With Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital efficiency into the future

MAFO – The Conference 2023

After a two-year break, MAFO – The Conference once again was the central meeting point for the international optical industry in February 2023 as part of Mido, Europe's largest eyewear show. The motto of the first event since the Corona break out was “ Lab Visions – Imagining the future of the ophthalmic industry”. As usual, industry representatives from all over the world met for one day before the start of the Mido in Milan to learn about the latest trends and technologies for the production and processing of ophthalmic lenses.

By Frank Sonnenberg

As with many industries, the world of optics is also on a journey of transformation. The use of AI, digitalization in process control and new manufacturing techniques are currently shifting the ophthalmic industry.

All you wanted to know about ultrasonic cleaning of lenses

François Breton (Schneider) kicked off the conference with a view from the practice. His motto: “Chemistry is key to success!”

What’s it all about? Anything related to ophthalmics must be clean; but not only clean to the human eyes, also clean at a molecular level for certain coating processes. Breton reviewed the most popular ultrasonic cleaning machine designs and explained what should be the ideal profile for maximizing cleaning quality and minimizing process cycle times.

Virtual reality set to revolutionize the customer journey in optical stores

Pau Artús (Horizons Optical) then took the conference participants into the world of virtual reality.

This can transform the customer experience into something new. In recent years, virtual reality headsets have made a leap forward in terms of usability and cost. They offer exciting user experiences but, more interestingly, they intrinsically have the high precision electronics needed to measure user head motion. Because of this, some companies are starting to turn to this technology and take advantage of it, i.e. exciting experience and precision measurements, to offer opticians the possibility to perform some tests using this attractive tool, or even explore new applications.

According to Artús, VR can provide precise screenings and measurements, can be a treatment tool, train customers, can act as a selling tool to keep customers attention and provide exciting experiences.

How digitalization and the Internet of Things (IoT) will shape the labs of the future

The topic of digitization and the future also featured in the presentation of Xavier Bultez and Michael Kreis (both from Satisloh). By combining machines and AI devices into smart networks throughout the value chain, manufacturers are creating new benefits and business models for their customers.

“Digitalization and the Internet of Things will shape the labs of the future,” said Michael Kreis. “We talked about four hypotheses. One was that the overall IT architecture in the lab needs to adapt to enable the digitalization and new business models. Another hypothesis was that artificial intelligence will create benefits for the users and for the labs if used in the appropriate way.”

Xavier Bultez explained the hypothesis that digitalization can drive sustainability. “We took the example of the job ticket, which is a very old technology that can be replaced today with smart Internet-of-Things (IoT) products that enhance the use of this data. The second example focused on smart parts and the ordering of consumables that can actually bring a lot of flexibility and simplification for the labs in the future. As a result, we think that all of this technology will drastically simplify the life of the lab in the future; we also think that they need to be implemented in order to ensure future success.”

Their vision of the future: Everything is interlinked, all data can be accessed via the screen. At any time. At any stage in the production chain. Imagine an MES control center in your pocket that can virtually take you to any machine in the lab at any time and from anywhere by becoming one with the machine HMI. The downside of these new technologies: Besides offering great opportunities, such technologies also raise issues of cyber security and data privacy.

Cylindrical power for near vision

Optimization – albeit in spectacle lenses – was also the topic of the lecture by Mo Jalie (University of Ulster) who, in addition to his role as speaker, also stood in as Chairman, in the absence of Peter Baumbach who was indisposed. Some manufacturers offer progressive lenses with the possibility of optimizing the near portion of the lens. Why is this necessary? What is this optimization based on?

Jalie pointed out that the cylinder cannot correct the same eye in the near vision range in general. The near vision cylinder needs to be increased by a small percentage. He gave a formula which could be useful to lens manufacturers if they want to use freeform technology to produce a lens that has different cylinder powers in the upper h alf and the lower part of the lens (see also page 30 - 32).

Ultimate, all-in automation: The power-lab of the next decade

For Sandra Stry (Schneider) the time has come to think in terms of systems. “You don’t have to think about individual machines, you have to think about systems.” This systems approach goes hand in hand with extensive process digitization and affects not only manufacturing but all departments in the company. Warehousing, surfacing, cleaning, coating and edging – fully integrated and working together as one. Adopting these new technologies, labs will be empowered with new options for differentiation towards a successful future.

