Ariel Sets Up in New Facility
 Ariel Optics was in production even as they moved into their new, expandable,
6,000 sq. ft. facility in Wayne County last month.
Located on Dean Parkway, Wayne County's own "optics alley,"
the new facility houses new machinery and equipment and a staff with well
over forty years of experience in the industry.
The staff include Ariel President, Fred Koch, who started his apprenticeship
as a teenager with his dad, Horst, at Planar Optics; Jim Rizzo with over
25 years with Melles Griot and JML; Robb Sawyer, Ariel's Marketing Manager,
with ten years at Optimax as Manufacturing Manager (and Xerox before that);
Tim Lewis, in his 10th year apprenticed with Fred, and two new employees
that were just hired.
Bread and butter for Ariel is precision planos, around 80% for prime contractors
and the rest in special projects for others, including the National Labs.
Ariel now specializes in Prisms, Light Pipes, Beam Splitters, Mirrors
and Reference Flats with dimensions ranging from .7mm to 500mm.
A recent visit found Sawyer quoting multiple jobs from a spacious new
office, Koch and Lewis in process on several jobs, and Lewis doing double
duty setting up machinery and working on production with the others. New
employees are coming on board which will serve Ariel well. They are located
in a New York State Empire Zone which can lower tax liabilities for a
company that's hiring, and it looks like there may be room for a few more
opticians if they can be found. Sawyer had good things to say about Dave
Richards in Wayne County's Economic Development Office, and Ariel is working
with, and pleased with the Finger Lakes Workforce Development team.
Expansion at Angstrom
Exciting developments at Angstrom Precision Optics
Partners John O’Herron and Ron Schulmerich have purchased the 190
Bennington Drive facility they are currently occupying in Rochester. The
8000 square foot facility doubles the manufacturing floor space. Several
new customers and long term contracts have made the decision to purchase
the building practical. “The purchase of the building will solidify
our position in the photonics industry and allow us to grow our current
business of precision optical components. The additional floor space will
also provide the needed room to launch our new germanium polishing service”
said Ron. Complete renovation of the facility is expected by summer of
2007.
The continued growth of the APO will also support the hiring of several
new employees in the coming year, including the recent addition of Gary
Caselli formerly of JML as Manufacturing Manager. Gary has been active
in the Rochester optical industry for almost 30 years.” His innovation,
experience and skills bring an added value to APO”
OptiFab 2007, Rochester
Post-Deadline Commercial Abstracts May Still be an Opportunity
What does that mean to you?
 There are some 60 technical papers already submitted. It is possible
that you could still submit a paper this week and get it reviewed and
approved in time to make the program. But additionally, there is room
during the conference for about 20 commercial presentations at 12 minutes
each. This is an opportunity for your company to present a technical pitch
about a product, a special process, or a unique instrument to a captive
audience of 50-60 or more people involved in fabrication. 13 companies
have already registered to make commercial presentations, so there is
still room for 7 more companies to present their best Powerpoint slides
to the exact audience they are hoping to reach. It's a no-brainer! Get
on board!
Organized jointly by SPIE and APOMA, Optifab 2007 is held in conjunction
with the largest optical manufacturing product and supplier exhibition
held in the United States. With a unique technical focus on classical
and advanced optical manufacturing technologies, Optifab 2007 offers conference
attendees an exceptional opportunity to interact with worldwide experts
in the field of optical fabrication.
If you need to speak to someone from within the industry, Jim Sydor at
Sydor Optics and Rick Nasca at Corning Tropel , both APOMA members, are
good contacts for the exhibition. Jay Kumler of Coastal Optics is your
contact for the technical conference at (561)881-7400 ext. 114.
Reserve your space now for OPTIFAB 2007
and be part of the PIANY/RRPC Cluster area on the tradeshow floor. As
of November 6th there are 19 member companies who will be in the Neighborhood
area. An additional 10 New York State companies will have island booths
or exhibit outside the Cluster area.
SPIE will not allow the Cluster to hold any additional space for members
who have not yet registered. SPIE is assigning exhibit space next week
based on confirmed reservations only.
If you plan to exhibit at OPTIFAB 2007 but have not yet registered you
must do so by November 17. IF YOU WISH TO BE IN THE CLUSTER AREA you must
indicate so on your registration form.
