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Photonics Briefing #12
Automation II
June 26, 2001
9am to 5:00pm

Burlington Marriott, Burlington, MA

The fiber optics and optical network industry is going through a period of extraordinary growth that is expected to continue into the future. This has caught optical component suppliers by surprise and demand now exceeds supply. For example, optical fiber production is sold out until 2002 and most optical components are in the same situation.

In order to increase the supply, new manufacturing capacity has to be brought on-line or existing processes need to be automated, or both. Unfortunately, the optical component industry is in the same position as the electronic component business 30-40 years ago, when discrete components were placed on circuit boards by hand. Since then the process has been highly automated with very large scale integrated chips placed on boards by robots with very little human intervention except for test and measurement.

Optical components have the same but one additional critical problem in that they often have to be aligned optically. The problem of automation in the optical communications industry are just now being addressed. It will take a large investment and it will not be solved overnight.Several new start-ups have already entered the market to take advantage of this new opportunity. The existing players like Lucent Technologies, Nortel, JDS Uniphase, and Alcatel are spending millions to automate their component production processes.

The “Automation II Photonics Briefing” will address the problems as seen by major systems and components suppliers, present some of the solutions proposed by existing and new automation companies, and highlight new opportunities in the photonics automation field.

Who should be interested:
Executives from the following companies

Contents

• Overview of Photonics Automation Market Trends -
  Dr. Paul Polishuk, President and CEO, IGI Consulting
  
• Review of Photonics Automation Technology -
  Dr. David Krohn, Lightwave Venture Consulting
  
• Optics Manufacturing & Capital Equipment , Key Enablers in the Tera Era Gregory Konezny, CFA, USbancorp Piper Jaffray
  
• Tackling the Cost Drivers in the Manufacturing of Fiber Optic Components -
  Andre Sharon, Executive Director, Fraunhofer USA
  
• Newport's Experience in Photonics Automation -
  Randy Heyler, VP Photonics Packaging and Advanced Automation Systems Newport Corp.
  
• Reducing the Costs of Packaging & Test of Optical MEMS devices -
  Dr. Jason Eichenholz, Director of Applied Photonics ETEC, Inc.
  
• The Need for Customized Automation in Fiber Optic Manufacturing -
  Laurence Chin, VP of Sales and Marketing NEXT Fiber Systems/Intelligent Automation
  
• Standardized Automated solutions for the fiber Telecommunication Industry
  James McEleny, kSaria, Corp
  
• Alignment Subsystems for Automation -
  Brian Lula, Polytech PI
  
• Lean Manufacturing Overview forPhotonics Automation
  Helen Zak, Lean Enterprise Institute
  
• Automation versus Innovation - Modular Systems That Close The Gap In The Photonics Industry -
  David Henderson, Director of Product Development, Photonics Automation Burleigh Instruments, Inc.
  
• Adept's Approach to Photonics Automation -
  Ernie Bancroft, Adept Technology
  
• Automated Solution for Assembly, dispense and integration for Photonic Applications.
  Daniel F. Crowley, Vice President, Sales, MRSI Group