Roundtable Panelists
Eugene Arthurs
SPIE
Dr. Thomas Fehn
Jenoptik
Thomas Kessler
Edmund Optics
sion, which is not good for industry. Asia,
however, will continue to grow well – particularly in imaging and life sciences.
Also, Japan is on a good recovery path
from the earthquake, the tsunami and the
consequent impact on its domestic production. We are not expecting huge gains in
Europe at this point, but expect that market to be stable. The greatest uncertainty
in Europe centers on the debt situation in
Greece.
Zilian, Trioptics: The market will grow
slowly, due to the growing economy. The
defense and security market is expected to
grow. Also, the Asian market is still growing and will continue to do so in 2012. In
Asia, China is one of the biggest growing
markets in optics.
Morris, Trumpf: We are still bullish regarding 2012. I don’t expect the growth
we have experienced in 2011 to continue
at the same pace; however, backlogs are
still strong, and the project outlook is
still very encouraging across all industrial sectors.
Q: Where do you think the market
will go in the next five years? How
about the next 10?
Jean-Michel Pelaprat,
Vytran Corporation
and OSA
Samuel Sadoulet
Edmund Optics
Bill Shiner
IPG Photonics
Simon Zilian
Trioptics GmbH
Herman Chui, Spectra-Physics
Joe Delfino, Qioptiq
Ravi Guntupalli, Princeton Instruments
Tim Morris, Trumpf Inc.
Mike Naselaris, Sydor Optics
the commercial markets. Increasingly sophisticated medical design/product growth
will contrast reduced expectations in life
sciences and semiconductors. All industries will increasingly focus on their core
competencies and turn to optical suppliers
for subsystem engineering and optimized
assembly solutions.
preparing for flat or slight declines in
2012. One indicator of this is the activity
we’re seeing in Asia. The market in China
has not been growing as much as it had
been in the past few years, so people are
anticipating the overall market will mirror
this in 2012.
Naselaris, Sydor Optics: Based on the
financial problems of the world, I am
guarded of being overly positive – yet at
such a rapid rate of technology advances,
I do see steady growth over the next five
years. As for 10 years out, I think the
market will continue to grow for optics.
All new technologies, in some way, shape
or form, have been touched by optics.
Whether on the systems level or the
component level, optics are becoming
an even larger part of tomorrow’s technologies.
Pelaprat, Vytran and OSA: Predictions
range from seeing a small downturn to flat
growth. Companies aren’t anticipating significant growth overall, but rather a mix of
growth, stagnation or decline, depending
on the market segment. For example, fiber
lasers and instrumentation are likely to
grow faster than traditional laser technology. In general, most companies are
Kessler, Edmund Optics: In the US domestic market, you can expect months of
slow demand because we are going into an
election year. The uncertainty fuels indeci-
Delfino, Qioptiq: Expectations are for a
broad migration of talent from optical defense markets to commercial markets,
with an emphasis on medical and bio organizations and markets. Stabilization in
the wider economy, combined with continued improvements with LED and laser
source power/price, will lead to broader
commercialization of high-volume applications.
“Companies in the optics market need to understand how to innovate
while adding value and create a sustaining, competitive plan during
an ever-changing global economic landscape.”
– Joe Delfino, Qioptiq
