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MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Laser
Design Inc., the leading supplier of 3D laser scanners since 1987,
celebrated 20 years in business in the spring of 2007. What started as a
novel idea in Founder and President C. Martin Schuster’s mind in 1987 has
become a mainstream technology for industries such as aerospace, automotive,
electronics, and medical devices that require inspection, reverse
engineering, and ultra-precise measurement of parts with complex-shapes or
free-form surfaces.
Schuster was working for
CAMAX Systems Inc., Minneapolis, MN, a CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing)
software company in the mid-1980s that sold its product primarily to plastic
molding tooling manufacturers. “The idea for a laser scanner was born out of
the frustration of recreating actual 3D geometry of existing parts using
mechanical touch probe technology that was exceedingly slow,” said
Schuster. The mainstream use of CAD/CAM was in its infancy, but expanding
rapidly. Designers needed a fast, accurate way to digitize and input
complex 3D shapes into computer programs. The U.S. Navy offered a grant to
industry to devise a non-contact technology for scanning propellers and
determine wear patterns. This grant funded the initial research into laser
triangulation measurement. A Minneapolis optics company, Cyberoptics Inc.,
responded by designing a single-point laser triangulation probe to gather
shape data by scanning objects point by point that became the input probe
for the first 3D Laser Scanning Systems developed within the USA.
Schuster eventually left
the CAM software company with the idea for a faster and more accurate laser
scanning device, and in April 1987, incorporated as Laser Design Inc. By
1991, the company was pursuing the emerging technology of line range laser
probes which split the laser beam into a line of light enabling dramatically
faster 3D data capture than is possible with single-point laser probes.
Laser Design then bought a Seattle-based laser scanning technology company,
which built one of the industry’s first line range laser probes in 1993.
Finally in 1996, after 10 years in the business, Laser Design introduced its
own line range laser scanning probes to the market. The technology was
still ahead of its time, and many industries didn’t understand the pressing
need for it.
One of the early adopters
was Karsten Solheim, the founder and designer of the revolutionary Ping golf
clubs. Schuster spoke with him about building a scanner, an idea that
Solheim seized. Because the laser scanning system projects a line of laser
light onto surfaces while cameras continuously triangulate the changing
distance and profile of the laser line as it sweeps along, the problems of
missing data on an irregularly shaped or concave surface are eliminated.
The system measures fine details and captures complex freeform geometry so
that the object can be exactly replicated. Laser scanners quickly measure
objects, picking up tens of thousands of points per second, and generating
huge numbers of data points without the need for templates or fixtures.
Because the line range
laser probe captures data so quickly, it can capture the entire shape of a
part rather than just a handful of key dimensions. Over the years,
widespread customer acceptance of non-contact laser scanning has grown dramatically as more and more companies
embraced the concept of whole part inspection made possible by laser
scanning. Laser Design has introduced the manufacturing world to part
inspection reports that are now a color-coded graphical representation of
the entire part where green means good while red and blue indicate problem
areas. Instead of reams of pages filled with numbers that only a highly
trained specialist can decipher, inspection reports are now easy to
understand by all levels of management.
The number of laser
scanning applications has skyrocketed from the initial use of reverse
engineering to first-article inspection, precise measurement, terrestrial
laser scanning and high-speed inline inspection. As mainstream computer
hardware and software became more powerful and affordable, the ability to
work with large 3D data files (Point Clouds) without needing a
super-computer fueled the growth of the laser scanning industry.
Fields as diverse as
automotive, aerospace, architecture, archaeology, biomedical, and consumer
and commercial electronics as well as apparel have all found an essential
use for non-contact scanning technology. Laser Design’s line laser
technology has been refined further in the ensuing years and was revamped
with the SLP technology in 2006. Collection capabilities went from 3 points
per second (pps) with the original single-point laser probe to 15,000 pps
with the first generation of line laser probe in 1996, and now are improved
to an incredible 75,000 pps with the second generation SLP laser probes.
“The collection speeds have increased as
have the number of applications using laser scanning. It is not just for
plastic molding any more,” said Schuster of the current diverse marketplace.
“We now have high-profile customers who make the latest consumer electronic
and telecommunication devices, the NASA Space Shuttle, art museums, as well
as universities scanning ancient artifacts.”
With so many new and developing
applications, non-contact laser scanning is coming into its own after many
years of not being well understood or adopted. After more than 10 years of
incurring expensive Research & Development and commercialization costs,
Laser Design has been consistently profitable during the last decade and has
become a diversified and growing company as it turns 20 years
old.
Since many customers have only an
occasional need for 3D Laser Scanning technology, Laser Design now offers
laser scanning services in addition to laser scanning systems. The idea was
born after the terror attacks of 9-11 when capital equipment spending was
severely curtailed worldwide. The company’s scanning services division was
greatly expanded with the 2005 acquisition of GKS Inspection Services. “Our
laser scanning services division is a perfect compliment to our systems
division,” said Schuster. We are expanding our GKS division worldwide, and
are continuously implementing more cutting-edge technologies. Our
technicians are experts in a wide array of advanced metrology techniques.”
With no end in sight for the advancement of
the technology or the proliferation of applications, Laser Design is poised
in its 20th year for rapid growth on a worldwide scale. Schuster
reminisced, “We survived during the years when the technology seemed
mysterious and magical. The industry has since caught up with us and with
our technology becoming more widely adopted, our focus is on improving our
customers’ efficiency, quality, time-to-market and ultimately their bottom
lines.”
Laser Design Inc. has
been the leading supplier of ultra-precise, 3D laser scanning systems and
services since 1987. Used for capturing the 3D shape of objects with
complex geometries and free-form surfaces, Laser Design’s Surveyor line of
automated and portable scanning systems are ideal for 3D scanning
applications involving inspection and reverse engineering of complex shaped
plastic and metal parts.
The company’s patented
laser line-probe technology dramatically reduces scanning time by collecting
data substantially faster and more accurately than conventional metrology
technologies. Laser Design integrates Geomagic software with its laser
scanners to provide complete solutions for reverse engineering and
inspection applications.
Headquartered in
Minneapolis, the company also has an R&D lab in Seattle, a regional sales
and support office in Detroit, and distributors throughout Europe and Asia.
Laser Design also operates GKS Inspection Services (www.GKS.com),
an in-house service bureau division offering complete 3D scanning, reverse
engineering, and dimensional inspection services.
For further information,
contact Marty Schuster, by phone (952-252-3402), fax (952-884-9653), via
email to
sales@laserdesign.com or visit Laser Design’s web site at
http://www.laserdesign.com. |
