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16 Aug 2004
A center in Chennai plans to promote laser cutting and welding to the car and electronics industries.
A new laser center in India that intends to make the technology more accessible has been opened in the province of Chennai in the south of the country. The center, known as Laserline Fabrication, will offer materials processing services to customers mainly from the automotive and electronics industries.
It is the brain child of Mr Sabarikanth, the managing director of Optilase, an Indian distributor of lasers which is also located in Chennai and has been in business since 1994. Optilase currently represents several foreign laser manufacturers including the Canadian firm GSI Lumonics, LS Laser Systems of Germany and Nuvonyx, the US developer of high-power diodes.
"This is the first laser processing center in India which has a facility to do cutting, welding, drilling and surface treatment on a commercial scale," said Mr Sabarikanth, who will also manage the center. "Other commercial centers cater to cutting with a CO2 laser, but we are the only one to do all types of laser procesing under one roof."
According to Sabarikanth, the center will initially be equipped with a one 500 W Nd:YAG laser (a continuous wave JK series from GSI) with plans to install another one or two before the end of the year.
"I've been in the laser business for about 18 years and have been thinking that it needs to be done," Sabarikanth told Optics.org. "There are a lot of customers who can't afford to buy a laser."
The Indian Welding Society officially recognizes the center and will work with it on several joint projects. According to GSI Lumonics, the society sees the center as an important new step in the growth of industrial laser processing in India.
Unlike China, which already has a number of large laser firms, India's laser industry is still in its infancy. "There are no laser manufacturers in India," said Sabarikanth. "Growth is only starting now."
Author
Oliver Graydon is editor of Optics.org and Opto & Laser Europe magazine.
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