| Optical Technology Enters its Third Year |
As it enters its third year, our Optical Division continues to go from strength to strength. Optical Technology (OTE) is the division of Hatteland Display dedicated to the art of LCD optical bonding. It is the only such in-house facility of its kind at a marine display manufacturer, and it allows us to provide proprietary added value whilst ensuring the quality and integrity of our display products and technology.
Optical bonding was a huge breakthrough in the marine displays market when we opened the OTE facility in November 2006. It is a process whereby the air gap between the front glass panel and LCD module is filled with a special compound to negate all of the problems related with marine use such as condensation, sunlight reflection, night vision and overheating. A variety of materials may be used within the process, but the discovery of silicone based optical bonding can be attributed to Joseph Sanelle, the Optical Division manager at Hatteland Display.
Following a career in display technology dating back to the early 1980's, Joseph Sanelle came to Nedre Vats in Norway from the USA to set-up the Optical Technology facility at Hatteland Display. His expertise and innovation was the main driving force of bringing this unique solution to marine displays.
"In the initial stages time had to be spent validating materials and processes to develop, test and prove the silicon-based materials used in the bonding process," explains Joseph. "This kind of investment was fundamental to developing a solution unique to Hatteland Display. We now have a dedicated formula that allows for a much better bonding solution than our competitors, and provides unlimited configuration options for future product designs & enhancements."
So far, we have shipped more than 6,000 bonded display products, and 2008 has been a particularly strong year, with production records broken on a continuous basis. This is due to the knowledge and production experience of the Optical Technology team and introduction of new processes and practices to ensure that the high demand for bonded displays can be met whilst ensuring the continued quality of our products.
"October 2008 was another record production month, in a year that is shaping up to be very strong for our bonding operations. Not only did we continue to beat our monthly production rates, but we achieved this while maintaining our 100% yield & 0% defect status that we have recorded regularly throughout the year," says Joseph. "Customer feedback has been invaluable in developing our bonded display products, and we're looking forward to utilizing this unique technology solution across more of Hatteland Display's standard products. Hatteland Display is now also well positioned to become a major supplier for military grade display assemblies that will be used in land, air & sea applications."
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