A New Concept For The Manufacture Of Microlenses In Precision Optics

Due to the need to react rapidly to changes in the requirements of the market, it is necessary to reassess tried and trusted machine and process technologies. In this paper the author introduces a concept which enables small, medium and large batches of components to be produced economically and with reproducible levels of quality in countries where labour costs are high. Essentially, the concept is based on integrating work processes on just two machines and combining closely together the operations involved in preparation and manufacture. With new computer-aided technologies and processing techniques it is now possible to proceed from lens design to the finished polished lens within a few hours.