Changing the Face of Displays…One Button at a Time
July 14, 2015 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Detarando: I think so. It adds many benefits, but it's not free and it’s not cheap. Glass technology for display has been around for decades. The real advance, and the reason we are having such success in these markets now, is Incom has developed a polymer process that uses much cheaper material and is a cheaper manufacturing process than traditional glass-based products. That has vaulted us into commercial viability for these types of products. In the past, people loved the look, they loved the idea and the concept, but the glass parts were just a little bit too expensive.
What you are seeing here is a 100% polymer product. There is no glass in there at all. Bugatti happens to want glass because it's more a piece of jewelry than it is an information display, so we have a wide portfolio depending on what the market is.
Matties: Is the polymer more reliable than the glass?
Detarando: Yes. It's cheaper and it is lighter. It has some temperature constraints, but no different than anything else inside the interior of your car. The lighter weight allows you to do more and not concern yourself with the heavy material hanging off of a display. It opens up avenues for a lot more versatility on design and display. The manufacturability is higher—it’s much easier to form and machine than a piece of glass.
Matties: Is all of your manufacturing here in America?
Detarando: It is.
Matties: How many people are in your company?
Detarando: We have about 160 people in three facilities. We have our main facility in Charlton, Massachusetts, a second R&D facility in Charlton about five miles from the other facility, and we have our polymer division in Vancouver, Washington.
Matties: Are there competitors for the polymer design or is this a patented process?
Detarando: There is no competitor for polymer. It was initially developed by a company called Paradigm Optics, which we acquired in 2011. David Welker was the president and CEO of Paradigm and he developed the technology. He's an amazing polymer scientist and he’s developed some really good products that we've enhanced since the acquisition. He's still the director of our polymer products division and it's going really well.
Matties: Nice. Congratulations.
Detarando: Thank you very much. I’d like to introduce you to Emilijo Mihatov. He's with Fairlight. Fairlight is our technology partner. They have their own IP professional audio editing and mixing systems as well as what they call picture key technology. The idea of bringing information from a display up inside of a key or a button and creating a menu-driven approach is something that they also hold intellectual property rights on. We partnered with them to put our fused fiber optics into grid.Page 2 of 3
Suggested Items
KIC’s Miles Moreau to Present Profiling Basics and Best Practices at SMTA Wisconsin Chapter PCBA Profile Workshop
01/25/2024 | KICKIC, a renowned pioneer in thermal process and temperature measurement solutions for electronics manufacturing, announces that Miles Moreau, General Manager, will be a featured speaker at the SMTA Wisconsin Chapter In-Person PCBA Profile Workshop.
The Drive Toward UHDI and Substrates
09/20/2023 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamPanasonic’s Darren Hitchcock spoke with the I-Connect007 Editorial Team on the complexities of moving toward ultra HDI manufacturing. As we learn in this conversation, the number of shifting constraints relative to traditional PCB fabrication is quite large and can sometimes conflict with each other.
Standard Of Excellence: The Products of the Future
09/19/2023 | Anaya Vardya -- Column: Standard of ExcellenceIn my last column, I discussed cutting-edge innovations in printed circuit board technology, focusing on innovative trends in ultra HDI, embedded passives and components, green PCBs, and advanced substrate materials. This month, I’m following up with the products these new PCB technologies are destined for. Why do we need all these new technologies?
Experience ViTrox's State-of-the-Art Offerings at SMTA Guadalajara 2023 Presented by Sales Channel Partner—SMTo Engineering
09/18/2023 | ViTroxViTrox, which aims to be the world’s most trusted technology company, is excited to announce that our trusted Sales Channel Partner (SCP) in Mexico, SMTo Engineering, S.A. de C.V., will be participating in SMTA Guadalajara Expo & Tech Forum. They will be exhibiting in Booth #911 from the 25th to the 26th of October 2023, at the Expo Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico.
Intel Unveils Industry-Leading Glass Substrates to Meet Demand for More Powerful Compute
09/18/2023 | IntelIntel announced one of the industry’s first glass substrates for next-generation advanced packaging, planned for the latter part of this decade.