Ventex Corporation, the world’s premier supplier of refurbished Canon, ASML, and Nikon lithography steppers and scanners, announced today that it has established a Customer Service Center (CSC) in Masserberg, Germany.  The Center will start operations by immediately offering field service and technical support to Ventex’s customers in the region with plans to expand the Center into a spare parts depot in 2012.  The Center is ideally located geographically to support Ventex’s growing customer base in Europe, Russia, Belarus, and Israel.

“Ventex’s business in Europe has increased significantly in 2011,” said Jay Bukant, Ventex’s Vice-President of Operations.  “We are pleased to see both an increase in new customers and an increase in business from existing customers in the region.”

“Moreover, we are forecasting continued growth in the demand for our products and services from chipmakers in the region in 2012.  The establishment of this Customer Service Center in Masserberg, Germany represents our commitment to our customer base in the region.”

Ventex now provides customers with service and support from its Customer Service Centers in San Jose, California, Glasgow, Scotland, Hsinchu, Taiwan, and Masserberg, Germany.

The establishment of Ventex’s Customer Service Center in Masserberg, Germany is the latest successfully accomplished milestone in a strategic growth plan launched by Ventex’s owners in September 2010.  With high OEM prices, reduced budgets, and global competitive pressures, the semiconductor industry’s demand for refurbished lithography equipment has increased dramatically over the past several years and Ventex’s strategic growth plan is designed to position the company as the vendor of choice to meet this demand.

Ventex Corporation, the world’s premier supplier of refurbished Canon, ASML, and Nikon lithography steppers and scanners, announced today that it has purchased Stepper Solutions, Inc., a privately-held, Scotland-based ASML lithography stepper and scanner services company.  Under the terms of the agreement, Ventex has agreed to hire all of the company’s employees.

With the acquisition, Ventex’s portfolio of products and services now includes ASML lithography stepper and scanner support, in addition to its existing portfolio of products and services for Canon and Nikon lithography equipment.  The aquisition establishes Ventex as the only company in the semiconductor industry that can supply customers with refurbished Canon, ASML, and Nikon lithography equipment, spare parts, and related service products.

“The market for second-source refurbished Canon, ASML and Nikon lithography equipment and support services has increased substantially over the past several years as the industry struggles with high OEM prices for both new equipment and the maintenance of legacy equipment,” said Jay Bukant, Vice-President of Operations for Ventex.  “Due to our outstanding industry reputation, customers have repeatedly asked us for cost reduction options on all of the major lithography platforms.  Customers prefer to work with one company that can provide them with solutions across multiple OEMs.  With this acquisition, Ventex is now that company.”

“Moreover,” added Bukant, “since we are incorporating Stepper Solutions’ employees into the Ventex organization, we can simultaneously offer a full array of refurbished ASML lithography systems and related support, while still maintaining our existing level of support and responsiveness to our Canon and Nikon customers.  Ventex is now positioned to be the industry’s preferred alternative for lithography stepper and scanner cost management.”

Ventex’s refurbishment facility in San Jose, California will now support ASML lithography system refurbishments, in addition to Canon and Nikon lithography system refurbishments.  Ventex will provide ASML customers with service and support from its Customer Service Centers in San Jose, California, Glasgow, Scotland, Dallas, Texas, and Hsinchu, Taiwan.

“We are very pleased to be a part of the Ventex organization,” said James Docherty, former owner of Stepper Solutions, Inc. and now Project Manager of Ventex’s ASML Division.  “We are looking forward to continuing our existing ASML customer relationships as Ventex employees, as well as developing relationships with new ASML customers under the Ventex banner moving forward.”

The acquisition is the latest successfully accomplished milestone in a strategic growth plan launched by Ventex’s owners in September 2010.  With high OEM prices, reduced budgets, and global competitive pressures, the industry’s demand for refurbished lithography equipment has increased dramatically over the past several years and Ventex’s strategic growth plan is designed to position the company as the vendor of choice to meet this demand.

Ventex, the world’s premier supplier of refurbished Canon, ASML, and Nikon lithography steppers, announced today that it will be exhibiting at Semicon West.

Semicon West will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California between July 12-14, 2011.  Ventex’s booth #745 will be located in the Secondary Equipment and Services area in the South Hall of the Moscone Center.

Ventex, the world’s premier supplier of refurbished Canon and Nikon lithography steppers, announced today that it has recently completed a major refurbishment project for a tier-one chip manufacturer in Malaysia.  The project included the full refurbishment of three advanced Canon i-line lithography tools in Ventex’s state-of-the-art refurbishment facility in San Jose, California.  Upon completion of the refurbishments, the Canon tools were shipped to Malaysia, where they were installed and qualified by Ventex’s field service and process engineering teams. 

