After 20 years in Rochester, NY, and with customers as far away as Germany and Japan, thin-film coating house AccuCoat inc., continues to provide exceptional attention to detail, optical coating design support, cost savings recommendations and on-time delivery to customers around the world with personal care for each project.
Why do global customers ship to Rochester, when there are closer options available? AccuCoat’s exceptional attention to detail for each coating order is upheld daily by a well-trained staff that works well together. From initial inspection through verification and repacking, each step of the process is carefully monitored and scheduled. Being proactive for any issues with a proven process management system is also a factor for success. Higher yields commonly result and are sought out by those companies who understand the value of having excellent processes.
Pulling from a combined background beginning at Bauch and Lomb coating production, partners Paul Meier-Wang and Patrick Iulianello provide thin-film coating applications expertise and guidance for fully custom solutions for highly demanding needs. After training at Dunnscht Technik, Paul assisted in the development of the optical coating department at TCI. He went on to further create three more separate coating operations, the last of which was AccuCoat.
“Just because a group does not have a million-dollar order does not make it less important to us. Since there are fewer management layers at AccuCoat, it has allowed me to work directly with the customer regarding both the business and technical aspects of project needs,” stated Meier-Wang.
“For more than 10 years AccuCoat Inc. has provided coating services for us. When we originally introduced our first light source using plastic optics, we were looking for a provider of AR coating (broadband) on polymers. AccuCoat Inc. was identified as one company of only a few that provide this service. Since the beginning, we have been very pleased with the quality of the coatings from AccuCoat Inc. Within all these years, they have guided us towards solutions that could improve either our quality, yield or make the process more efficient for us.
We have always found AccuCoat Inc. very easy to communicate with, that is today a very important quality in the global community. In our Light Sources we have from 2 to 8 polymer surfaces, so efficient AR coating of these are essential for the performance.”
– Frans Ravn, Technical Manager, ChemoMetec A/S, Denmark
Experience always matters. Sales Manager, Alan Parsons, has a career in optics that has ranged from assembly and engineering to customer-facing roles. His understanding of what it takes to nurture a project throughout the entire process is fully understood, and he continually looks for ways to integrate and improve product quality and on-time delivery. Parson’s experience with military optics and environmental testing is utilized almost daily at AccuCoat.
“We help the customer to make the best choices for the highest success for their project, including recommending alternatives for the lowest stress on a substrate. Our experience coating on polymer substrates is extensive, and we are often able to steer customers in a more successful direction for the outcome of their project,” stated Parsons. Often AccuCoat is consulted at the design phase of product development and spends significant time with the customer to understand the end requirements to offer the best performance and a successful and cost-effective option for that substrate and application.
Equal concern for the products gives higher yield returns at AccuCoat. Co-founder, Patrick Iulianello, explains how this works. “When we coat optics, our philosophy is that these are the customer’s products, and they should be handled that way. Whether expensive or low-cost, each customer’s product should be handled with equal respect. We treat all customers, large or small, with the same concern, whether it’s a single part in the run or a large volume OEM. I think that’s why they tell us they see a much higher yield from us than other vendors.”
Cost-savings recommendations. A buyer’s dream. It could be a small change in the performance specification; it might be a slightly different material recommendation. At AccuCoat, all customer-facing personnel looks for ways to cut your costs from their particular vantage point. The team understands that getting the most margin for each project allows its customers to have better overall success rates. In addition to searching for the best possible coating approach, AccuCoat uses custom totes designed to keep your optics pristine and reduce shipping breakage.
On-time delivery and Customer Service – where the rubber meets the road. It doesn’t matter how high performing or durable the work is if it can’t go out the door on time. AccuCoat strives to understand a customer’s delivery requirements often before the substrates arrive for coating. Consistent, upfront and ongoing communication is a huge part of our customer service success, especially with customer’s minimal schedule allowances by the time coating is required in the project cycle.
Personalized service and concern for each order, when combined with exceptional coating design and manufacturing experience, offers each customer potentially higher yields. It’s no wonder that companies around the world have decided that working with AccuCoat is a must for thin-film coating on glass, metal, and polymer optics.