Thinking in terms of “systems” as opposed to “machines” incorporates intelligence that goes beyond the previous level and ultimately offers that “little extra” that labs have been looking for: higher throughput and lower cost per lens. For this reason, a growing number of labs are now relying on fully-automated and -monitored intelligent production systems. Also using artificial intelligence.

From nominal power to the metaverse. A journey through 20 years of freeform surfaces

Of course, the metaverse can't be ignored if you have set your sight on the future. Metaverse was one of the buzzwords in 2022 and it will continue to gain in importance in 2023. If Gaetano Volpe (ProCrea Tech) is right, it will become increasingly significant for the production of spectacle lenses with freeform surfaces in the coming years and lead to a further improvement in the quality of these lenses. There has never been more customization.

New manufacturing techniques are taking account of ever more objective measurement data from the spectacle wearer concerned. Thus the analysis of head and eye rotation combined with a metaverse-based experience is arising as a new effective tool to collect more data about patient’s vision behavior and further improve optimization algorithms. The result will be an even more customized lens than was previously available.

Paperless production – challenging labs and LMS

Christopher Diez (LensWare) took up the topic of purely digital workflows in his presentation.

The topic of paperless production is spreading and increasing in importance due to government funded projects in addition to the awareness of the positive effects on climate and the environment by the labs. However, “It is easier to set up a paperless production in theory, than to change a running production in practice,” he said. However this, too, is possible. The challenge is to create a completely new workflow.

Labs have to train their staff to start working with PCs, who previously only had to track orders by status booking, where this was not done automatically by scanners from conveyor solutions. The psychological effect here is not to be underestimated.

Of course, this is the first challenge for the LMS, too. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) for new workflows has to be intuitive, clear and user-friendly with minimum need for navigation. Furthermore, the pre-sorting based on job tickets to plan prescriptions – not forgetting rare prescriptions –will now become part of the system. Digitalizing an area of the lab, where most devices do not yet communicate fully with the LMS, will be the next revolution in the ophthalmic industry (see also page 26 - 28).

A game changer in lens quality control thanks to objective and automated visual inspection

Daniel Crespo (IOT) and Thomas Zangerlé (A&R) presented a new system for automatic cosmetic inspection of ophthalmic lenses which provides consistent and reliable results. Cosmetic inspection has traditionally been a very difficult operation to automate, because it includes a certain subjective component requiring highly trained staff, which has been hard to replicate in automatic systems. The solution presented can be used for cosmetic inspection of semi-finished lenses. This was the first time that the two companies publicly presented their jointly developed system.

Panel discussion

The panel discussion with four experts from the industry, chaired by Mo Jalie (University Ulster), marked the end of this year's conference. Together with Mark Mackenzie (Strategy with Vision), Georg Mayer (Rodenstock) and Devon Abblitt (Quantum Innovations) they focused on a longer view of the future. What will the industry look like in 2033? For Mark Mackenzie, one of the most important topics in the future will be higher-priced, single vision lenses. “It's about the so-called digital single-vision lens for young presbyopia, to help with accommodation,” he said. “When you're looking at a digital device, you've got a lot of energy being booked up into myopia control lenses, but that probably won't be enough. I think smart eyewear, as it's called, has now reaching a price range where it is becoming affordable.” He predicts moves by the larger ophthalmic-lens manufacturers to invigorate the single-vision segment through the use of smart eyewear. “Thus I believe it will be an important segment, even though it has failed to do so in the past. This may also be a threat to traditional manufacturers if they do not become part of it.” 3D printing is also seen as a major trend. Smart glasses will also become a market driver here.

How will purchases be made in the future? Online? Even though online retailing currently has only a small share of the market, this is set to change in the future. It will shift a lot with the generation's changing attitude to online business. In Canada and North America, in particular, 20% of sales are expected to be made online in future. “But I agree that the situation will differ a lot from one market to another,” added Georg Mayer. But you don't have to look so far into the future. MAFO – The Conference demonstrated that the industry is already undergoing major changes. This makes such a conference with its up-to-date topics all the more important. Chairman Mo Jalie said: “I can remember many years ago how difficult it was to obtain information from other people in the profession who didn't want to share their secrets in case they were supplanted in their posts. But now I think people recognize that so many different skills are required that it is becoming necessary to share information. And this certainly has been achieved here.”

In any case, the months ahead in 2023 are sure to be exciting. However, there are also some open questions: How strong will the influence of AI be? How will the lab landscape develop? Which of today's visions will become standard practice tomorrow?

MAFO – The Conference 2024 may provide some of the answers – one year from now in Milan.