Note 1—Description of Business
Bruker Corporation, together with its consolidated subsidiaries ("Bruker" or the "Company"), develops and manufactures high-performance scientific instruments and analytical and diagnostic solutions that enable its customers to explore life and materials at microscopic, molecular and cellular levels. Many of the Company's products are used to detect, measure and visualize structural characteristics of chemical, biological and industrial material samples. The Company's products address the rapidly evolving needs of a diverse array of customers in life science research, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, applied markets, cell biology, clinical research, microbiology, in-vitro diagnostics, nanotechnology and materials science research.
The Company has two reportable segments, Bruker Scientific Instruments (BSI), which represented approximately 93% and 92% of the Company's revenues during the year ended December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and Bruker Energy & Supercon Technologies (BEST), which represented the remainder of the Company's revenues. Within BSI, the Company is organized into three operating segments: the Bruker BioSpin Group, the Bruker CALID Group and the Bruker Nano Group. For financial reporting purposes, the Bruker BioSpin, Bruker CALID and Bruker Nano operating segments are aggregated into the BSI reportable segment because each has similar economic characteristics, production processes, service offerings, types and classes of customers, methods of distribution and regulatory environments.
Bruker BioSpin— The Bruker BioSpin Group manufactures and distributes enabling life science tools based on magnetic resonance technology. The majority of Bruker BioSpin's revenues are generated by academic and government research customers. Other customers include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and nonprofit laboratories, as well as chemical, food and beverage, clinical and polymer companies.
Bruker CALID(Chemicals, Applied Markets, Life Science, In-Vitro Diagnostics, Detection)— The Bruker CALID Group designs, manufactures and distributes life science mass spectrometry and ion mobility spectrometry systems, infrared spectroscopy and radiological/nuclear detectors for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) detection in emergency response, homeland security and defense applications, and analytical and process analysis instruments and solutions based on infrared and Raman molecular spectroscopy technologies. Customers of the Bruker CALID Group include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics companies, contract research organizations, academic institutions, medical schools, nonprofit or for-profit forensics, agriculture, food and beverage safety, environmental and clinical microbiology laboratories, hospitals and government departments and agencies.
Bruker Nano— The Bruker Nano Group designs, manufactures and distributes advanced X-ray instruments, atomic force microscopy instrumentation, advanced fluorescence optical microscopy instruments, analytical tools for electron microscopes and X-ray metrology, defect-detection equipment for semiconductor process control, handheld, portable and mobile X-ray fluorescence spectrometry instruments and spark optical emission spectroscopy systems. Customers of the Bruker Nano Group include biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, governmental customers, nanotechnology companies, semiconductor companies, raw material manufacturers, industrial companies and other businesses involved in materials analysis.
The Company's BEST reportable segment develops and manufactures superconducting and non-superconducting materials and devices for use in renewable energy, energy infrastructure, healthcare and "big science" research. The segment focuses on metallic low temperature superconductors for use in magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance, fusion energy research and other applications, as well as ceramic high temperature superconductors primarily for energy grid and magnet applications.