FOC Blog
Adding color, pigment to UV curable coatings
From time to time, FOC has been asked to recommend a pigment that can be safely added to UV curable coatings as well as offer advice about what ratio of pigment to coating is acceptable without compromising the integrity of...Does epoxy cause core cracking? Tips to identify and prevent this phenomenon
Kelly Barker, Business Development, Epoxies, Technical Sales and Dan Rocheleau, Business Development, Technical Sales Fabricating fiber optic cable assemblies is still in large part a manual process, requiring knowledge and skill. When something in the process...A call to action: Automation in the connector assembly process is an essential next step for fiber optic connectivity
Throughout most of the telecommunication industry, manufacturing automation has flourished. Here’s just one example of successful automation: fusion splicing. The operator preps the fiber ends, puts them into the splicer, and presses a button. The equipment measures...MCVD Tips: 14 ideas to enhance preform strength, yield, and reproducibility
“Trial and error.” These two words sum up my 24 years developing and manufacturing specialty preforms and fibers where I operated an MCVD gas delivery system. Our team was constantly testing new ideas to improve fiber strength and yield as...MCVD Options: These add-on features can enhance your optical fiber preform strength, yield, and reproducibility
You can manufacture optical fiber preforms with a very basic system, essentially a gas delivery system in a room with an MCVD lathe. Or you can enhance your system by adding many accessories that will improve fiber strength and yield...Controlling the optical fiber preform deposition process
The lathe, rotary seal, optical pyrometer, deposition burner, and diameter control system all must work together to successfully manufacture a preform. In the following paragraphs, I offer recommendations based on my years developing and manufacturing specialty...Preparing to Manufacture an Optical Fiber Preform
Purchasing high-purity raw materials is critical to manufacturing quality preforms. How we handle our materials, tools, and equipment is equally important. For example, properly purging gas cylinder connections, properly filling reagent bubblers, and properly cleaning...Critical Design Goals to Manufacture Optical Fiber Preforms
As we all know, high-purity raw materials are critical to achieve design goals. Low metallic impurities prevent reflective loses, and dry raw materials prevent absorptions. In addition, there are many design tactics to meet cutoff wavelength, mode field diameter...Comparing the 2 types of MCVD gas delivery systems to manufacture optical preforms: Stainless steel and Teflon/glass
If your company manufactures optical preforms – or is considering doing so – then you know the gas delivery system is critically important, because it controls the precise delivery of high-purity gases and chemical vapors. Prior to joining Fiber Optic...Attention specialty fiber manufacturers: Take advantage of FOC’s preform fabrication consulting to troubleshoot your system and achieve reproducibility and high yields
Editor’s note: With the addition of Larry Donalds to the Fiber Optic Center team, we now offer preform fabrication consulting services to manufacturers of specialty optical preforms and fibers. You can look to Larry for guidance selecting the right MCVD...Bonding Optical Fiber to the Ceramic Ferrule Part 3: Best practices to validate your epoxy curing schedule
By Kelly Barker, Business Development, Epoxies, Technical Sales and Dan Rocheleau, Business Development, Technical Sales “How do I know what curing schedule I should use?” This is a common...Proper crimping techniques are critical when terminating fiber optic connectors
Marcel Buijs, EMEA Business Development, Technical Sales, Fiber Optic Center, Inc. with over twenty five years in the photonics industry, brings this latest information on making the ultimate fiber optic product and improving process yield. When manufacturing fiber...FOC Marketing Tip 12: Social Media Navigation
Social Media Navigation When it comes to social media and the business marketer, it is a wide landscape to navigate. Just participating on everything because you are not sure which networks are the right fit is not strategic. Social networks...FOC Marketing Tip 11: Business Development: An Honest Conversation
Business Development: An Honest Conversation It is a known fact that very few B2B companies have effective alignment between their marketing and sales departments. The struggle is real. In spite of the fact that when the two departments work seamlessly...FOC Marketing Tip 10: Product Inventory Management and a quick snapshot….
