Olympus is a world leader in high-end optical and digital precision technology for sectors including healthcare, life sciences, energy, petroleum, construction, aviation, mining and precious metals such as gold and platinum. The New Jeweller UAE Bureao to Albert Alterjman, Middle East and Africa (MEA) Regional Division Manager at Olympus, about their offering for the precious metal industry and their presence in the MEA region.

OLYMPUS is servicing various sectors of the Industry by offering cutting edge technology support. What made you diversify or supply support equipment to the Precious Metals and Mining Sector?

As an international company with 100 years of innovation, we have been supplying reliable, high-quality technologies, including innovative test, measurement and imaging instruments, to markets all over the world. Our analytical instrument (ANI) product line is an important part of our scientific solutions division's portfolio. These innovative technologies are crucial for many applications catering the mining and precious metals sectors.

Can you describe the important tech and machine tools that Olympus supplies to the Gold and Mining Companies and their critical utility for the Industry?

The key technologies we offer for these industries are our X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyzers. These provide qualitative and quantitative material characterization for detection, identification, analysis, quality control, process control, regulatory compliance and screening. They can be used to identify metals and alloys for mining and geology, scrap and recycling, e n v i r o n m e n t a l a p p l i c a t i o n s , consumer safety, education and research, and general manufacturing.

Our Vanta handheld XRF analyzers provide fast, easy, accurate and nondestructive alloy identification and elemental analysis from Mg to U. Used on location for immediate results, they help determine the next course of action, when and where it's needed. Applications include metal alloy identification for quality control, positive material identification and scrap sorting, geochemistry for mining exploration, grade control, hazardous element screening for environmental, consumer goods and RoHS testing, and precious metals analysis.

For the precious metals industry, Vanta analyzers provide immediate, nondestructive elemental measurement and karat determination of precious metals. This makes it a useful tool for jewelers, pawn shops, coin collectors, museums and archaeological sites. It can be used for jewelry, bar and coin analysis, gold content verification in scrap pieces, and determine silver and other metal content in gold - all in a matter of seconds.

We also offer the Xpert series of benchtop XRF analyzers for customers that require the power and ease-of-use of our handheld instruments in a self-contained, closed-beam instrument. The Xpert series of analyzers includes our popular GoldXpert for precious metals analysis as well as other models for consumer goods analysis and RoHS applications.

Our XRD analyzers provide the power of large, complex laboratory systems in a compact, easy-to-use and lowcost solution. Using technology developed for NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover, these unique systems are available in both bench to pandh and held versions. The TERRA analyzer is a completely contained, battery operated, portable XRD solution, and the BTX II is a small footprint, benchtop XRD ideal for small laboratories. Both systems provide users with fast and simple sample preparation, and provide ultrafast analysis for full compound identification of major, minor and trace components.

Olympus has established offices and supply units across many economies globally. Tell us the reason of expanding services in important economies, such as The Middle East and Africa?

For any company, particularly one with customers, endusers and clients all over the world, the importance of having a base in the regions it serves cannot be understated. Being closer to the market makes a company closer to the customer and being closer to the customer enables a far greater level of service delivery.

This was certainly the driving force behind Olympus’ decision to open up a new base of operation in Dubai in 2017 (Olympus MEA), one that would cover the company’s operations across the Middle East, Africa and Turkey. The Olympus regional headquarters also includes one of the most advanced Repair & Service Centers conducting all major repairs within the region. Its firstclass Training Center trains partners and clients on Olympus’ high-tech instrumentation and stocks critical equipment to supply clients’ replacements while their items are being serviced.

Franchises play an important part in the expansion and growth of companies and products. Your opinion on the franchise concept and is Olympus looking at going the franchise way in the Middle East and African region?

As a company we recognized that you cannot perfectly support the customers in a region like Africa and the Middle East from a few thousand kilometers away - you have to be within the region. Our presence in the region has already helped us to expand Olympus’ operations, and allowed us to support our business partners’ requirements, effectively promoting growth and problem-solving strategies designed locally to address our emerging markets' needs.

Olympus MEA has a vision, one that extends beyond providing innovative technology solutions and enabling efficiency for its client base. We are a firm believer in being more than just a company, we want to become a key contributor to and a driving force of economic growth of a region. Our strategy is to get closer to all our customers, we want to be perceived by our customers as their trustworthy local partner, we want to be part of the region's growth initiatives. We are also eager to achieve this as soon as possible, and the best business model to achieve this is developing a strong network of local channel partners – distributors. We are actively looking for local companies who believe in our technologies and who have strong roots in local markets in Africa, the Middle East and Turkey.

We are committed to transfer our knowledge, and to train and empower our local channel partners to be able to provide the best technical and service support to our customers. This will also contribute to national strategies and initiatives aiming to develop youth by providing career opportunities and access to first-class Japanese and North American technologies. It will contribute to developing the capabilities of our young engineers in Africa, the Middle East and Turkey.

What are important factors that has elevated Olympus MEA to the leadership status that it is today?

We at Olympus MEA - along with our Olympus colleagues and business partners around the globe, and regardless which function or business units we belong to - have one purpose, one belief that defines our identity and gives us a motive as well as guidance in every single task we do: "Making people’s lives, healthier, safer and more fulfilling." I would like to take this opportunity and invite local companies who believe in selling technologies - and who are ready to be part of our team to support our regional operations to unleash its potential in the mining and precious metal industries - to reach out to me for further cooperation.