ONTARIO — Optimax Systems Inc. is expanding its research and development operations with some help from New York state government. To encourage Optimax to expand in the Finger Lakes region, Empire State Development (ESD) offered the tech company a grant of up to $250,000 in return for job-creation commitments. The expansion will enable the optics […]
ONTARIO — Optimax Systems Inc. is expanding its research and development operations with some help from New York state government.
To encourage Optimax to expand in the Finger Lakes region, Empire State Development (ESD) offered the tech company a grant of up to $250,000 in return for job-creation commitments.
The expansion will enable the optics manufacturing technology firm to create 35 new jobs and retain 271 existing positions, Empire State Development (ESD) said in a news release.
Those commitments include the creation of 35 new jobs by 2019 and the retention of hundreds of existing jobs at Optimax.
The company said it will invest more than $3 million of its own money in the project, according to ESD.
Optimax Systems is headquartered in the town of Ontario in the northwest corner of Wayne County.
Optimax competes with firms worldwide in the precision-optics market, Mike Mandina, president of Optimax Systems Inc., said in the ESD release.
“By investing in and developing state of the art capabilities, we are able to provide high-end solutions to our customers. This investment has enabled Optimax to grow in spite of regional and global economic headwinds. We are thankful for the ESD support that has helped make this $3 million expansion possible.”
Optimax Systems Inc. will purchase equipment from QED Technologies, a Rochester–based company.
It’ll also buy ion-beam sputtering (IBS) coating capabilities from a vendor in Germany, which will allow the company to manufacture aspheres, ESD said.
As the Optimax website describes them, aspheres have “one or more optical surfaces of non-constant curvature. They are used to manage aberrations inherent to spherical lens systems, and to reduce system size and weight.”
Aspheric lenses have “enabled a leap forward in capabilities” for medical devices and defense and security, the website contends.
Founded in 1991, Optimax Systems, Inc. has focused on technologies that include fiber-optic telecommunications, solid-state lighting, digital photography, displays, and diagnostic medicine.
ESD’s investment complements “Finger Lakes Forward, the region’s plan that was one of three winners chosen in the Upstate Revitalization Initiative, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s economic-development contest held in 2015, the agency said.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com