All three tools are currently in production.  Ventex will support these tools from its Customer Service Center in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

“We are very pleased that a major, tier-one chip manufacturer selected Ventex for this refurbishment order,” said Jay Bukant, Vice-President of Operations.  “It shows that the industry has a high regard for Ventex’s refurbishment expertise and recognizes the strategic value of a refurbishment provider in managing costs.”

“We are also particularly pleased that another Asian fab has decided to work with Ventex.  We believe our market share will continue to expand in this region as fabs search for ways to remain competitive,” added Bukant.

The successful awarding and completion of this Malaysian project is the latest milestone in a strategic growth plan kicked off by the company six months ago to meet increasing demand for its products and services.  Other successfully accomplished milestones include adding several industry veterans to the management team, the establishment of a Customer Service Center in Taiwan, and a product portfolio expansion to include refurbished Nikon lithography stepper support, in addition to Ventex’s established competence in refurbished Canon lithography stepper support.

Ventex Corporation is pleased to announce the addition of Jim Scrivano to the Ventex Managerial team.  Jim will be responsible for continuing to build the rapidly growing Service and Parts departments with a focus on integrating them to best service our customers’ needs worldwide.

Jim has a long history in the Semiconductor industry which started back in 1983 when he hired on with Canon USA Inc.’s Semiconductor Division as a Field Service Engineer. Over his 26 years with Canon, he built a solid professional reputation with customers as he continued to move up the ladder to positions such as Site, Regional and District Manager as well as Operations and Engineering Group Manager.

His experience and knowledge of the Photolithography industry along with the flexibility and customer oriented nature of Ventex, will be a big benefit to our current and future customers.

Ventex announced today that it has formed a joint venture with NTEK Consultants in Scotland.  The purpose of the joint venture is to combine Ventex’s service and support expertise in Canon lithography tools with NTEK’s service and support expertise in Nikon lithography tools.  In addition to sharing expertise, NTEK will be able to use Ventex’s state-of-the-art lithography tool repair and refurbishment facilities in San Jose, California to carry out refurbishment, service, and support work.  The joint venture represents the world’s first company capable of providing integrated device manufacturers using both Canon and Nikon lithography tools with high-quality, cost effective non-OEM support.  The joint venture will operate under the name Ventex and operations will begin immediately.

“This joint venture represents a strategic step forward for both companies,” said Jay Bukant, Vice-President of Operations for Ventex.  “Our customers would prefer to source parts, service, and support for their Canon and Nikon tools from one company rather than deal with separate companies.  By forming this joint venture, we can now meet this customer demand and provide cost savings to a much larger percentage of the lithography tool installed base,” added Bukant.

“This joint venture makes perfect business sense,” commented Gordon MacIntyre, Europe and Asia Operations Director for NTEK.  “The efficiencies that will be created will add tremendous value to our respective firms and our capabilities will be greatly enhanced.  The customer base will see substantial costs savings as a result.”

The formation of this joint venture is the latest in a series of strategic moves by Ventex to develop its product portfolio and expand its global reach.  Ventex started as a company focused on Canon g-line and i-line stepper service and support, but it now supports both Canon and Nikon stepper and scanner tools for i-line and DUV applications.

Ventex announced today that it has established a Customer Service Center (CSC) in Taiwan.  The Center will serve as a spare parts depot and provide field service, training, and technical support services.  The Center will be dedicated to supporting Ventex’s growing customer base in the Asia-Pacific region and its establishment demonstrates the Corporation’s firm commitment to its customers in the area.

“Ventex is growing in the Asia-Pacific region and the establishment of our Customer Service Center in Taiwan will ensure that Ventex continues to meet the support needs of our existing customers in the area,” said Jay Bukant, Vice-President of Operations.  “The CSC will also allow Ventex to fully support the expected increase in business from both existing and new customers that we expect in the coming years,” added Bukant.

Ventex is pleased to announce the addition of Dan Colon to the Ventex managerial team.  Dan will be assuming the position of Business Development Manager.  In this position, Dan will focus on developing new customers for Ventex’s portfolio of products and services.  He will also be working closely with current customers in an effort to develop additional growth opportunities for the Corporation.   Dan will also be responsible for general sales and marketing activities, as well as play a role in Ventex’s development of business and product portfolio management processes.

Dan was previously employed by the Excimer Laser Repair Corporation as Director of Sales and Marketing .  Prior to that experience, he was Programs Manager for Cymer Inc., the world’s largest supplier of excimer laser light sources for the semiconductor industry.

