Stemmer Imaging has acquired Parameter, an imaging and machine vision provider for Northern Europe and Poland, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2014. Michael Cohn, the previous owner of Parameter, will oversee the transfer as he will continue in his function as general manager until the end of 2014.
Stemmer Imaging is now represented with local subsidiaries in eleven countries, rather than the previous seven, and covers 19 sales regions.
Parameter, with its headquarters in Stockholm (Sweden) and offices in Denmark, Finland, and Poland, has been successfully distributing machine vision components and systems for many years in the Nordic and the Baltic countries as well as in Poland. Prior to this acquisition, Stemmer Imaging and Parameter have successfully collaborated for many years as Parameter distributes Stemmer Imaging’s machine vision software library, Common Vision Blox (CVB).
‘Parameter will jump to the next level and we can now follow our customers out into Europe and benefit from Stemmer Imaging’s larger product range, high stock level and superior level of competence,’ said Cohn. ‘Our corporate cultures are very similar and we know each other very well. This will strengthen service available for customers in the Nordic and Baltic region and also in Poland who will have access to the support and security they need to continue to develop their vision applications with our help’, concluded Cohn.
Stemmer Imaging’s founder Wilhelm Stemmer sees the Parameter acquisition as a logical development of the company’s European strategy: ‘We have appreciated Michael Cohn and his team as reliable partners in the machine vision industry for many years now. Stemmer Imaging’s and Parameter’s product portfolio have a high degree of overlap in terms of suppliers represented. Thus, the two companies perfectly complement each other. Thanks to the expansion into the Nordic countries, Poland and the Baltic region we have made substantial progress towards our goal of maximum customer proximity in Europe.’
According to Christof Zollitsch, managing director at Stemmer Imaging, machine vision components manufacturers will also greatly benefit from the merger: ‘The acquisition of Parameter is also beneficial for our suppliers due to the reduced number of companies they need to serve in terms of sales and support. Furthermore, they have a competent partner with a high degree of market know-how and technical expertise.’
According to Zollitsch, the integration of Parameter will be performed gradually and will be completed no later than the end of 2014. Until then, Parameter will continue acting under its own name.
