Valentin P. Gapontsevm, Ph.D. - IPG Photonics Corp.
Management
In the welding market, still penetration on laser is very low. It's due to much more difficult work in this direction because each customer needs customized solution, the most of these welding players or companies, many of them even don't know about opportunities and where is the new opportunities, which way is open for them. So it's a more difficult market to build, but it has huge potential in our opinion whether it'd be, I said it before, we only can confirm this, but it's absolutely different approach than cutting. In cutting market, you still from what 20 or 30 years installed (51:00) CO2 cutters with CO2 lasers. Now what, it's still until a couple years ago it was (51:09) what people argued different advantage, CO2 or fiber. But now all market practical and they said fiber provides enormous advantage to CO2 laser. In other words, recognized, and not only it is cheaper, better, easy to use but productivity with fiber laser now two, three times is becoming higher than productivity, the same cutting machine with CO2 laser. It's major engine for future. And the people we expect will start mass replacement of CO2 machines. Even if they could be used, it's still working by fiber because the companies who use CO2 approach now will generate more, if they're not able more to use own technology. Welding still only starting to penetrate. Volume of welding market on our estimation 10 times more than current penetration, still big opportunities. But we develop many other applications. Again, each of them separately attempts new application even outside of the metal weld processing. But each of them still small, few tens million dollars award. But during some years, we expect each of them will contribute $100 million, multiple by 10. Different, it would be very essential growth for other non-metal applications. But it takes time, not during one development (52:50) unique new products. It's only first step. Then one way to introduce provide and to build the market and the distribution network and so. Only medical, for this year, for last time, we reached an excellent result in the program and overall to replace traditional volume in YAG with our new tooling approach. It's so big advantage and you must rate in. It's now covered statistics and operation, 1,000 operation, very successful made now, but we expect only this (53:29), it's only one from many medical applications, we're working now creating new business. It's some hundred million business. And we qualify this new first approval for people to demonstrate fantastic new results.