Cognex Corporation Appoints New President of Japanese Subsidiary

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) announced today that Dr. Makoto Inoue has joined Cognex as President of Cognex K.K., the company’s Japanese subsidiary. Dr. Inoue, who started in the position on January 15, will report to Eric Ceyrolle, Cognex’s Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing. As President of Cognex K.K., Dr. Inoue will be responsible for the sales, marketing, engineering and technical support of Cognex machine vision products in Japan, and will oversee five offices and more than 100 Cognex employees. He takes over leadership of Cognex K.K. from Hiro Ohgusu, who joined Cognex in 1990, and who will continue to assist Cognex K. K. as a member of its Board of Directors. Dr. Inoue joins Cognex after a career of more than 30 years with Komatsu, Ltd., a leading worldwide manufacturer of industrial machinery and equipment with combined revenues in excess of $16 billion. Most recently he served as CEO and President of Komatsu Electronics, Inc., a maker of temperature control systems for the semiconductor industry, where he increased revenue from $50 million to a high of $135 million. Prior to that he served as General Manager of Komatsu Ltd.’s Electronics Division, a $238 million equipment and controls business whose product line included machine vision. In 2000, that machine vision business was purchased by Cognex, and Dr. Inoue joined the Board of Directors of Cognex K.K. Dr. Inoue holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in engineering from Tokyo University, and a Ph.D. in engineering from Cambridge University. "Dr. Inoue is a superb choice for leading Cognex K. K. and for driving revenue growth in Japan,” said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Chairman and CEO of Cognex. "He is a seasoned executive with a strong record of success in the markets that we serve, and, in addition, because he has been a member of the Board of Directors of Cognex K. K. for the past seven years, he is up-to-speed on both the inner workings of our company as well as on the technology, markets and opportunities for machine vision.” "I am very excited to accept this new position,” said Dr. Inoue. "Opportunities for machine vision in Japan among automotive, electronics and other manufacturers are growing significantly, as companies work to increase production efficiency and improve their competitive position. Machine vision is a key enabler for achieving production improvements, and, as the leading worldwide provider of machine vision, Cognex is in the best position to capitalize on this growing need.” In closing, Dr. Shillman commented, "We are very grateful to Hiro Ohgusu for his many years of dedicated service to Cognex during which he successfully grew and managed our Japanese organization, which contributed very substantially to Cognex’s success. We look forward to his continued assistance as a member of the Board of Directors of Cognex K. K.” About Cognex Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and markets machine vision sensors and systems, or devices that can "see." Cognex vision sensors are used in factories around the world to automate the manufacture of a wide range of items and to assure their quality. Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 400,000 machine vision systems, representing over $2 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. In addition it its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices and distributors located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia and Latin America. Visit Cognex on-line at http://www.cognex.com.