From Optical Design to Manufacturing Floor

Date Announced: 08 May 2020

The photonics market is projected to grow from $556.4 billion (USD) in 2018 to $780.4 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 7.0% from 2018 to 2023. The need for energy-efficient products and the increasing adoption of photonics products in various applications are the key drivers for the growth of the photonics market globally.[1]

Specifically the consumer electronics segment including holography, watches, scanners, optical computer devices such as an optical mouse, and wearable devices, is expected to be the fastest growing market of the projected growth. This means even more pressure to produce products with limited time and budget.

With this demand growth in mind, companies have to get more efficient with how they get their product innovations to market. Optical teams can only design and develop so much in a day’s work. Managers requiring teams to simply work faster often end up paying the price when engineers sacrifice quality for speed. One area that is oft-overlooked is the friction within the product-development workflow.

Many engineers and product owners are often involved before a product can be sent down the assembly line. From the optical designer who creates the optical design, to the mechanical engineer who builds the packaging, to the manufacturing engineer who must ensure the end design meets the specification requirements before beginning mass production.

Handoffs from one person to another often means files conversions and loss of data or design integrity. How does the manufacturing engineer on the floor view the optical files to ensure they fit manufacturing specs? In the past, they were limited to overly restrictive file formats that present a single snapshot of the end product.

Today there is a solution. OpticsViewer allows manufacturing engineers or any other non-optical team-member to be able to view optical files from OpticStudio without an OpticStudio license. By standardizing on one solution, OpticViewer enables better communication and more informed decision-making by establishing a common language across the design and manufacturing process. When non-optical engineers can access all the optical design data they need to troubleshoot and confirm optical design requirements, specifications are analyzed, iterations are reduced, and the product is delivered on-time and within budget. Improving how your engineers share optical design information can speed up existing processes, reduce miscommunication, and eliminate unnecessary iteration costs. 

If you want to get quicker performance out of your engineering team, take a look at the workflow and where the friction is. Likely it’s not the talent of your team, but limitations of the tools that are holding them back. Find out how OpticsViewer can help you and your team get work done more easily so you can get to market quicker.

Contact

E-mail: kerry.herbert@zemax.com

Web Site: www.zemax.com