If you have any questions please contact Rick or Andrea at the PIANY/RRPC
office at 585-586-6906.
Corning / Rochester LEOS
The Corning/Rochester LEOS chapter has existed for a little less than
one year. Over this past year they have hosted 3 Distinguished Lecture
presentations with the topics of:
-
Photon Counting Microdetectors and their Applications (Sergio Cova)
-
Photonic Bandgap Bragg Fibers: A New Platform for Realizing application-specific
Specialty Optical Fibers and Components (Bishnu Pal)
-
Nanoscale Imaging of Semiconductor and Biological Systems (Selim
Unlu)
A 4th technical presentation by Philippe Fauchet on "Biological
sensing using nanostructured silicon" is scheduled for November 15.
Contact Sean Garner, 607-974-2480 / garnersm[at]corning.com or
Carlo Kosik Williams, 607-248-1944 / kosikwilca[at]corning.com
University of Rochester
School of Engineering & Applied Science Colloquium Series
Joseph Culver - Washington University
School of Medicine, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology
Both events to be held Fridays 10:30 AM, in Wilmot 116. Refreshments
served.
Events
November 27 - December 1
Materials Research Society Fall Meeting
Boston, MA
Current
Exhibitors List
Program
December 6
FAA Technology Expo
Washington DC
Exhibition
20 - 25 January 2007
Photonics West
San Jose, California USA
Exhibition
20 -
25 January 2007
BiOS 2007—Biomedical Optics Symposium and
Exhibition
San Jose, California USA
Program
Exhibition
Electronic Imaging
28 January - 1 February 2007
San Jose, CA USA
Program
Medical Imaging
17 - 22 February 2007
San Diego, California USA
Call for Papers
Defense and Security Symposium
9 - 13 April 2007
Orlando, Florida USA
Call for Papers
|
RIT CIMS Conducting Annual Survey
Respond to the Survey!
As this newsletter goes to distribution we are at approximately 50% returns
for the annual survey. We need a higher number for the results to have
significant value. Please help!
SBIR 07.1
SBIR 2007.1 Solicitation was issued for public release on November 6
The DoD pre-release is here.
During the pre-release period, which ends on December 5, you may contact
the topic authors directly (contact information is listed with the topic)
to ask technical questions about specific solicitation topics. The
DoD will begin accepting proposals on December 6, 2006 and will close
to proposals on January 10, 2007 at 6:00 AM EST. Plan ahead and
submit your proposal early to avoid the risk of website inaccessibility
due to heavy usage on the final day.
Workforce Development
Grants Are Available!
Right now in our community Workforce Development Dollars are available
for just about every conceivable need your company might have: new hires,
existing workers, skills upgrades. Whoever they are if they need training
contact your Workforce Investment Office. Here are some examples:
Here Today, Here Tomorrow?
Zeiss and Kodak in the 21st Century
Begun by Carl Zeiss as a mechanical workshop in 1846 note,
the company that bears his name has weathered among other things, the
two World Wars, reconstruction, the division of Germany, the reuniting
of Germany, and economic cycles too numerous to mention.
 In 1912 George Eastman visited Jena, and no doubt Zeiss note,
as part of a wide-ranging tour of the continent, and came back to Rochester
determined to establish the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester
as part of a plan to emulate what he had witnessed in the German optical
manufacturing center. Judging by the network of optics, photonics and
imaging companies and educational institutions still to be found today
in the Rochester region, Eastman succeeded in part.
But my Kodak DX 4900 digital camera (circa 2002) has a Kodak aspheric
lens, no doubt manufactured in the far east, and their newer high-end
models feature all Schneider lenses. On August 1st Kodak announced an
agreement whereby Flextronics will manufacture and distribute all of their
new cameras note.
Kodak will retain control of its intellectual property (right!).
 Kodak's sales in 2005 were $14.3 Billion. R&D investment in Digital
and Film Imaging has decreased 25% year over year since 2003.
Their major R&D investments have been in Health Imaging (isn't that
unit on the block?) and Graphic Communications. The annual report still
lists Rochester as the center for Kodak's R&D, but didn't we see many
of those researchers get laid off in recent rounds?