Product Inventory Management and a quick snapshot…. Product management, systems and best practices are topics that marketing managers discuss and compare notes on. Here is a quick snapshot on our plans and the specifics behind them. At the core...FOC Marketing Tip 9: Trade Show Strategy Revisited
Trade Show Strategy Revisited Recently, I have had many conversations around trade show best practices and the challenges that many of my colleagues face. I had published a blog on that subject and how to improve processes earlier in the...FOC Marketing Tip 8: The Roles of a Marketing Team
The Roles of a Marketing Team The Roles of a Marketing Team have changed drastically from five to ten years ago. A shift has occurred from a time when branding was being achieved through messaging, advertisements, product offers, big trade...FOC Marketing Tip 7: Global Strategy Conversation
Global Strategy Conversation A global marketing strategy (GMS) is a marketing plan that includes an audience of countries from multiple regions in the world and has an objective to coordinate marketing efforts in those markets. The internal objective of a...FOC Marketing Tip 6: SOP Development
SOP Development What is a SOP and why is it vitally important to any business? SOPs are Standard Operating Procedures and is a written procedure with agreed upon specifications intended for repetitive use as a best practice. For the employee,...FOC Marketing Tip 5: Promotion Best Practices
Promotion Best Practices I was asked for some thoughts on promotion best practices recently. It is possible to get deep into this subject – one that I love to analyze and constantly develop - but sometimes a quick check list...FOC Marketing Tip 4: The Dilemma of Online Strategy
The Dilemma of Online Strategy Online or Digital Marketing Strategy can feel overwhelming with multiple options to match with perpetual corporate goals. There is also a lot of information available with the ‘answers’ to the perfect Digital Marketing Strategy that...FOC Marketing Tip 3: Marketing Objectives vs. Actions: Identifying Where the Discrepancies Occur
Marketing Objectives vs. Actions: Identifying Where the Discrepancies Occur In my previous career, as a B2B media consultant for the fiber optic industry, I had many eye opening experiences. I worked and provided consultation to the marketing departments for most...FOC Marketing Tip 2: Building Relationships through Solution and Consultative Selling
Building Relationships through Solution and Consultative Selling The foundation of successful sales and marketing is repeat business and customer loyalty. In order to get to that stage, businesses must build and constantly invest in the improvement of customer...FOC Marketing Tip 1: Branding Matters
One of the 101s of Marketing is Branding, and today we kick off a series of tips with it, followed by these topics (one each day): Building Relationships through Solution and Consultative Selling Marketing Objectives vs. Actions: Identifying Where...Bonding Optical Fiber to the Ceramic Ferrule Part 2: Best practices to characterize oven ports used to thermally cure epoxy
By Kelly Barker, Business Development, Epoxies, Technical Sales; and Dan Rocheleau, Business Development, Technical Sales Introduction When fiber optic cable assembly manufacturers ask us to help troubleshoot their epoxy curing issues, we find that some...Introduction to Fiber Optic Cable Assembly Manufacturing Part 2: Key components of Fiber Optic Connectors and Key Specifications of Connectors
Key components of Fiber Optic Connectors and Key Specifications of Connectors This article series introduces engineers and technicians to various aspects of the production process to manufacture world-class fiber optic cable assemblies (also known as fiber optic patch...Good stripping techniques for your fiber optic cable assembly process
Marcel Buijs, EMEA Business Development, Technical Sales, Fiber Optic Center, Inc. with over twenty five years in the photonics industry, brings this latest information on making the ultimate fiber optic product and improving process yield. Without question,...Bonding Optical Fiber to the Ceramic Ferrule Part 1: Best practices for epoxy preparation and dispensing
By Kelly Barker, Business Development, Epoxies, Technical Sales; and Dan Rocheleau, Business Development, Technical Sales Introduction Too often, the process of bonding optical fiber to a...Introduction to Fiber Optic Cable Assembly Manufacturing Part 1: Components of the fiber optic patch cord and optic fiber geometry
Introduction Is your company entering the fiber optic cable assembly market? Here at Fiber Optic Center, we believe it’s important to introduce engineers and technicians to various aspects of the production process to manufacture high-performance, world-class fiber...Polishing FAQs: What to do (and what NOT to do) in your fiber optic cable assembly polishing process
As you probably know, the polishing process is an extremely important step in the manufacture of fiber optic cable assemblies. Your polishing process ensures your fiber optic connectors meet certain geometric parameters, industry specifications, and/or customer...Our Shipping Department ensures FOC is a sourcing partner that delivers. Bonus: You reduce inventory costs.
At first glance, “shipping” doesn’t appear to be a jazzy, snazzy topic. Actually, it’s incredibly important to YOU. If you manufacture fiber optic cable assemblies and you need something – anything – then you need to get the correct item,...Proper Care of Polishing Fixtures for Optical Fiber Polishing Machines
In fiber optic cable assembly, the polishing process is perhaps the most critical step to assure high-quality assemblies that meet specifications. That’s why it’s important to select the right optical fiber polishing machine – and polishing fixtures – that meet...
Engage with Us
SHARE
