CEDES Science Park

The company’s recent expansion

When the CEDES Science Park in Lanquart, Switzerland, was in the planning stages nearly 10 years ago, it was important to the builders and architects to be able to add extensions if necessary (ELEVATOR WORLD, March 2012). To keep up with the steadily increasing production, buildings “C” and “D” were extended in the first expansion phase in 2009. Despite the financial and economic crisis, CEDES remained on its expansion course after 2009. The company was able to take a technological leap thanks to the chip factory ESPROS Photonics Corp. in Sargans, Switzerland. The demand for the new CEDES technology has increased so much that production was up by 29% to more than 700,000 sensors in the 2011 business year. With the increased production of sensors, there has been a need for additional assembly and storage space. An increase in production would not be possible without the expansions.

In July, under the supervision of the Natter architecture firm, building “E” was being extended to its full size. The extension will create approximately 1,300 m2 of production, storage and office space, providing workplaces for up to 70 new CEDES employees. At the same time, the clean room in building “D” will be extended by 300 m2, so an additional SMD line for electronic fitting can be installed. Each of the three SMD lines fits up to 25,000 electronic components per hour to circuit boards used in CEDES sensors. The new SMD line will process up to 60,000 components per hour. Construction work will take about 15 months. The expansions emphasize CEDES’ confidence in the Landquart location.