Happy 10th Birthday for Photonic Products Ltd

To celebrate its 10th birthday in October 2005 and the success of its prototyping workshop which was established 2 years ago, Photonic Products has invested in a Citizen M32 CNC sliding head lathe from NC Engineering of Watford, enabling both increased flexibility and fast turnaround from prototype to full production.

This investment takes the company to the next level of vertical integration as a successful manufacturer of custom designed electro-optical sub-assemblies and optoelectronic components which deliver performance and manufacturing efficiencies to OEM companies.

The Citizen M32 CNC sliding head lathe offers super-efficient economic machining of complex parts up to 32mm in diameter in short cycle times, enabling the company to machine the components used in its’ optoelectronic sub-assemblies, such as heat-sinks, clamps and mounts, with accuracy and consistency. Thanks to the unique concept of slant-bed design and the use of state-of-the-art digital AC drive technology, complex mechanical components can be turned with high precision in minimum cycle time.

Damon Cookman, Operations Director, said, “In the last 5 years, our manufacturing business has grown by over 600% in response to customer demand for our laser diode modules and optical components, and we needed to invest in cutting edge manufacturing technology to give us increased capacity and considerable gains in productivity.”

“The ability to produce complex components in one single operation, without the need for secondary operations, greatly increases the accuracy of the components", he added.

A delighted Tony Pope, MD, who started Photonic Products Ltd in October 1995, added, “Our new headquarters, with a production area of 1242 square metres, gives us plenty of room for further growth, so as production demand increases, adding further machines will prove straightforward. We have seen our manufacturing business increase significantly year on year, from 2000-2005, almost eclipsing our original laser diode distribution business.”

Photonic Products was established in 1995 and is a manufacturer of electro-optical sub-assemblies and innovative optoelectronic components based on semiconductor laser diode technology and also a specialist distributor of high performance industrial laser diodes, LEDs and precision optical lenses. It is a Queen’s Award for International Enterprise winner.