Manufacturing High Quality Precision Optics

The business of manufacturing precision optics is unique:

Compared to making auto parts, appliances, batteries – nearly anything you can imagine – the pursuit of manufacturing precision optics presents unique challenges:

• Tolerances are finer. Surface shapes and finishes are specified in nanometers, dimensions in microns, angles in arc-seconds.
• Requirements are unique. Wavefront, crystal orientation, spectral transmission, laser damage threshold, and more play a part.
• Materials are often challenging. They are often highly refined, rare, valuable, and brittle.
• Quantities vary widely: Within the same precision optics shop, some parts are made by the thousands while others are one-of-a-kind.
• Thin-film coatings for precision optical are intricate. Coatings may consist of scores of alternating layers of several refractory materials, each with tolerances well below a micron, designed by computer and deposited in a vacuum chamber.

What does it take to be a successful precision optics manufacturer?

It takes a good team of cooperative people, each with their own knowledge base developed over years of experience in the industry, and the right equipment and instrumentation, in appropriate facilities:

• Sales engineers who are good communicators and facilitators and who understand customer requirements.
• Design, quality, and process engineers who understand optical science, materials science, and the unique challenges of manufacturing precision optics.
• Highly skilled, trained, and flexible technicians and craftspeople with a delicate touch and a passion for precision optics.
• Manufacturing equipment and metrology instrumentation built specifically for the precision optics business.
• Clean, temperature-controlled laboratory space.

Can you count on them?

Maybe your brother can cook – but can he run a successful restaurant? Maybe you’re a good photographer – but can you keep a studio open? There is more to being a premier precision optics manufacturing company than just an address and good people. You need to look for:

• Capacity and dependable delivery. Can they make enough of what you need, exactly the way you need it, and get it to you on time every time? You may need only one of something unique, or monthly deliveries in the thousands.
• Price. Are they reasonable? While precision optics are seldom inexpensive, there is often a wide range in price depending upon your supplier’s skills, efficiencies, specialties, and business practice. Get competitive quotes.
• Cooperative policies. Do they make returns and credits painless, in case of error? Check this out beforehand.
• Export capability. The U.S. Department of State requires export licenses! If you’re buying outside the U.S. make sure they can sell to you.

• ITAR compliance. The International Traffic in Arms Regulations are frequently a hurdle when exporting precision optics. You’ll need to confirm that your chosen supplier understands how to navigate these regulations without problems.

Yoany Rodriguez

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