Age Butterfly! This is really made of glass?

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With foldable smartphone Samsung and Huawei want to shake up the market. Both of them have but with the display problems. A medium-sized company from Garbsen can fold mobile phone Displays.

Roman Ostholt was amazed not bad, as for the fair-built folding display prototype was suddenly gone. “They all wanted to see it, and briefly take in Hand,” recalls the head of the thin-glass processing of the laser technology specialist LPKF Laser & Electronics. That was in may, at the Display Week in Sunny California.

The industry meet was under the impression the failed launch of the Galaxy Fold from global market leader Samsung in the spring. The long-advertised foldable mobile phone from Korea, the future was still music. The reason: technical problems in the implementation. A bitter setback for the world of mobile phone manufacturers and their suppliers.

Great presentation of the Samsung Galaxy Foldable in February, 2019 in San Francisco

Now the medium-sized company LPKF has found in Garbsen near Hannover, is a possible solution. “When I presented at the Congress of the Display Week, it was really quiet in the mess hall,” recalls Ostholt. “It’s really made of glass?” was the question asked most often is to this day.

The scene in the Californian San Jose was no exception: the innovative spirit of the German middle class in the world is admired and rewarded. More and more companies go in this country successfully in new ways. The felt-tip pen manufacturer Edding from Hamburg will not only improve his pins, but extends its range to new markets, such as nail Polish. The Bike Builder Canyon from Koblenz works with performance athletes, its models to the needs of its customers. And the manufacturer Bien-Zenker in the Hessian town of Schlüchtern is the first company in its sector to an industrial robot that had to learn how to work with wood. Innovations made by SMEs.

LPKF Deputy chief Roman Ostholt

Innovation Engine SME

Commerzbank occupied by the Numbers: 81 percent of the respondents of their study on “entrepreneurial perspectives” in the high competitiveness of German products, the main driver for the worldwide success. The investigation also takes a look at the changes in internationalisation strategies of SMEs. Tenor: risks, Yes, but also many opportunities. Digitisation: Here medium-sized companies see a lot of opportunities and less risks. 78 percent are not afraid of disruptive business models. The favorable financial environment to spur 73 percent. Nevertheless, two-thirds of the respondents expected in the next two years, with less security in planning – more than half feared even exercises signs of economic weakness. Reasons for this are political and economic uncertainties. About half in global trade conflicts to be a threat for the own business. But how to react? 78 percent of medium-sized companies with an annual turnover of more than € 100 million, with increased innovation activity. Similarly, many rely on digitized products and processes.

High precision laser of the laser machine manufacturer LPKF

New ways to go – a strategy also, the laser technology-track specialists in Garbsen, Germany: research and development for LPKF (650 employees, turnover 2018: EUR 120 million) to the everyday life: results special technologies for the production of circuit boards, integrated circuits, microchips, automotive parts and solar modules, and since a few months also foldable Displays and screens.

“Just three months has taken our Team to work with our patented process, called LIDE a glass so that it breaks when it is folded like a book,” recalls the LPKF Board of Directors Chairman Goetz Bendele. LIDE stands for Laser-Induced Deep Etching. Thus, the electronics manufacturer ultra edit-thin glass, without generating surface defects. To get this far, lets Bendele his engineers a lot of freedom to be creative: “It may not just be about targets in a linear process,” he says. It is also important what happens on the way there, to create free space to Try out – a bit of a Startup Feeling in Garbsen.

Goetz Bendele, CEO of LPKF Laser&Electronics AG

The secret of success

The Secret Recipe? Sometimes it’s not enough just to get started. “To find a solution to drill accurate holes in glass without weakening the Material,” the order for Ostholts Team was. They machined then the surface of the glass with a special Laser and then with a chemical liquid. The result: Textured glass without surface damage. The transparent Material could even edit that it was stable and simultaneously flexible enough to fold it without problems.

Encouraged by the results, the Team Ostholt decided to take the original job is still wider: “Who can quickly and accurately drill, can of course, cut”, was Ostholt convinced.

Courage to try something New and flat hierarchies to be able to react quickly, you will find at LPKF, Edding, Canyon and Bien-Zenker. But these are not the only prerequisites for innovation is necessary: “Even more important the employees are,” says Bendele. “We strive to be the brightest minds and develop for our customers new solutions at the forefront of what is technologically feasible. Who are the tasks of the fun of such a high-tech, is repealed at the right place and will experience exciting stories.”

For LPKF, funding and competitions of the Federal government, as well as exchange with universities and other research institutions and the close cooperation and communication with clients were also important:.


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