Joining us for the first in our series of exclusive interviews with machine vision CEOs is Photoneo‘s Werner Müller-Veith.
He outlines what Photoneo is all about and what sets them apart from the competition. He also provides examples of their most successful products and how their solutions increase efficiency in various sectors.
1.) What is your background in the industry?
From my first work day, Analysis & Test equipment has been my focal area. My technology career spans from measuring telecommunication signals, vibration, electronic digital ICs, InfraRed-cameras, and chemical substances back to the world’s leading 3D Vision Cameras at Photoneo. The luxury of having worked in a wide variety of industries before provides me with the possibility to coach my teams in a wide variety of applications for 3D Sensing.
2.) How would you describe your company to someone who may be unfamiliar with it?
Photoneo gives Eyes to Robots so that they can see and understand. Photoneo enables a better world through Technology.
We make workplaces safe by replacing dangerous or annoying jobs with AI-powered robots, feed the world by applying new technology to increase clean food output, save lives by eliminating contaminations in pharmaceutical production, improve health by enabling innovative medical diagnosis, and save global resources by transferring operations into the Metaverse with digital twins (hence reducing unnecessary CO2 transport emissions).
3.) What sets your company apart from others in the sector?
Phontoneo 3D sensors are based on our proprietary imaging sensor COMPIS. This protected IP gives our MotionCam-3D Color the ability to characterize any object In MOTION up to 141 km/h at a resolution of 2 MP. There is no other image sensor in the market that can do this. Thanks to this, we enable a paradigm shift in production processes in speed and efficiency. We enable new use cases in motion by the sensing capabilities paired with our AI algorithms and Robotic Software Suite.
4.) What are your most successful products?
The PhoXi 3D Scanners were the first of their kind, adding unparalleled 3D data point clouds in thousands of installations worldwide. MotionCam-3D is now redefining the state-of-the-art in 3D Vision Sensors with its dynamic capabilities.
The Localization and Bin Picking SW suites have been selected by the world’s largest Car manufacturers to automate their “lights-out” production sites.
5.) In which countries/regions are your products most distributed?
Photoneo is globally active, with offices in Europe, USA, and China. Recently, the company has enjoyed >80% growth in the USA and Korea. We are expanding our direct presence globally since we feel that our customers benefit from our technology most when they interact directly with our consultants. Of course, we are also proud to entertain a selective network of well-trained distributors and application-specific system integrators.
6.) How do your products improve efficiency in manufacturing and within your sector?
Photoneo’s MotionCam-3D Color works in dynamic settings. The throughput of a manufacturing line increases by orders of magnitudes because our proprietary COMPIS sensor chip can acquire 3D point clouds at a velocity of up to 40 m/s (141 km/h). While other 3D sensors fail to deliver usable results when the object is moving, MotionCam-3D excels in such applications.
In the wood industry, Photoneo sensor technology maximizes output at the sawing mill. The logs are measured in motion despite vibration, hence the saw can be adjusted by AI to get the maximum volume per log. Also, the number of sensors is reduced due to the increased accuracy and mapped color data. This enables fast ROI, reduced costs, less waste, and higher-quality production.
7.) Could you please tell us what upcoming trend you predict in the machine vision space for 2024?
Photoneo’s 3D sensors have a CPU on board. Yet today the products perform simple AI routines without the help of external computation power. Our next generation will to a large extent replace the need for the connection of Vision controllers. This will further speed up and decentralize AI-based decision-making and follow the company’s mission to give eyes and brains to robots.
Werner Müller-Veith
Werner Müller-Veith has been the CEO of Photoneo Sensors & Automation since October 2021. A Telecommunications engineer by education, he graduated from Danube University in Krems, Austria, as a certified board member. Werner served on the advisory board of the Austrian Leadership Association, WdF. He repeatedly acts as a mentor and is a passionate advocate of value-based leadership. Sustainability, mindfulness, diversity, and respect are the basis of his management culture.
