PRC Laser opens fiber laser machine factory

The CO2 laser remains an industry workhorse. For many CO2 lasers in the field today, there’s a good chance the laser resonator was made by PRC Laser.

The brand hasn’t gone away. PRC is opening a new headquarters and manufacturing location in Charleston, S.C., ramping up operations throughout the fall. It will still service its existing CO2 cutting lasers, and it’s dedicating a portion of the plant toward CO2 laser resonators and systems, especially for laser welding, which has been a major focus for PRC in recent years. Now, however, the company is shifting gears, with most of the plant dedicated to the fastest-growing segment of the market—which, no surprise, is the fiber laser.

PRC Laser’s roots go back to the mid-1980s when a group of welding engineers were looking for a CO2 laser that could keep up with a continuously running production line. Over the years the company expanded into CO2 laser cutting, partnering with many well-known machine builders.

In 1996 PRC was bought by Dover Corp., which in 2004 sold the company to Rofin-Sinar, which has since been acquired by Coherent. In April 2018 PRC was acquired from Coherent through an effort led by a longtime executive of PRC, Walter Wilson.