NATICK, MA, USA Temmuz 28, 2008

Cognex Receives Multi-Million Dollar Order From China Steel

Largest single order ever received for Cognex SmartView Surface Inspection System

NATICK, Mass. July 28, 2008--Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) announced today that China Steel Corporation, a Taiwan-based manufacturer of integrated steel products, has placed an order for seven Cognex SmartView® surface inspection systems. This multi-million dollar sale represents the largest single order that Cognex’s Surface Inspection Systems Division (SISD) has ever received. The SmartView systems will be used to perform automated quality inspection at China Steel’s manufacturing plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 

Cognex’s surface inspection systems use proprietary, high-performance machine vision hardware and software to automatically detect, visualize, and classify defects on a wide variety of high value-added materials, such as metals, paper, and plastics.  China Steel will use the Cognex systems to inspect steel at multiple stages of the manufacturing process, such as during pickling, galvanizing, annealing, and tension leveling, to ensure that the product meets rigorous quality standards.    

“Cognex offered a comprehensive solution for each of the very diverse and demanding inspection tasks we evaluated,” said Mr. Chih-Chung Wu, Assistant General Manager at China Steel’s Kaohsiung plant. “The line scan technology utilized in SmartView offers superior performance, especially in demanding applications, such as in galvanized steel, where we must meet the extremely high quality standards of automotive manufacturers.”

“Increasing demand for steel...particularly in Asia...is fueling new capital spending in steel manufacturing plants worldwide,” said Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Cognex’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Cognex is in an exceptional position to benefit from that demand due to both the excellent reputation of SmartView and to our company’s ability to provide products and services worldwide.”

CONTACT:
Robin Pratt
Sr. Manager, Corporate Communications
Cognex Corporation
phone:  (858) 350-5065
email: robin.pratt@cognex.com

Cognex Corporation (“the Company” or “Cognex”) invents and commercializes technologies that address some of the most critical manufacturing and distribution challenges. We are a leading global provider of machine vision products and solutions that improve efficiency and quality in high-growth-potential businesses across attractive industrial end markets. Our solutions blend physical products and software to capture and analyze visual information, allowing for the automation of manufacturing and distribution tasks for customers worldwide. Machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing or distribution and tracking of discrete items, such as mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries and e-commerce packages, by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them. Machine vision is important for applications in which human vision is inadequate to meet requirements for size, accuracy, or speed, or in instances where substantial cost savings or quality improvements are maintained.

Cognex is the world's leader in the machine vision industry, having shipped more than 4 million image-based products, representing over $10 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. Headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, USA, Cognex has offices and distributors located throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. For details, visit Cognex online at www.cognex.com.