EMF Acquired in Roll-up
Dynasil Corporation of America (OTCBB: DYSL) and New York Photonics member,
Evaporated Metal Films Corp. (EMF) of Ithaca, New York (EMF) announced
that a definitive agreement has been signed for Dynasil to acquire 100%
of the stock of EMF for a cash payment at closing.
Dynasil is a manufacturer of optical blanks from synthetic fused silica
and other optical materials as well as optical components and specialized
optical systems for the laser, optical instrument, and general optics
markets. EMF Corporation produces optical thin-film coatings for a broad
range of application markets including display systems, optical instruments,
satellite communications, and lighting. EMF has optical coatings capabilities
that are targeted additions to those currently offered by Dynasil including
its Optometrics subsidiary, which it acquired in March, 2005.
Consummation of the transaction is contingent upon several important conditions
including successful completion of debt and equity financing efforts which
are currently well underway. The transaction closing is currently scheduled
for October 2, 2006. Megan Shay, EMF's CEO plans to continue in an active
leadership role and executive position for at least one year
after closing. If consummated, Dynasil's plan is for EMF to continue to
operate from its Ithaca, N.Y. facility as a Dynasil business unit. Megan
commented that "This is a very positive development for EMF customers
and employees since Dynasil brings increased capabilities and resources
to EMF."
The acquisition of EMF is expected to immediately increase Dynasil revenues
by 40-50% and to contribute significant net income in the future. Mr.
Craig Dunham, Dynasil's President and CEO, had the following comments
on the definitive agreement: "I believe that EMF will be an excellent
addition to Dynasil with EMF's broad capabilities for optical coatings,
strong people, and optical customers and markets that fit well with Dynasil.
EMF and Dynasil have some complementary strengths that we expect will
result in increased growth and profitability for both companies."
NASF National Conference & UNYTECH
Seed and Venture Capital Annual Event to Coincide with Regional Investment
Annual
Fostering Capital Innovation, a national event, will be held at the Hyatt
Regency, September  20-22.
The conference will host breakout groups covering details on subjects
such as:
- Seed Investing as a Team Sport: How to Get and Make Seed Investments
- Starting an Angel Organization: The "How To's" for Building
an Angel Network
The Keynote Speaker will be Senator Hillary Clinton. More information
can be found here.
Interested parties without an invitation ought to take a look at the sponsorship
list and make a few calls.
UNYTECH, Universities of Upstate New York
Venture Forum, is holding its annual event at the Hatt, September 19-20.
Keynote Speaker will be Kevin Parker- researcher, entrepreneur, and Dean
of the University of Rochester School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The tentative agenda is here.
OSA Frontiers in Optics
90th OSA Annual Meeting
October 8 - 12, Rochester
2004's OSA Annual in Rochester had a total of 86 exhibitors. As this
newsletter goes to print there are 87 already registered for October,
with room for more. The goal for this year is 100. Contact, or refer contacts
to the OSA Sales Department at 202-416-1428. Registration is here.
An extraordinary range of learning opportunities and events are in store
for attendees at OSA FiO, including over 600 technical talks and poster
sessions, talks about Global Issues with Optics Solutions, and awards
for distinguished research. Eight themes run through the conference:
- Optical Design & Instrumentation
- Optical Sciences
- Optics & Biology in Medecine
- Optics in Information Science
- Photonics
- Quantum Electronics
- Vision & Color
- Laser Science
The event coincides with the University of Rochester's Meliora weekend
which brings some 10,000 visitors to the Rochester area.
Of particular interest to members and exhibitors both will be:
Career Center at OSA FiO
There will also be a Career Center
on site in the main hall for companies seeking candidates. At a time when
many of our membership feel that their growth is constrained by a lack
of skilled technicians, the Career Center may present us with an opportunity
for recruitment from the local workforce. Call Tom Battley (585.329.4029)
if you have someone that may be available for staffing an RRPC booth in
the Career Center.
