Satisloh’s environmental awareness
Founded in 1922, Satisloh AG is a global leader in manufacturing solutions for precision optics and ophthalmic markets. It was formed by the merger in 2005 of two companies, Satis and Loh.
In 2008 Essilor International acquired Satisloh which continues to operate as an independent company. In this interview, we hear from Pascal Elsener, Head of the EMEA and India Region.
How is your company organized worldwide?
Our corporate headquarters are located in Baar, Switzerland, with regional offices and service centers across Europe, the Middle East, North and South America and Asia. The company, which now includes National Optronics (USA), Bazell Technologies (USA) and SCL International (France), employs more than 900 people in 17 countries. We have production plants in Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, USA and China. The company can count on a strong team of 80+ people in its Research and Development department and we have close to 200 people in our Service departments to better support our customers.
How is your commitment towards ecology applied to your machinery?
We introduce more new technology every year than any other company in the industry. This ensures that our customers continue to be the most competitive.
Our latest innovations are looking into being more environmentally aware. With the rise of awareness of heavy metal contamination the industry is looking for environmental and cost effective alternatives and this is precisely what we are offering with Alloy Replacement Technology (ART) solutions. We started a couple of years ago with the introduction of ART.
In 2014 Satisloh launched an award winning, green alternative to the traditional alloy-based blocking process.
ART uses a reusable block-piece made from recyclable plastic and a UV-curable adhesive to hold the lens in place for generating and polishing.
The use of synthetic materials for block-piece and adhesive eliminates environmentally hazardous heavy metals and makes the blocking process safer for staff and better for the environment.
Also, Lab 4.0 is a sustainable continuous improvement program that we are introducing to the market, which brings Industry 4.0/smart manufacturing to the optical industry. Manufacturing Labs that implement the 4 pillars of the Lab 4.0 program can expect up to 30% faster production throughput, and up to 25% gain in efficiency using far less labor while becoming more environmentally friendly. These are only a few examples of what we are introducing to the market.
This year MIDO TECH - the area of MIDO where you exhibit - moves inside MORE! What do you think about this decision?
We are very excited to see this development where design and technology meet and gives customers the opportunity to see not only the frames but, in our case, also what happens behind the scenes and the technology and machinery that makes the manufacturing of our lenses possible. It is something that we believe not many people know about.
What are you going to present at MIDO 2018?
At MIDO our customers will see some of our actual solutions but also have the chance to experience future solutions. This year we will present areas of Lab 4.0, including a new generation of equipment (smart machines and intelligent tools), interconnected components with real-time machine monitoring, and some elements of our Express-AR solution, a groundbreaking proposal to automate and dramatically speed up the AR coating process.
