Schwäbische Post 27 August 2003

ELECTRONICS / The company LOBO from Aalen is a globally leading laser specialist in the show industry
Discotheques only make up five percent of all clients - export quota of 90 percent
From a one-man operation to the global market leader for show laser systems – LOBO Electronic (Aalen) was already awarded for its technical developments. But the company also feels the effects of the weak economy: Rising turnovers are unthinkable at the moment.
CHRISTOPH FAISST
AALEN • Darkness. A girl rolls up an illuminated scroll. From it, twigs, birds and colorful flowers grow. The Hanging Gardens, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, come into existence. The others soon follow. The journey through tunnels of billowing light and across dazzlingly bright surfaces takes eleven minutes. Artificial wind and spherical sounds from a 10,000 Watts sound system are added. The sense of time gets lost. “Mystere” is the name of this laser show, produced by LOBO electronic (Aalen).
A total of 4 billion pixels, projected onto an invisible water screen, make the pictures appear in space. The technology does not seem spectacular: Two tiny mirrors revolve in a small metal casing. One directs the beam of light vertically, the other horizontally. As the image is re-built at an incredible speed, it is perceived as a film by the human eye. Time for a retrospective. A rock concert in the early 1970s. Howling guitars, droning basses. A few green fingers of light move across the stage. “The Who” were one of the first bands to use laser, which was invented as early as 1960, as a stage effect.
Thirty years of technological developments lay between “The Who” and “Mystere”.”We did pioneering work,” company founder Lothar Bopp tells. He was the first to be able to display 16 million colors with a single laser. For this, he received the Rudolf Eberle Innovation Award of the State of Baden Wurttemberg in 1992. Recently, LOBO received the Innovation Award of the Economic Region Eastern Wurttemberg.
In 1982, Bopp had started his one-man company. In parallel to his studies of precision engineering, he built up his company that now has 30 employees and claims to be global market leader in its specialist niche. “In addition to lasers we offer a full multimedia concept,” Bopp explains. This means: Light, sound, video projections and the entire technology all come from a single source.
With these complete systems, LOBO generates about 70 percent of its turnover, which is in the high single-digit millions according to Bopp. The story and the software, that transforms it into light, were developed by 15 engineers and five designers. Hence, the flowers and birds in “Mystere” were drawn and digitized in thousands of individual images, comparable to a cartoon. Almost everything is built at LOBO, even the software used by the engineers to develop their products is made in-house. Only the lasers themselves are purchased from third party companies. Among the clients are amusement parks, large cinemas and planetariums. The most important markets are Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East, with the export quota being about 90%. But “Mystere” is also shown in the Europa Park in Rust, Germany. Discotheques only make up 5 percent of all clients.
The spectaculars are not cheap. “It is comparable to a movie production,” Bopp explains. The development of “Mystere” cost about € 250,000. The software is sold for € 3,500, with the client also needing hardware for € 150,000. The offers that LOBO has been providing for around ten years as part of its event service, which accounts for 30 percent of turnovers, are certainly not for those on a tight budget. LOBO rents out lasers, designs the show, and provides assembly and disassembly as well as control.
Globally, 160 companies compete for market shares. “Two students with a laser and a fog machine in their garage are no laser show company,” Bopp draws the line. He is not unaffected by the weak economy. “Our sales are not decreasing, but there is stagnation.”