FAQs

 

How many machines has QED sold?


QED has sold over 150 MRF and SSI machines worldwide.




When was QED founded?

QED was founded in 1996 and sold its first MRF machine in 1998.

Since then, QED has developed a family of MRF Finishing and SSI Metrology machines to meet all of your polishing and metrology needs.




Where is QED located? Whom should I contact for more information?

QED Technologies, Inc.
1040 University Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607  USA
phone: (585) 256-6540
fax: (585) 256-3211
www.qedmrf.com


Robin Townell, Marketing Specialist
(585) 256-6540 x241

Additional contact information, including service and support contacts, as well as international contacts, can be found in the Contact Us section of our website.




How large is QED Technologies®?

QED employs 60+ full-time staff at our 22,000 square foot facility in Rochester, NY. This facility has space for equipment manufacturing and assembly, MR fluid research, development and manufacturing, software development and distribution and a customer/user facility with precision metrology capabilities for prototype lens production and product demonstrations.

QED also recently expanded its overseas operations to include a branch office and demo room in Japan. QED established this new international office to meet the customer service and support needs of its Asian clients. This expansion represents a substantial growth opportunity for QED since one-third of our machines are currently located in Asia.



What types of customers does QED serve?

QED Technologies serves the precision optics, microlithography and telecom industries and counts among its worldwide customers the leading precision optics manufacturers.

QED has gained an international reputation for excellence with machines sold to customers across the globe. The majority of QED's customers do not purchase just one machine - over two-thirds of QED customers are repeat customers. The QED Q22 machines have such an impact on production lines that within 12 months, first-time customers often return to purchase a second (or even third, fourth, etc.) machine. Customer satisfaction is a cornerstone of the QED philosophy and QED strives to maintain a sustainable and loyal customer base. The relationships cultivated with current customers are the backbone of the strategic plan to maintain QED's dominant position in the precision optics industry even while expanding into new markets. Customer visits routinely yield many positive comments as illustrated.

"QED is the only company selling machines that perform as advertised."   Florida Optics Manufacturer

"Our [MRF] machine does what was advertised and more!!"  California Optics Manufacturer

For some of QED’s customers, MRF provides a significant competitive advantage and its use is considered a trade secret; many of our customers specifically request that their names be kept confidential.  On the other hand, other customers see very real benefits from letting their customers know that they use the state-of-the-art in finishing and polishing technologies and prefer to publicize their use of MRF and SSI.



What types of work does QED perform?

QED Technologies is a technology company that develops revolutionary innovations to advance precision manufacturing industries. QED has introduced automated, CNC-based polishing and metrology systems that have transformed the way optics are manufactured.

QED developed a product family of MRF Finishing machines that use a magnetic (or magneto-rheological) fluid to polish high precision elements in minutes, or even seconds, replacing manual technology that took hours, weeks or months. QED's MRF-based manufacturing equipment enables rapid, deterministic and repeatable surface shape correction in minutes, to levels of precision and surface finish that have been previously considered impossible.

Before QED was founded, magneto-rheological finishing (MRF) machines did not exist. MRF was a novel finishing process created in a university laboratory and QED developed it into a robust machine platform and an industry workhorse.Today, premier optics companies around the world depend on MRF finishing to make the best optics in the world. Look for the seal, "Made with MRF" for confidence in your optics.

QED's award-winning SSI Metrology has made once difficult metrology accessible to even the smallest optics shop. Originally developed under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) from the U.S. Army, SSI metrology was introduced in June of 2002 and made commercially available in January 2003.

Many next-generation optic and electro-optic sensor systems have a critical need for high-precision, complex optics. However, fabrication of high quality, advanced optics is often seriously hampered by the lack of accurate and affordable metrology. The SSI metrology systers are based on a 6-axis, computer-controlled, interferometric workstation that provides a breakthrough technology, enabling the automatic capture of precise metrology data for large (up to 200mm in diameter) and/or strongly curved (concave and convex) parts.

With the introduction of the Subaperture Stitching Interferometer for Aspheres (SSI-A), aspheric surfaces are now accessible, without the need for null lenses. Aspheres with up to 200 waves of departure are quickly, easily and affordably measured with the SSI-A.

The Aspheric Stitching Interferometer (ASI) extends this capability and brings fast affordable metrology to even the wildest aspheres (more than 1000 waves of departure from best fit sphere).




What are the end uses of the parts you or your customers produce?

MRF technology enables improvements for virtually any optical or electro-optical systems and has had a dramatic impact in both military and commercial applications. New technology-driven and special use optical products are being developed for megapixal recording devices, optical communications, computer storage, integrated circuit fabrication, and other emerging technologies that will significantly benefit from the Q22's ability to cost effectively produce highly precise optical components.

Optics are also used in a wide variety of manufacturing environments, from photolithography for making semiconductor chips, to optical sensors that monitor high speed production lines. The applications fall into two broad classes: (1) the use of light to perform manufacturing (i.e., photolithography, rapid prototyping) and materials processing (i.e., laser welding and machining), and (2) the use of optics to control manufacturing, which may include metrology, machine vision systems, or a variety of sensors. Optical lithography is an essential part of the semiconductor and flat-panel display industries. Specific applications examples include:

  • ultra-high-quality lithography lens elements
  • spherical and aspherical optics for imaging systems
  • prisms
  • plano mirrors
  • corrector plates
  • substrates for telecommunications applications


Does QED exhibit at any Tradeshows?

Over the past two years, QED exhibited at a number of major tradeshows including:

  • OPTATEC in Frankfurt, Germany, June 15-18, 2010
    OPTATEC is the International Trade Fair for Future Optical Technologies, Components, Systems and Manufacturing and is held every two years at the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre.  It is established as an international industry forum, and presents the entire spectrum of optics, optoelectronics, laser technology and fiber optics, as well as optical transmission and information technologies.

  • Photonics West in San Jose, CA (USA), January 22-27, 2011
    Sponsored by SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, Photonics West has become North America's largest commercial exhibition on optics, lasers, biomedical optics, optoelectronic components, and imaging technologies.

  • Optifab, in Rochester, NY (USA), May 9-12, 2011
    Sponsored by SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering, Optifab is the largest optical manufacturing product and supplier exhibition held in the United States. With a unique technical focus on classical and advanced optical manufacturing technologies, Optifab will include commercial presentations as well as technical papers.  Optifab gives you the opportunity to interact with new and existing customers on the exhibition floor while educating your team on the latest research results and product breakthroughs.     
We also present many techincal talks, presentations and posters at conferences throughout the world. Check out the Shows and Events page for more details and where we will be in the upcoming months.