AFL Honored by Laser Focus World 2018 Innovators

03/06/2018

Spartanburg, SC – AFL, a leading fiber optic manufacturer and provider of services, announced today that its LZM-110A+ LAZERMaster was recognized by the annual Laser Focus World Innovators Awards program. The judges consisted of a panel of senior expert professionals. AFL was honored with a Silver award which recognizes “a very good innovation that resulted in marked improvement over previous methods employed, approaches taken or products/systems used.”

"We are proud of the recognition received by the judges for the continued advancement of our LZM product family and the hard work of our engineering staff that continues to innovate at the highest level in the industry,” said Brad Hendrix, global specialty market manager for AFL. “It’s innovations like this and those of the Fujikura specialty product family that will ensure customers continue to see us as the market leader in fiber optic glass processing.”

The LZM-110A+ LAZERMaster is a splicing, glass processing and fiber ablation machine that uses a CO2 laser heat source to perform splicing, tapering (to create MFAs), lensing, ablation (for cleaving and mode stripping) and other glass-shaping operations with glass diameters up to 2.3 mm. The high-resolution optical analysis system works in conjunction with onboard firmware for fully automatic splicing, tapering and other glass shaping processes.

Alan Bergstein, publisher of Laser Focus World, said "This prestigious program allows Laser Focus World to celebrate and recognize the most innovative products and services in the photonics and optoelectronics industry. Our 2018 Honorees are an outstanding example of companies who are making an impact." 

The Innovators Awards are judged based on innovation, value to the user, sustainability, meeting a defined need, collaboration and impact. The 2018 Laser Focus World Innovators Awards Honorees are featured in the May Issue of Laser Focus World magazine as well as on www.laserfocusworld.com.

About Laser Focus World
Published since 1965, Laser Focus World - a monthly magazine for engineers, researchers, scientists, and technical professionals - provides comprehensive global coverage of optoelectronic technologies, applications, and markets to over 80,000 qualified optoelectronics professionals from around the world currently subscribe. The Laser Focus World brand includes the magazine, website (laserfocusworld.com), email newsletters, and webcasts, as well as, the sister brands, Industrial Laser Solutions and BioOptics World.

Laser Focus World 2018 Innovators Awards program
The Laser Focus World Innovation Awards celebrates the most innovative applications of photonics, optoelectronics and precision optics products and systems. Awards are presented to organizations that demonstrate excellence in the use of a product, system, or application. Designers, integrators, and users of laser, optics, and photonics systems may nominate their own projects or applications, or integrators or distributors that supplied products or systems can nominate exceptional projects for consideration.

About AFL
Founded in 1984, AFL is an international manufacturer providing end-to-end solutions to the energy, service provider, enterprise and industrial markets as well as several emerging markets. The company’s products are in use in over 130 countries and include fiber optic cable and hardware, transmission and substation accessories, outside plant equipment, connectivity, test and inspection equipment, fusion splicers and training. AFL also offers a wide variety of services supporting data center, enterprise, wireless and outside plant applications.

Headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, AFL has operations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan. For more information, visit www.AFLglobal.com. 

Contacts
Brad Hendrix
Global Specialty Market Manager
AFL
864.486.7125
Brad.Hendrix@AFLglobal.com

Corie Culp
Public Relations Manager
AFL
864.433.5409
Corie.Culp@AFLglobal.com