June 2019
Apprenticeship Update!
APOMA’s Apprenticeship Committee is hard at work on the new Precision Optics Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship! 

This apprenticeship is currently registered in New York State, with ten apprentices registered and participating at Optimax Systems (Ontario, NY). The program starts one new apprentice each quarter, on a three year rotation, and culminates in 6,000 hours of experience and 144 hours per year of related instruction at Monroe Community College (MCC) in Rochester. JML Optical (Rochester, NY) and OptiPro Systems (Ontario, NY) are also participating in the program, and we hope to have additional NYS APOMA members registered in the coming months. 

Dr. Alexis Vogt from MCC (and co-chair of the APOMA Apprenticeship Committee) is also in the process of submitting a funding proposal to the Office of Naval Research, on behalf of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, for the Manufacturing Engineering Education Program, for three years of funding for a National Apprenticeship Coordinator. Look for further updates on this effort at the APOMA General Meeting at OPTIFAB 2019 in October!
Exhibit Space at OPTIFAB 2019 - Almost sold out!

Are you planning to exhibit at OPTIFAB 2019 in October in Rochester, NY? Act now - space is going quickly! With only about ten booths and a dozen tabletops still available, the show will be selling out soon. Offered every other year, SPIE OPTIFAB is the premier optical manufacturing conference and exhibition in the US. APOMA co-hosts the conference with SPIE and we'd like to make sure our members secure the exhibit space they need to promote their products at North America's largest optical fabrication exhibition. For complete information on exhibit opportunities, click HERE!
ISO 10110 Class to be Offered in San Diego, CA in August at SPIE's Optics & Photonics!
Since the late 1990's, the optics community has gradually been converting optics drawings from a free-form, notes-based method to a standardized, international pictographic method. In 2013, the United States joined the international community by adopting a version of ISO 10110 as the American National Standard for optics drawings. This new method is a great boon for an industry in need of standardization, but can be very confusing to the uninitiated. The standard has continued to evolve with new revisions and additions to address the needs of more applications and markets.

This course will provide attendees with an introduction to ISO 10110, the international standard for optics drawing notations, and will concentrate on the fundamentals of the drawing layout and how to read the notations required for typical optics, such as glass parameters, radius, wave-front, surface imperfections and roughness. Attendees will also be informed about how the American version differs from the current international standard. Practical and useful examples are included throughout. For registration information, visit the following link to the SPIE website:   10110 class
APOMA's Student Travel Grants for OPTIFAB 2019 - now accepting applications

SPIE OPTIFAB 2019 will be held October 14-17, 2019 in Rochester, NY.

The travel grants are intended to encourage student participation at OPTIFAB 2019 while providing first hand exposure to technical and manufacturing issues important to the optics industry. The grants may be used to defer costs associated with transportation, registration or housing. Guidelines and eligibility are given HERE. Up to eight $250 travel grants will be awarded to students presenting posters at the OPTIFAB meeting, with a maximum of two awards per institution.

Student applicants must provide the appropriate documentation, including abstract and a signed proof of current student (undergraduate or graduate) status signed by their advisor. Click HERE for full details.

DEADLINE for OPTIFAB CONFERENCE TRAVEL GRANT APPLICATIONS: September 1, 2019.
Request from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will soon visit a sample of firms in the optical instrument and lens manufacturing industry to update the basket of products that comprise its Producer Price Index (PPI) for Optical Instrument Manufacturing (NAICS 333314).

The PPI measures the change over time in the prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. It is the nation’s inflation indicator for the business sector of the economy. It is one of the nation’s most important economic indicators and a critical tool for businesses and governmental decision making. The PPI for Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing has been calculated and published monthly since December 1976. More information on this index and the Bureau of Labor Statistics is available at www.bls.gov.

The continued success of the index depends on voluntary cooperation from companies like yours. APOMA encourages you to consider the importance of the statistics developed by the BLS. Good price indexes are useful to our industry and our customers both in valuing inventory and in forming contracts. With the cooperation of sampled firms, the index for Optical Instrument and Lens Manufacturing will continue to be a useful measure of monthly price change for both public and private data users. The BLS will use the information you provide for statistical purposes only, and will hold the information in confidence to the full extent permitted by law. Thank you in advance for your assistance!