Technology Leadership
OptoTech is one of the founding members of the Wetzlar Network. In the very first issue of W3+ magazine, Roland Mandler spoke about the industrial region and its strengths. Now, 10 years later, we are sitting together again and talk about what has been, what is and what will come.
Prior to the meeting with OptoTech Optikmaschinen GmbH, we picked up the first issue of W3+ magazine once again. In the interview we did with proprietor Roland Mandler 10 years ago, he said: “I see our economic region as a biotope in which each company makes an important contribution to the whole industry.” A sentence that resonates. When we meet Roland Mandler again in Wettenberg in June 2020, it quickly becomes clear: He is just as energetic as he was back then – even without his usual firm handshake which, to our regret, we had to abstain from due to COVID-19.
Boundless entrepreneurial spirit – regional and international
Still not a loud speaker, Roland Mandler’s word nevertheless carries weight. As an entrepreneur he has always been committed to the interests of the region and participated actively in the Wetzlar Network as a member of the advisory board for many years. He was among the first ones to promote and financially support the initiative for establishing an endowed professorship at the TH Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences. His boundless entrepreneurial spirit has been appreciated nationwide multiple times. When Tarek Al-Wazir payed a visit to the company in Wettenberg in 2018, the Hessian Minister of Economic Affairs emphasized: “The company has twice been awarded the title of Hessen Champion: 2013 in the World Market Leader category, four years later in the Innovation category – that really says it all.”
And really: Many of the technologies which are now standards in the production of optics were developed at OptoTech. Numerous patents as well as many national and international awards are indicative of the high degree of innovation of the OptoTech machines – and in the end, this is crucial to achieving competitive advantages, Roland Mandler points out. “We have always acted from the conviction that generating new orders only works through backing innovation. And we have always fared well with that.” The figures speak for themselves. The optic machinery manufacturer has managed to more than double its turnover in the last 10 years. The company keeps 300 people in its employ with 200 working at their headquarters in Wettenberg and another 100 in subsidiaries and sales offices located in Italy, China, India, Hong Kong, the United States, and Switzerland. Exports account for 80 percent of sales. For global customers in the precision optics industry, OptoTech provides optical machines and processes that are unmatched in their bandwidth. The company offers the most comprehensive product range worldwide for all production areas, from supermicro, micro and macro to plano-optics and ophthalmic lenses.
Innovative manufacturing methods and processes
Based on innovative production methods, OptoTech developed sophisticated integrated technology and machinery concepts for the production of spectacle lenses in the ophthalmics sector (spectacle optics) where the machinery available from OptoTech covers the whole range of manual and fully automatic production systems for manufacturing progressive spectacle lenses from plastic and mineral glass as well as the digitized manufacturing of high-precision glass moulds – the pinnacle in ophthalmic lens production.
»We think in the long-term and try to always
be one step ahead of developments.«
Roland Mandler
In precision optics, rising product standards and increasing customer requirements bring about manufacturing methods and processes which are getting more and more sophisticated. The requirements regarding accuracy are constantly growing particularly in the semiconductor industry and in laser technology but also in the sectors endoscopy, microscopy, medical engineering, and photography. Of course, the share of software within the systems is on the increase across the board but as part of Industry 4.0, it is more relevant for digital process control in the spectacle optics sector. In precision optics, however, priority is still given to the precision of the systems and the accuracy of the machinery. This is a crucial factor which also continuously stimulates the development of optical machinery. “All optics have their own characteristics and require an individual perspective on production,” says Roland Mandler. “Our particular strength lies in our ceaseless endeavors to cover preferably all processing steps in the production and treatment of precision optics with one complete system and on the highest level at that.”
A perfect solution for every task
Roland Mandler explains what this means during a short tour through the company building. The scope of machinery which is built and calibrated here ranges from desktop units for testing and patching lenses to cabinet-sized coating machines and 8-axis ultra-precision grinding and polishing machine centers which are both powerful and highly complex. Furthermore, there is a variety of special custom-built machines which the company designs according to individual customer specifications. To do so, it is not necessary to reinvent the wheel every time: instead OptoTech’s optical machinery is based on a highly compatible technological modular concept which allows to provide a perfect solution for every task. “This is possible because the technology cycles in our industry don’t undergo such rapid developments that we would have to chase them. Instead we think in the long-term and try to always be one step ahead of developments,” Roland Mandler points out.
It is incontestable that OptoTech ranks among the champions in Hesse with regard to innovation and global market leadership. And as company founder and proprietor, Roland Mandler has planned ahead making sure that it will remain this way in the future. Since November 2018, the Schunk Group has been the majority shareholder in OptoTech. The technology group based in Heuchelheim is a leading supplier of high-tech products made of carbon, technical ceramics and sintered metal as well as of machines and plants – from environmental simulation to air conditioning technology and ultrasonic welding – and they were his “most desired candidate”: “The Schunk Group is a corporation with global orientation and regional rooting,” Roland Mandler rejoices, “and just like me, they hold the economic region Central Hesse very dear.”
Global orientation and regional ties
This is also confirmed by Dr. Arno Roth, Chief Executive Officer of the Schunk Group: “OptoTech is a really good fit for the technology group Schunk due to its position as one of the technological and process engineering world market leaders in optical machinery manufacturing. Our investment is also intended to give the economy of the Middle Hesse region a further boost.” The optics industry is a growth market that also provides Schunk with further opportunities to grow. As part of the involvement, it is intended to make use of powerful synergy effects in different areas which is meant both to ensure the future success of the optics machinery manufacturer and to facilitate cooperations with partners in the region.
The delight in and maybe even the relief about this promising business succession is written all over Roland Mandler’s face – although he is still much to energetic to completely withdraw from his company yet. With Jens Schäfer at his side, who has taken care of commercial issues and the production sector as second managing director since November 2018, Roland Mandler will continue to keep more than a watchful eye on OptoTech Optikmaschinen GmbH to make sure that the company will remain a Hessian Champion. With innovation. Global orientation. And rooted in the region.
Additional Information:
www.optotech.de