Today Zeiss sales are around $2.8 Billion, and determined not to be outpaced
by either smaller nimbler competitors or international peers, Zeiss has
opened what it describes as "the world’s most advanced development
and production center for lithography optics" note
at the same time it continues R&D in dozens of other technologies
including "development and optimization of computer-controlled ultra-precise
surfacing (CCOS) for manufacturing optical components/mastering, including
freeforms." note
Any of these development projects sound familiar?
As it approaches its second century milestone Zeiss continues to make
major investments in the Jena region where it was begun. Is there a lesson
to be learned from the Zeiss
model?
Guest Essay
This is the first of a series of columns where I will attempt to discuss
entrepreneurship in a way that is entertaining and (hopefully) useful.
I have started companies, invested in early-stage businesses, taught entrepreneurship
and advised innovators in the non-profit and for-profit worlds. I've been
successful on occasion and I've failed on others. (The latter resulting
in some expensive lessons.) I intend to impart some of the knowledge that
I've gained over 20 years – without any expense to you.
At the outset, it's probably a good idea to step back and define “entrepreneurship.”
It's no great linguistic insight that the word's origin is French. (President
Bush apocryphally proclaimed that “the problem with the French is
that they don't have a word for entrepreneur.”1)
I frequently use “innovation” interchangeably with “entrepreneurship.”
That word also originates from French. (What is it about those French?)
When I think of entrepreneur, I think of “trailblazer,” “groundbreaker,”
and “pioneer.”
It makes sense to have many ways to describe “entrepreneurship”
since entrepreneurs are a diverse lot. And they aren't simply the run-of-the-mill
billionaire found amongst the Forbes
400. They are the PhDs in labs seeking cures for diseases, programmers
creating video games, and artists forging new styles of dance or music.
They are presidents of non-profits creating innovative methods to tackle
society’s problems, bureaucrats coming up with novel ways to administer
programs, and university leaders embarking on bold campaigns.
Now, stay with me on this one. I can't find a place where it is etched
in stone that an entrepreneur must take an oath of poverty, launch a company,
draft a business plan that gets rejected by dozens of venture capitalists,
take out a second mortgage, and get a flattened nose from having the door
slammed countless times on him by potential customers. An entrepreneur
does take risk, though, by challenging the powerful force of inertia and
promulgating something new. An entrepreneur is willing to disrupt the
status quo, in small ways or larger ones, because he sees a way to do
something better. In other words, there is a passion and a willingness
to embrace change.
Now, that's 100% American. I wouldn't have faulted our president for his
misstatement, even if he had made it, since I appreciate where he might
have been coming from. Everyone has the ability to be entrepreneurial,
and many of us are without realizing it.
I was privileged to teach entrepreneurship to graduate students at RIT
recently. I was skeptical about the ability to "teach" students
how to become entrepreneurs until a professor gave me some advice. He
told me that it’s an achievement to simply give students the ability
to think differently enough to change a daily habit, like shaving, so
that they perform it better and more efficiently. A light went on. Not
being a student of business history, I took liberties and realized (rightly
or wrongly) that may have been the way Mr. Gillette had come up with his
business idea.
2
Richard A. Glaser is a financial advisor
at a major securities firm
Articles and Advertisers Sought
If you have an article of interest about your company, or an optics,
photonics, imaging, or business issue you would like to address in a public
forum, we're interested in hearing from you about writing an essay in
this newsletter.
If you have a service that you would like to promote to our members,
and the Optics, Photonics and Imaging community in New York State and
beyond, contact us to discuss banner space in this newsletter.
Contact RRPC
New York Photonics and the Rochester Regional Photonics
Cluster are active and growing collaborative organizations. Efforts are
under way on joint training events, workforce development, collaborative
advertising opportunities, promoting the commercialization of I.P., and
the development of our website to further facillitate business development.
Join us! There are advantages to working together, and
we are interested in working with you. Send an email to us at membership@rrpc-ny.org.
To subscribe, to unsubscribe, to submit a news item or upcoming event,
to suggest a feature or column, or to offer feedback, contact Tom
Battley, at 585-329-4029.
Click here
to download a version of this, or any of our previous Newsletters.
|
Forward this Newsletter to a Friend or Colleague!
|