OptiFab 2007
Deadline for Technical and Commercial Abstracts Approaching
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. This dynamic conference format includes:
- Technical papers on the latest technology, product, and process innovations
- Commercial presentations on leading edge manufacturing and testing
products with an emphasis on aspheric fabrication and testing
- Practical short courses specifically of interest to optical manufacturing
specialist
The New York Photonics community has a unique opportunity to present
technical papers and commercial presentations to an international audience,
but the deadline for abstracts is quickly approaching. Interested authors
and presentors should submit a 250 word abstract to http://spie.org/Conferences/calls/07/ofb.
The Deadline for Abstracts is 25 September 2006.
The OptiFab 2007 exhibition is the only exhibition in 2007 showcasing
optical manufacturing technology, coatings and metrology.
"Participating at OptiFab delivers in
a few days the benefits of four weeks of visits across three continents.
Can you and your company afford to miss it?"
--John Nemecheck, Fisba Optik LLC
This is the one SPIE conference where it makes sense to bring all of
your production team so they can interact with equipment manufacturers,
suppliers and fabrication partners. Exhibition contracts can be downloaded
by clicking here or requested at spiesales@spie.org
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.
Events
18 - 22 September 2006
Photomask
Technology
26th Annual Symposium
Monterey, CA
25 - 26 September
2006
Boulder
Damage Symposium
Boulder, CO
1 - 4 October 2006
Optics
East
Boston, MA
8 - 12 October 2006
Frontiers in Optics 2006
The 90th OSA Annual Meeting
Laser Science XXII
Rochester, NY
20 - 25 January 2007
Photonics West
San Jose, California USA
Exhibition
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
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RIT CIMS to Conduct Annual Survey
Respond to the Survey When You Get It!
Beginning with a survey conducted by RIT's School of Business in 2003,
RRPC members began to recognize the importance of regularly benchmarking
our economic performance as an industry. This year the survey will include
companies statewide as well.
As major employers in the Rochester region and across the state continue
downsizing, we know anecdotally that nearly every RRPC member, and many
among the state membership have added jobs.
Moreover, it seems that many economic development efforts in recent years,
by numerous organizations, tout the OPI industry as a lynchpin to New
York State's future economic success.
That is why it is critical that each and every member respond to the
industry survey which will be conducted on our behalf by RIT's Center
for Integrated Manufacturing Studies (CIMS) in September. The results
are strictly confidential and will only be available to the membership
in aggregated form, showing total numbers for our industry.
Your quick and accurate response is necessary for our efforts in workforce
development, education, and legislative action. Please make certain that
your survey response is tallied and returned soon after you receive it.
GSI Awarded Homeland Security Grant
Geospatial Systems, Inc. (GSI) was awarded a $100,000 Phase I STTR Grant
from Homeland Security, Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA). If
it progresses to Phase II, the total award will be nearly $1,000,000.
An STTR is for small businesses to partner with universities to develop
new technology. It is very similar to an SBIR, but with more latitude
to fund the university partner.
The award is for an Incident Surveillance Management System (ISMS). The
development program addresses “emerging needs for rapid data-and
imagery-ingest, advanced geo-processing, image analysis, large database
applications, and data sharing. The solution will provide geo-spatially
relevant data in real time – by way of the mobile ground station
– to responding FEMA staff, and to local first responders, and to
simultaneously deliver that same real time geo-spatially relevant imagery
to FEMA staff in conference rooms from Washington, DC to Washington State
and beyond.”
Kevin Kearney, GSI’s CTO said: “Essentially, this award extends
our penetration into the Geospatial value chain by integrating our sensor
suite into a ground ingestion and dissemination system. Successful execution
on this will give us a lot of visibility, as well as many other applications.”
Mr. Kearney further explained that GSI’s university partner in this
program is Rochester Institute of Technology’s (RIT) Center for
Imaging Science. “Geospatial Systems is essentially assisting in
a tech transfer from RIT with Leica Corporation as a commercialization
partner.”
