AEI Orders for Fiber Optic Drawing Towers Up Sharply


Wilmington, MA - July 11, 2007 Automation Engineering Incorporated (AEi), a global supplier of high precision automation systems, announced today that it is experiencing a dramatic increase this year in both new inquiries and booked orders for AEi fiber optic drawing towers. Examples include an AEi fiber bundle draw tower to produce fiber optic light guides for illumination products at a customer site in Florida as well as an AEi single fiber draw tower to be delivered Q4 of this year to the X-Ray Physics Department of Beijing Normal University in China. This will be used to make specialty fibers of different sizes and shapes for R&D purposes. US State Department approval for this export of AEi's tower design was granted in June.

AEi Chief Technology Officer Andre By stated, "We are encouraged to see this as another example of AEi products and technology gaining acceptance in the markets we serve. Our drawing towers include many unique technical features that support both R&D and full production operations. For our single fiber drawing towers, AEi's unique tractor draw mechanism spreads out the pressure applied to the fiber as it is drawn. This minimizes fiber shape distortion during drawing, especially for hollow fibers. The FlexAuto control software recipes allow customers to dynamically control fiber diameter with laser micrometer feedback."

"AEi's fiber bundle draw tower design uses a large diameter drum to pull over 1500 miles of fiber in a single production shift. Fiber bundles are drawn onto the face of the drum and then later pulled out and cut to length after drawing for subsequent manufacturing operations. The unique fiber protecting nose feature of AEi's design makes drawing smaller diameter fibers without breakage possible. This smaller diameter fiber provides for increased packing efficiency and thus higher light throughput to achieve improved product performance. Customers can also easily configure the FlexAuto control software to make the exact quantities needed of different sizes and types of fiber bundles during a given shift so work in process is minimized and their customer delivery time can be reduced."

About Automation Engineering, Inc.

Automation Engineering Inc. (AEi) is a leading supplier of high-precision automation systems across the optoelectronics, medical devices, consumer products, aerospace/ defense, and other world-wide markets. AEi provides comprehensive design for manufacturing, process development, and pre-production build services in addition to complete turn-key automated manufacturing stations and lines. For more information, visit AEi's website, www.aeiboston.com.

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