BARRINGTON, NJ—Edmund Optics (EO) says it will increase its global manufacturing operations through expansion and investment at two Asian facilities and by reorganization of its US operations, all in 2013.

The changes should strengthen the company's core assets,  especially its  manufacturing and coating operations.

In the United States, EO intends to consolidate its Pennsburg, PA manufacturing center into the corporate headquarters in Barrington, NJ.

"Manufacturing in the United States is a challenging proposition," says Samuel Sadoulet, COO, announcing the consolidation. "It is therefore critical to bring these resources closer to the heart of our engineering operation. Positioning our manufacturing engineers alongside our technical sales, product management, and supply chain teams [in New Jersey] will ultimately deliver a better experience to the customer, with more engineering talent dedicated to every project."

Domestic operations in Barrington will focus on both asphere and coating technology and process development, including the creation of a high precision thin films lab. Sales Director Anthony Artigliere noted that "EO's inventory of over 10 million substrates is located in Barrington, making it the ideal location for quick modification of standard parts for fast-turn customer projects."

At the same time, EO is investing in additional coating and metrology equipment at both its Singapore plant and the facility at Akita, Japan. This will include the relocation of optical metrology equipment from Pennsburg to Asia.

Once this consolidation is complete, EO will have a global manufacturing footprint of 12,700m² in 2013, which the company said is a 15%  increase over the figure from 2007.