GSI is presently partnering with Pennsylvania State University’s
– Electro-Optics Center, and Dr. William Kiser in the development
of a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) project utilizing direct geo-referenced
imaging.
CaseCor Precision Optics
New Firm Formed by Two Industry Vets
Between the two of them, Jeff Luksich and Mike Wiederhold have more than
40 years experience in the optics business, at Glassfab, at Angstrom,
and at JML. Now the two have joined to form CaseCor Precision Optics.
Already operational in a 5,000 square foot building at 1704 Wayneport
Rd., Macedon, Casecor is filling orders, reviewing blueprints for new
work, and working the network of contacts they have established over the
years for referrals. Some local shops currently have more work than they
can handle, and that should play well for a new entry in the market.
"We're taking it slow right now." Wiederhold says, "There
is already a lot of work in the shop and we are making sure that we can
deliver what we promise."
CaseCor is building on capabilities in precision and plano optics - mirrors,
wedges etc., with plans for confronting the tooling necessary for spheres,
cylinders and more complex demands in the near future.
Contact Casecorp at (585) 490-0543 / (585) 880-8634
Workforce Development
Post Your Job Listings!
Recent meetings among RRPC members and workforce development staff from
Rochester Works, Finger Lakes Works, and Monroe Community College highlighted
gaps in the recruitment and training "system" thatso many of
our members play an important role in.
In addition to a sustained long-term public-relations and marketing effort
informing the community of opportunities in our industry, one such gap
is in job-postings. In today's job-market applicants and trainees use
sophisticated electronic search techniques when exploring for job opportunities
or validating choices such as entering a training program. With such tools
available, what applicant would chose optician training at MCC when no
job openings are posted at either MCC or within the regional system?
It is important that the person responsible for recruitment at your firm
post openings at Rochester
Works! site.
Work with Their Hands
The Finger Lakes Workforce Investment Board has scheduled the First Annual
"Finger
Lakes Works: with their hands!" event. It will be held October
5, and has a September 15 registration deadline. This is an opportunity
for precision manufactures to further the process of persuading high school
aged future employees to consider careers in our industry. Approximately
500 students from the Finger Lakes Region will be bussed to the event.
Exhibitors are asked to set up hands on demonstrations so that the students
can actually participate in the process. Optimax
will have a recruiting video playing, along with some unique training
material that we have developed. They will also have a hands-on Newton
Fringe experiment for students to conduct. This is a great opportunity
for RRPC members to educate tomorrow's technicians about the broad array
of careers in this industry. RRPC will have a table at the event. More
information can be found here.
More Job Opportunities
In addition to technican and fabrication postings, higher level opportunites
exist within the Rochester region. For instance:
Qioptiq Imaging Solutions is seeking:
- An Optical Engineer with 2-5 years geometric optics design experience
- An Electrical Engineer with a minimum 5 years experience, with expertise
in software/programming preferred
JML Optical seeks:
A Director of Optical Manufacturing. The position reports directly to
the Senior Vice-President - Operations. The candidate should be a "hands
on" leader with thorough knowleeeege of, and experience in, all aspects
of precision optical fabrication - including glass shaping, blocking,
grinding, polishing, centering, interferometric inspection andsyncho-speed
surfacing of precision lenses, prisms and flats. Proven human relations
skills combined with the ability to train are essential. Strong pluses
are: B.S. in Optics, Physics or Mechanical Engineering, a strong commitment
to lean manufacturing and a passion for six-sigma quality implementation
& ISO principles.
JML operates out of a new 70,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility.
Resumes are being accepted by Michael Julian at JML Optical Industries,
820 Linden Ave, Rochester, NY 14625.
mikej[at] jmloptical[dot] com
JML, Qipotiq, Optimax and others are also on the look out for qualified
technicians and candidates for technician training.
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.
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