Seattle, WA, USA--(Jobwerx News)--Cognex largest acquisition ever of vision sensor business for applications such as surface inspection and quality control, of metals, papers, and plastics. The acquisition of DVT Corporation, a privately-held company based in Duluth, Georgia, by Cognex Corporation was completed on May 9.

Cognex plans to maintain operations at DVT's current facility in Georgia, and to continue selling and supporting their vision products through DVT's existing third-party distribution channel.

DVT Corporation is a leading provider of low-cost, easy-to-use vision sensors, which it sells primarily to the fast-growing factory-floor segment of the machine vision business. The company's principal product, Legend, is used by a large number of customers in a wide variety of industries for applications such as inspection and quality control.

Cognex purchased all of the outstanding shares of DVT for approximately $115 million, consisting of a cash payment of $104 million made at the closing, and a final payment of up to an additional $11 million in cash to be paid at the end of a one-year escrow period.

"This is the largest acquisition that Cognex has ever completed... in terms of price, in terms of revenue, and most importantly, in terms of the positive impact that it will likely have on our company," said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Chairman and CEO of Cognex.

Cognex's Modular Vision Systems Division, headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, specializes in machine vision systems that are used for automating the manufacture of a wide range of discrete items and for assuring their quality. as the world's leader in the machine vision industry, Cognex designs, develops, manufactures, and markets machine vision systems, or computers that can "see". Cognex also has regional offices and distributors located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, and Southeast Asia.

Cognex's Surface Inspection Systems Division, headquartered in Alameda, California, specializes in machine vision systems that are used for inspecting the surfaces of products manufactured in a continuous fashion, such as metals, papers, and plastics.

Dr. Shillman continued, "In recent years, Cognex has been very successful in expanding its product line by adding low-cost and easy-to-use vision products. Our In-Sight ® business has grown to over $60 million in just five years, and Checker ™, our newest entry into the presence-sensing market, is gaining traction. However, reaching the thousands of prospects for these products in factories around the world requires a large third-party sales and distribution channel to supplement our own direct end-user sales force. During 2004, Cognex started to build a third-party distribution channel, and prior to this acquisition we had signed over 40 distributors, mostly in North America. With the acquisition of DVT, Cognex immediately gains a worldwide network of more than 150 additional industrial distributors, all fully trained in selling and supporting machine vision products."

As a result of the acquisition, Cognex expects an increase in its revenue of approximately $15 - $20 million during fiscal year 2005. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to earnings in 2005, and accretive, even including acquisition charges, in fiscal year 2006. Due to the late timing of the transaction, Cognex expects the acquisition to have minimal impact on its second quarter results.

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