Cognex Corporation Revamps Worldwide Sales Organization

NATICK, MA, October 17, 2006—Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX), the world's leading supplier of machine vision sensors and systems, has promoted Eric Ceyrolle to the position of Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Mr. Ceyrolle will be responsible for managing Cognex’s direct sales organization as well as all of its channel sales worldwide for the company’s Modular Vision Systems Division, the largest division at Cognex. In his new role, Mr. Ceyrolle will report to James F. Hoffmaster, Cognex’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Ceyrolle joined Cognex in 1992 as General Manager of the company’s European Operations, which he grew from a single office in Munich with under $1 million in annual sales, to an organization with offices in 11 countries and over $50 million in annual sales. Following his success in Europe, Mr. Ceyrolle’s responsibilities were expanded in 1999 to include Southeast Asia, and then, expanded once again in 2004 to include Japan. Under his leadership, sales have increased dramatically in each of the territories that he managed.

‘‘When I joined Cognex in 1991, I immediately saw the need for an experienced sales executive in Europe,’‘ said Patrick Alias, Cognex’s first Executive Vice President of Sales and currently a member of the company’s Board of Directors. ‘‘Having worked with Eric Ceyrolle at previous companies, he was my first choice to head up Cognex’s European sales effort. His track record over the past 14 years in increasingly responsible roles proves that Eric was the right person for that challenge, and I am confident that he will be able to produce the same impressive results for Cognex’s sales efforts worldwide.’‘

In addition to the promotion of Mr. Ceyrolle, Cognex has appointed Brian Phillips Vice President of Sales for the Americas. Mr. Phillips has been with Cognex for 13 years. He most recently held the position of Business Unit Manager in charge of Cognex’s new expert sensors. Prior to that he held a variety of increasingly responsible sales positions at Cognex, including serving as the company’s first dedicated end-user sales engineer, Midwest Regional Sales Manager, and Director of OEM Sales for the Modular Vision Systems Division. In his new position, Mr. Phillips will report directly to Mr. Ceyrolle.

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Cognex also promoted Didier Lacroix to Vice President of Sales for Europe, and Ettore Cucchetti to Vice President of Sales for Asia. Mr. Lacroix has been with Cognex for 11 years, most recently serving as Director of Sales for Western Europe. Mr. Cucchetti has also been with Cognex for 11 years, most recently serving as Senior Director of Sales for Asia and prior to that, Director of Sales for Central Europe. Akira Nakamura, President of Cognex Japan, will continue to manage the company’s sales organization in Japan. All three of these individuals report directly to Mr. Ceyrolle.

‘‘All of these individuals are seasoned sales executives with strong records of growing vision sales,’‘ said James F. Hoffmaster, Cognex’s President and Chief Operating Officer. ‘‘They move into their new roles with extensive knowledge of the machine vision business, and the proven ability to build and manage high-performance sales organizations. We believe these changes in leadership will position Cognex to realize the full growth potential of our markets as we move into 2007.’‘

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 350,000 machine vision systems, representing over $2 billion in cumulative revenue, since the company's founding in 1981. In addition to its corporate headquarters in Natick, Massachusetts, Cognex also has regional offices and distributors located throughout North America, Japan, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

CONTACT:
Robin Pratt
Corporate Communications Manager
Cognex Corporation
858-350-5065