPTHA.
This news release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, factors detailed by LightPath Technologies, Inc. in its public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
SOURCE LightPath Technologies, Inc. |
