hey #measuringhero, Jay here. Today we thought we'd come all the way out to Milan to do a profile
of the company Lasertech. But it is really loud here, because as you can see they're busy working.
So let's go into the office and meet them where it's quieter.
Do you want to come? Want to come? You sit down there.
So in order to learn a little bit more about Lasertech we brought in Paulo to tell us more about Lasertech.
Yes, thank you very much. Yeah, thanks for your time. First welcome here in our new factory.
We are here since one month, because this factory is a really new one. We moved the other two facilities
we had before into this new building. Lasertech is active in chemical etching and laser cut.
We start in 1970, so. 1971? Yes it is 51 years today and we started the beginning mainly in
electromechanics. When there was a first telephone, you know the dial phone when you have to
turn the disk, not to DJ. I remember that yeah. Maybe some don't. It was quite long time ago and
we are really proud, because this is a really really new factory.
It represents really the state of the art of technology for production and
we moving out to develop much more in volume and quality and so on for our main business.
Our main business it is automotive, it is electronic, it is medical, it is a fashion and luxury. Oh, wow.
We need really something new and well organized to cover the needs of our customers. Now when you
I mean that's quite a breath, I mean from medical that's highly regulated, to luxury eyeglasses that
they must be very taxing customers in various different ways. Yes there are completely different
approaches. Medical and automotive, everything is measurement, everything must be tolerance, must be
perfect and so on in other fields of application as luxury and fashion. And so it's much more must
be beautiful, must be perfect, no sport, no scratch. I want something different it is more immaterial.
So we have to jump quickly from really material production as medical, so surgical blades, implants.
Everything that need to be regulated and to be measured and so on to must be beautiful, yes.
But what is beautiful for you? So are really two different words but we have to can you get
together into the same process and the same factory. I'm really fascinated to hear how you
dance that between function and form and mary that. Now, to be honest with you I know very
little about the chemical etching manufacturing process. Can you actually bring us through this process?
Absolutely, so we start from the raw material. The first is the selection
of the raw material. In this case it is high glossy, high polishing material. Really for luxury
items and need to take care of the surface. Yeah. After that we have to clean it, because material
it comes from production, so it contained dirtyness, contained, as you can see on the back side also our
beautiful fingerprints, that we have to remove before the process. Yeah and so we clean it we
cover with the special film. This plastic film is like a camera film. It's sensitive to the
light. So we use a special laser system, to scan the surface and transfer the geometry, the design on
what we had to do. After that we remove the plastic film, where it is not polymerized by the laser
and we spray a special chemistry an acid that will dissolve the metal into the final shape. Okey and
then it, so when you manufacture something in this process, what type of tolerances can you achieve
doing it this way? We are in the field of microns. The best we can do it is usually 10 microns. Wow.
Yes it's really really precise. Really effective process. We are usually
in the range as average of 50 microns. Sure, sure. So we need also after process a lot of inspection,
a lot of measurement, a lot of control. Because during the process we cannot touch the product.
We can just check something to see if we are in the range of what's expected by the customer.
You won't know till it's over. Yes, when we have the finished project in the end, we have to measure
and see if it is okay or not okay. And sometimes it is for few microns. Right, right so final inspection
is extremely important for your business, because there's no way to check in process.
Yes, because if we touch the product during the step of reduction we damaged and so we really
need some special target over the process to see if we are, as I told you, in the range and are
those wholes around that give us just the sensation this whole is okay or not okay, but what is the
part? We can measure just at the end. So final inspection is extremely important for you.
Yes, absolutely because without the final inspection we cannot be sure that the parts are okay or not okay.
It is really complicated process. Absolutely, can we see that? Absolutely. Great!
You are welcome. All right, thank you. So let's go we are going to the design engineering department.
That is the really first step of production, where we got the domains of the customer
and we use the domain of the customer to generate the data, we need for production, but finally the
data we need for the final inspection. Because really, the start and the end need to
be generated at the same time at the beginning of the process. Great, great. Let's have a look.
So we were at the start of the process, we saw the engineering department, the CAD design, where
we generate the data for production but finally we generate the data for the final inspection.
So here it is when the end of the process, where we have to measure everything and be sure that everything
is fine with the parts. And we really appreciate that you have trusted ZEISS with
the inspection of that. I mean we're honored that you chose us to represent
quality for your company. No, absolutely. We are really happy about the machine. It was possible to
do a lot of things and to improve also our quality and service to customers. And I also appreciate
the fact that you opened your home to us, let us learn more about Lasertech and what you do.
Maybe sometime when we come back to Milan we can come back? Absolutely you were welcome, you will be
welcome anytime you want to be here. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Paulo. And with you out there hope
you enjoyed this little tour. Don't forget to stay safe and stay healthy. We'll see you next thursday.