The world of optics meets in Milan

Mido 2023 puts on a great show

In its 51st edition, Mido 2023 sent out a strong signal, reinforcing its claim to be one of the most important international fairs in the optics world with very good figures. This is not only demonstrated in the number of visitors, but also by innovations in the industry set to change the sector in the years to come. B y Frank Sonnenberg

According to the organizers, around 35,000 visitors attended Mido 2023, 80% from Europe and 20% from the rest of the world. This represents a 60% increase over 2022, despite being well short of the record mark of 59,500 visitors in 2019. Nonetheless, things are clearly looking up. Not only did the visitors come from all over the world but the exhibitors too. Of the more than 1,000 exhibitors representing the entire supply chain – from machinery to lenses, along with frame manufacturers, the industry’s top brands to young independent designers – 72% were international, 28% of them from Italy. Taken together, of the international exhibitors 51% were from Europe, 42% from Asia and 7% from the rest of the world. President Vitaloni also expressed his satisfaction with the participation at the fair: “We have a responsibility to be among Italy’s most international events and without a doubt the industry leader at a global level. This means organizing a show that meets the needs of professionals who, every year, arrive from around the world to conduct business at Mido.” In addition to fashion glamour with appearances by many VIPs and personalities from the world of entertainment, the trade fair demonstrated its role and positioning as an important showcase for technical innovation in this sector.

A foretaste of the main focus in the industry in 2023 was already given the day before the Mido opened at MAFO – The Conference. During the trade fair itself, however, visitor interest continued at an equally high level.

The spectrum ranged from well-established technologies for lens production and coating – the smaller footprint of the latest machines, more sustainable and resource-saving production – to innovations in the digitalized process chain with networked machines.

Satisloh

Already at the previous Mido, Satisloh exhibited a completely new coating technology, so-called “Film Lamination”. This is a process where the entire coating – i.e. the AR coating and the hard coating – is laminated to the blank as a film using the Satisloh Film-Pod machine and the Tech-Film AR. The whole process takes about 15 minutes, completely replacing conventional vapor coating in a box coater. The target group for this new technique is primarily smaller labs. The advantages are that investment costs for machines are lower and lenses can be coated individually instead of having to do an entire batch. Something else completely new can be expected at the so-called Slugfest in mid-June in Wetzlar.

Mei

A special highlight awaited the participiants at the MEI booth. The company presented their first all-in-one, block-free digital lens generator, called CoreTBA, which combines seven manufacturing operations together, rendering alloy blocks completely obsolete. Compared to the space required for conventional manufacturing solutions, the footprint here has also been significantly reduced. This solution should appeal particularly to smaller labs that often have to contend with a lack of space. Evidently an important topic in the industry this year.

Another current trend in the optical industry is that more and more manufacturers are bringing their lens production back to Europe, including the production of plano lenses in the sunglasses sector. With this in mind, MEI exhibited a new grinding center with high throughput capacity.

Schneider

Schneider, too, picked up on increasing interest in these manufacturing centers, where several operations are combined together. One of the machines on display is able to manufacture practically any kind of lenses from start to finish.

A topic that is likely to become increasingly important in the future: automated cosmetic inspection of spectacle lenses. One recently launched machine attracted a lot of attention here. For the process to run smoothly, artificial intelligence (AI) has to learn how highly-trained humans evaluate the surface of a lens.

Apart from this, the digitized process chain was the main focus on Schneider's stand, taking a systems approach which affects all companies and production departments. Warehousing, surfacing, cleaning, coating and edging are all completely interlinked. Employees can now call up any information at any time and see where potential problems exist in the system.

OptoTech

OptoTech’s focus at the Mido was on mineral lenses. They presented a new automated surfacing line for mineral lenses which includes milling, grinding and polishing machines. If it were up to the company, it would likely usher in a new era of sustainable lens production. Another innovation was a patent-pending innovative feature for OptoTech’s De-Taper, leading to savings in processing time and thus energy consumption.

A&R

Automated cosmetic inspection of spectacle lenses powered by artificial intelligence (AI) was one of the highlights on the Automation & Robotics stand. The automated system can replicate the quality level of human inspection, whereby according to the company it is even more consistent and reliable. The technology combines a physical probe – that mimics human vision in detecting cosmetic errors – with state-of-the-art, machinelearning techniques that classify defects according to their “apparent” size and location, to determine whether or not the lens is acceptable. The technology can even distinguish between dust and actual defects. By analyzing the data from the measuring system, preventive maintenance can be initiated at an early stage, rather than having to react later. The system was developed jointly in cooperation with the IOT company. Another new product was a packaging machine with a smaller footprint. This is particularly important for small labs, because they have less and less space available; and space means money.

Eyoto

A different way of inspecting the surface of spectacle lenses in labs was exhibited by Eyoto. The system was first launched a year ago but this time it was exhibited in a new and improved version. It performs advanced surface inspection with full-color power maps in just 50 seconds. The new device can repeatedly and objectively check every semi-finished, uncut or mounted lens.

Evochem

Finally, a spotlight on something that cannot be seen at a glance. EU regulations are concerned among other things with the constituent substances in thin-film materials, some of which may be b anned in future. This is naturally relevant to what materials may ultimately be applied to a lens. Evochem, a key supplier to the thin-film industry, exhibited two modified groups of products: ETC-Pro and ETC Ultra. Their product portfolio already meets the upcoming EU regulations, which come into force in 2023, regarding the content of C9-C14 PFCA related products.

On 4 August 2021, the EU Commission published Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1297 to amend entry 68 of Annex XVII to REACH (EC) No 1907/2006, restricting perfluorocarboxylic acids containing 9 to 14 carbon atoms in the chain (C9-C14 PFCAs), their salts and related substances.

Anyone wishing to sell coated lenses in Europe must now ensure that their coatings, i.e. the materials used, conform to this amended regulation.

Future outlook

So what next? System networking will certainly be an increasingly important topic in the future. In addition, a variety of processes previously done by skilled human beings, such as cosmetic final inspection, will be automated. Sooner or later, robot colleagues will become commonplace. In addition, the new EU environmental regulations will have a direct effect on manufacturing processes, supply chains and materials used.

We will all learn more by the time the next Mido at Fiera Milano Rho comes round, on 3-5 February 2024. ◆