It is not enough for industrial manufacturers to merely provide high-quality products. Today, every organization is exploring better ways to shorten its development cycles to stay ahead of competitors. While manufacturers naturally tend to keep as many product development steps in-house as possible, this can be short-sighted when it comes to manufacturing optical devices. Before making a decision, it is crucial to analyze whether manufacturing or purchasing optical components is the best approach to achieve team, budget, and business goals. ### Considerations When Manufacturing Optical Components Although in-house optical manufacturing and assembly can provide more control over the product development process, their costs and time investments can be extremely high. As a niche industry, finding personnel with the necessary experience can be challenging. Generally, purchasing all required equipment may take several months, but mastering the expertise to operate this equipment can take years. Therefore, unless your projected volume is very large, the cost reduction from in-house optical production will not offset the fixed costs of implementation. Moreover, optical infrastructure serves no purpose beyond optical manufacturing. Thus, if the demand for optics eventually diminishes or disappears, the infrastructure cannot be repurposed. The optical industry requires a unique set of skills that are often underappreciated. First, precision is paramount. When manufacturing optical devices, precision levels are measured in microns and nanometers—far exceeding anything found in familiar, traditional machine shops. This demands a high level of craftsmanship that is hard to find. Defects are often so small that problems cannot be visually detected, requiring inference, which takes a long time to master. In-house development resources may handle routine projects, but today’s optical devices increasingly demand higher functionality, which often expands project scope. Additionally, manufacturing optical components is not interchangeable with manufacturing metal parts. When producing optical components, you work with fragile materials that must remain clean and scratch-free. This requires establishing procedures and best practices to avoid costly breakages or cosmetic defects from improper material handling. There is a risk that manufacturers may view optics with the same mindset as electronics and software—where basic coding or hardware skills can easily be adapted to a wide range of problems. However, with optical devices, we deal with the physics of light, which is analog rather than digital. The mathematics involved can be complex, and conclusions often seem counterintuitive. These unique skills do not transfer well to other fields. Furthermore, optical surfaces typically require nanoscale precision, necessitating specialized production and testing equipment, as well as extreme temperature control. Processes drift continuously as grinding and polishing tools and compounds wear down. Learning to effectively manage and control such process drifts takes years. If the decision is made to manufacture rather than purchase, the infrastructure for optical manufacturing and assembly differs significantly from traditional manufacturing. You will need to invest in cleanrooms, vibration-isolated tables, expensive optical testing equipment, and methods to maintain extreme product cleanliness. Optical manufacturing is a messy process that must coexist alongside optical coating—a process requiring pristine, clean environments. Managing these competing demands under one roof is a challenge.Considerations When Purchasing Optical ComponentsThe motivation to manufacture rather than purchase optical components is influenced by several factors, including: - The ability to avoid potential profit erosion from optical suppliers increasing prices; - Identifiable long-term demand for large quantities of optical components; - Loss of control over schedules if production is outsourced; or - Products containing intellectual property that must be maintained in-house. In some of these cases, the high investment in in-house production may yield returns. However, except for a few scenarios, these perceived benefits are often overshadowed by the significant advantages of purchasing optics from established suppliers rather than manufacturing them. A purchasing decision minimizes upfront investment and accelerates time-to-market, leading to faster, more predictable plans and shorter timeframes for products to generate revenue. In terms of cost, outsourcing avoids substantial capital investments in space, equipment, and personnel required for in-house optical manufacturing and assembly. This is particularly important when future sales volumes and demand for optical products are uncertain. Additionally, outsourcing costs are limited and predictable (with suppliers absorbing any overruns), and even with small order quantities, you benefit from suppliers’ readiness for high-volume production across a range of products and their efficient processes. Optical manufacturing is characterized by constantly evolving manufacturing and metrology solutions, which rapidly devalue investments. Purchasing optics from a supplier that continuously invests in and improves its tools creates compounding returns that are hard to match with a small in-house facility. Regarding scheduling advantages, when purchasing rather than manufacturing, you outsource to experts who have undoubtedly completed similar work (or near-identical projects). This speeds up time-to-market, as there is no steep learning curve. Experience also enables suppliers to design and develop quickly with greater confidence, minimizing costly and time-consuming errors—especially for complex designs. For example, manufacturing glass lenses takes significant time. If a minor design flaw is discovered only after the optical components are produced, it could add months to the schedule. Moreover, partnering with a supplier that has equipment and an experienced team clearly saves time compared to building the required optical manufacturing infrastructure from scratch. Strategically, outsourcing optical manufacturing makes sense because the optical parts being purchased are often not the critical enabling technology in a customer’s最终 unique end-use product. Thus, time and resources can be focused on other more important and core areas of the business. Suppliers become risk mitigators for your overall operations, reliably and efficiently complementing in-house teams focused on core business functions.Supplier Selection—When and Who?If the decision is made to purchase rather than manufacture optical components, it is critical to engage with the product development process at the right time and partner with a capable supplier. Typically, engaging with a production supplier during the product implementation phase—rather than the early research/concept validation phase—makes the most sense. In the early stages of product development, agility, speed, iteration, and cost savings are key. This phase focuses on refining technical specifications and defining operating windows for the product, which require evaluation through prototype testing. This early stage is often best handled by in-house resources and hired consultants, who can dedicate full time to your project without incurring the overhead costs of a production supplier. Companies tend to view their in-house research workforce as a “free” component of fixed costs, whereas a production supplier’s research team would be relatively expensive due to their fixed cost burdens. For suppliers like ZYGO, the product implementation phase is the optimal time to engage with customers. At this stage, concept validation is complete, the final product concept is solidified, and the product’s technical performance window is understood—enabling the creation of accurate specifications. Additionally, system-level specifications for the product are clearly defined, including size, weight, and power; optical requirements such as field of view, image or beam quality, numerical aperture, and radiometry are established; and environmental requirements are specified. Essentially, this is the first-generation design of the product to be delivered to customers. Suppliers can optimize it, validate its suitability through analysis, and provide predictable timelines for prototyping and initial low-volume production.