ORLANDO, FL / ACCESSWIRE / November 29, 2017 / LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPTH) ("LightPath," the "Company," or "we"), a leading vertically integrated global manufacturer, distributor and integrator of proprietary optical and infrared components and high-level assemblies, today announced the completion of its manufacturing facilities expansion in Latvia. The Company entered Latvia through the December 2017 acquisition of ISP Optics Corporation ("ISP"). The expansion of ISP's facilities in Latvia added 435 square meters of floor space, including 343 square meters of manufacturing and production space and 92 square meters of office space.
The expansion increased the footprint of the facility by 25%, from 1,753 square meters to 2,188 square meters. LightPath's subsidiary in Latvia, which emphasizes "lean manufacturing" principles, has doubled the number of its diamond turning machines and made upgrades to grinding, polishing and measurement equipment. In addition, enhancements were made to modernize existing crystal growth operations and improve metrology capabilities with state-of-the-art equipment. The additional machinery and equipment will be completely operational by the end of December.
"We are very pleased with the level of progress for our ISP infrared products subsidiary," said Jim Gaynor, President and Chief Executive Officer of LightPath.
"In our most recent fiscal quarter, we delivered sales growth for infrared products of nearly 600% from the prior year, primarily due to the acquisition of ISP. As we focus on continued growth and diversification through the large and rapidly expanding infrared market, we have been investing accordingly. In the past few months, we invested approximately $1.5 million globally to expand our production capacity, which includes significant spending on our facilities in Latvia. These investments are in addition to research and product development spending to bolster our technological leadership, which increased in our most recent quarter by nearly 40% from last year. Collectively, we'll improve our time to market for new product innovations and accelerate delivery for custom projects."
The expansion in Latvia enables LightPath to support continued sales growth of infrared products, reduce its cost structure, and provide additional support to customers. LightPath's product development efforts include advanced driver assistance systems or ADAS, light distance and ranging or LIDAR sensing, and spectrographic and fiber delivery technologies. Many of these products, which are being designed for higher margin applications within the automotive electronics, healthcare and defense sectors, incorporate the Company's infrared technologies and, in certain cases, also include its visible light technologies.
Located on the Baltic Sea, Latvia has been a member of NATO since 2004. ISP opened the Latvian facility in 1996, and now has 78 employees, an increase of 8% since being acquired by LightPath. The Riga location allows ISP to capitalize on Latvia's long-term history in optics and the local highly technical base through the Latvian State University and Riga Technical University. It is an ITAR certified and compliant facility that focuses on the volume production of infrared materials and high precision components. The Latvian facility has supported the US and European defense industries since its inception. ISP Latvia is an ISO:9001:2008 certified facility and is working towards achieving 9001:2015 certification by the end of 2018.
About LightPath Technologies
LightPath Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: LPTH) is a leading global, vertically integrated provider of optics, photonics and infrared solutions for the industrial, defense, telecommunications, testing and measurement, and medical industries. LightPath designs, manufactures, and distributes proprietary optical and infrared components including molded glass aspheric lenses and assemblies, infrared lenses and thermal imaging assemblies, fused fiber collimators, and gradient index GRADIUM® lenses. LightPath also offers custom optical assemblies, including full engineering design support. The Company is headquartered in Orlando, Florida, with manufacturing and sales offices in New York, Latvia and China.
LightPath's wholly-owned subsidiary, ISP Optics Corporation, manufactures a full range of infrared products from high performance MWIR and LWIR lenses and lens assemblies. ISP’s infrared lens assembly product line includes athermal lens systems used in cooled and un-cooled thermal imaging cameras. Manufacturing is performed in-house to provide precision optical components including spherical, aspherical and diffractive coated infrared lenses. ISP’s optics processes allow it to manufacture its products from all important types of infrared materials and crystals. Manufacturing processes include CNC grinding and CNC polishing, diamond turning, continuous and conventional polishing, optical contacting and advanced coating technologies.
For more information on LightPath and its businesses, please visit www.lightpath.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes statements that constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our ability to expand our presence in certain markets, future sales growth, continued improvements in our financial results, and implementation of new distribution channels. 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, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Except as required under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we do not have any intention or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contacts:
Jim Gaynor, President & CEO
LightPath Technologies, Inc.
Tel: 407-382-4003
jgaynor@lightpath.com
Web: www.lightpath.com
Dorothy Cipolla, CFO
LightPath Technologies, Inc.
Tel: 407-382-4003 x305
dcipolla@lightpath.com
Web: www.lightpath.com
Jordan Darrow
Darrow Associates, Inc.
Tel: 512-551-9296
jdarrow@darrowir.com
Web: www.darrowir.com
SOURCE: LightPath Technologies, Inc.