Ventex Corporation is pleased to announce that it has moved its corporate Headquarters to a new, larger facility still located in the heart of Silicon Valley. 2153 O’Toole Ave, Suite B, San Jose, California 95131.

The new facility nearly doubles the space available to support the expanding needs of our current and future customers. Jeff Robbins, Managing Partner describes the move as “Just another exciting example of Ventex’s continuing growth and expansion providing worldwide services for Canon Photolithography Equipment. Over the years we have positioned ourselves in a way that we continued growing our business and market share even through the 2009 worldwide economic downturn.”

Brett Pearson, Founder and Managing Partner says that “It allows us the much needed space for our large, ever increasing spare parts stocking and parts refurbishing program. The doubling of our lab area allows us the much needed space for a greater number of steppers and scanners, which we maintain in our inventory, to be simultaneously refurbished and tested.”

What this means for our customers is that Ventex will continue to provide even greater cost effective quality machine sales, spare parts, services and training for their Canon Photolithography equipment long term.

Ventex is pleased to announce the addition of Jay Bukant to the Ventex Executive team. He will be assuming the position of V.P. of Operations. In this position, Jay will be the driving force in many areas as Ventex continues to grow in the coming months and years. Jay will be working on the overall operations side to fine tune business processes and structure. In addition to operations, he will be directing the growth and restructuring of our worldwide sales efforts in conjunction with our current sales staff.

Jay was previously employed by Siemens AG as the Corporate Account Manager with global responsibilities for Intel Corp and other tier one companies. He was also the VP of North American Operations for Cymer Inc., the world’s largest supplier of Eximer Laser light sources for the Semiconductor industry. We believe Jay and his many years of experience will be a valuable addition to our team as Ventex continues to move forward.

Ventex Corporation has begun providing field repairs of the 3000 series Air Bearing Stages for its customers worldwide. As the 3000 series steppers move up in age, it is quite common for the ABS stage to have problems associated with scratches on the stage. These scratches cause issues anywhere from intermittent errors too hard down machine issues depending on the severity of the scratches. This of course means a down machine and lost production.

Utilizing our very knowledgeable engineering department, Ventex has identified the root cause of the scratches and developed the required replacement parts, procedure and special tooling to provide our customers a long term, cost effective field repair that meets original specifications.

In the past, customers would have to purchase a completely refurbished stage directly from Canon at a very high premium. Now, more than ever, with dwindling budgets our customers are looking for cost savings opportunities and Ventex understands that. By Ventex providing this Air Bearing Stage repair service, we are saving our customers roughly 80% off of the price of a new stage from the OEM. That is a significant savings that any customer would be happy to realize.

This is yet another example of how Ventex has been differentiating itself in the Canon stepper marketplace for over 16 years.

Ventex Corporation is pleased to announce that is has successfully completed the deinstallation services for the 3000 series Canon Steppers at the Qimonda fab located in Richmond Virginia.

The Qimonda facility with its 200mm and 300mm lines was forced to shut down leaving behind two large fabs of production equipment. The 200mm facility contained nineteen 3000 series Canon steppers which were sold off and required removal for which Ventex was chosen to perform the work.

Working intimately with the general contractor on the project, Applied Mechanical, Ventex proceeded to complete the entire project within six weeks. This was all done within the stringent safety and documentation requirements set forth for this large project.

Ventex Corporation has completed its six month production evaluation period of its new XY Stage ball screws used on the 2000i1 and 2500i2/i3 Canon stepper models.

Working with key customers, Ventex has completed field testing its ball screws in 24/7 production environments and has passed with flying colors. The accuracy and reliability of the X & Y stage ball screw units are critical for the stepping functionality of the stage and to insure production longevity for our customers.

The Ventex ball screws are a great value as well as they save our customers approximately 40% off the standard OEM price.

Ventex Corporation is pleased to announce the addition of our newest Sales Representative, Robert Lupardo. Robert has over twenty-five years experience providing equipment sales and account management in the semiconductor industry. His worldwide industry knowledge will help enhance Ventex’s presence and further our ever growing expansion providing sales and services of Canon Photolithography Equipment to the industry.

Ventex Corporation is pleased to announce the addition of Jeffrey Robbins as Managing Partner. In addition to helping guide the business into the future with Founder and Managing Partner Brett Pearson, Jeff will be focused on the Operations and building the service and support teams.

Jeff was the founder and majority owner of RSIG Security Group Inc., providing security worldwide to a diverse client base. He expanded the business from a single state in 2000 to seven states by 2005. Under his leadership, the company grew to $42,000,000 in revenues within six years. Prior to the aforementioned, Jeff was a senior Investigator at Sterling Jewelers located in Akron, Ohio. He served in the US Navy from 1981-1985 as a Medical Corpsman.