MVPro Media – The Vision Podcast #25
Guest – Oscar LIN – Global Sales Director & Sales Development Representative | VICO Imaging & Coolens
Oscar Lin, Global Sales Director at VICO Imaging and international representative for Coolens, joins Josh Eastburn to discuss what it really takes to compete in the global machine vision industry beyond pure specifications.
In this episode, Oscar explains how trust, responsiveness, and application-level support have become critical differentiators in fast-moving industrial markets. The conversation explores “China speed,” international partnerships, remote optical testing, telecentric lenses for semiconductor inspection, and why solving customer problems matters more than simply selling hardware.
On this page:
- Podcast player
- Guest information
- Useful links
- Episode chapters
- Episode transcript
Listen to the Episode:
About our Guest:
Oscar Lin is the Global Sales Director at VICO Imaging and an international representative for Coolens. Based in Taiwan, he has spent more than a decade working across Asia and Europe helping machine vision customers solve complex optical and inspection challenges, particularly in semiconductor and industrial applications. His work focuses on bridging technical problem-solving, global partnerships, and cross-cultural business development within the machine vision industry.
Useful Links:
Ken-hui “Oscar” Lin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenhui-lin-15763b153/
VICO Imaging
Website: vicoimaging.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/vicoimaging/
Youtube: youtube.com/@VICO-Imaging
Episode Chapters
Click onto the chapters to access the relevant sections of the transcript below.
1. Why trust matters in global machine vision
Josh and Oscar discuss why solving customer problems and building trust increasingly matter more than simply competing on specifications.
2. Understanding “China speed”
The conversation explores what international companies often underestimate when entering fast-moving Asian markets.
3. Selling solutions instead of products
Josh and Oscar discuss how VICO integrates sales, marketing, and application support to help customers solve real inspection challenges.
4. Telecentric lenses and semiconductor inspection
The conversation explores telecentric lenses, semiconductor inspection requirements, and projects involving TSMC and NVIDIA systems.
5. Remote demos, online testing, and reducing risk
Josh and Oscar discuss how VICO uses online demonstrations to reduce uncertainty and accelerate machine vision projects globally.
Episode Transcript
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
I know for sales, the more important thing is to understand what the customer needs. And the need is not for the hardware, not only for the spec. The need is what the issue they want to solve. And we looking for a way to solve the issue, not to sell a spec or sell a product for the customer.
Josh Eastburn
Welcome to the MVPRO Podcast. Today’s guest sees the business of machine vision differently. He doesn’t just sell lenses, he builds trust across borders. Oscar Lin is the Global Sales Director at Vico Imaging, an international service platform built around Coolens, a telecentric lens manufacturer based in China. For more than 10 years, Oscar has worked closely with distributors, equipment manufacturers, and industrial customers across Asia and Europe, focusing not only on lens selection, but also on helping customers build reliable imaging methods for demanding applications. His current work connects product understanding, application logic, and cross-cultural B2B dialog, especially in how Chinese vision technology can be better understood in mature international markets. Based in Taiwan and working with global giants like TSMC and NVIDIA, he has spent over a decade bridging the gap between high-end Chinese manufacturing and the mature markets of Europe and North America. In this episode, we’re looking at what it really takes to move at what Oscar calls China speed. Along the way, we’ll find out why telecentric lenses are the secret sauce for semiconductor inspection and how Oscar’s team is proving that you don’t need to be in the same room in order to solve the customer’s toughest imaging problems.
Josh Eastburn
If you’ve ever wondered how to navigate international partnerships, you won’t want to miss this conversation with Oscar Lin.
Josh Eastburn
So Max Grau at Medabsy told me that you know everyone in the machine vision industry. Do you feel like that’s true? Do you talk to a lot of people?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
I know a lot of people in this industry, but maybe not everyone. I just know some partners in Europe, some in Asia, but few of the partners in America.
Josh Eastburn
Oh, okay. So mostly Asia and mostly Europe and new to North America. Okay.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah. Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
Out of all the different people that you have talked to about machine vision, different conferences and things that you’ve been a part of or I guess maybe especially applications that you have supported or helped bring to market. Do you have a favorite project that you have seen, something that you remember that you think of when you think of machine vision?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
You know, for machine vision industry, it’s very interesting. This is the reason why I chose this industry for my business. I can do a lot of different projects with different applications with different industries, just like I do the support with Rolex in Europe. I do the business with Tesla in Europe. I do the business with Rolls-Royce in Europe. I do the business with TSMC, with the cell phone, with the battery, with the car inspections in APEC. But for me now, because I’m more close with Taiwan and more close with semiconductor business in 2020, we made a test support with TSMC team. And at that time, they gave us a special request. We feel it’s ridiculous because they need a very high DOF and with high resolution. So we think it’s ridiculous. But because they are TSMC, so we try our best to support that project.
Josh Eastburn
Sure.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
And 2 years later, TSMC use our lenses. To inspect the NVIDIA product. Yeah. So now for the AI generation, everybody needs the GPU and for GPU inspection at the machine, they have 4 lenses on one machine, but 2 of the 4 lenses are from Vico.
Josh Eastburn
You went ahead with that project, even though it seemed like it was going to be pretty difficult, but that turned out to be a really important decision.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
I think Sometimes for the optical designer, they were thinking about if TSMC requires a very high quality, high performance, and the spatial spec for the lenses. But actually for this project, I remember it more because we are not winning because the spec is the best, because we know what is the issue for the customer. We know what they need. And we do some support. So it’s more interesting for me because I’m the sales. For sales, I cannot make the lenses, I cannot design the lenses, but I can use the lenses to solve issues for customers. It’s a big challenge and a big reward for me.
Josh Eastburn
That’s very interesting because often on this show, what we talk about are technical specifications, right? We talk about the technologies and the specific problems that they solve, but you’re saying there’s a lot more to it than just the physics of how we’re bending light or, right, the form factors that we can fit the hardware in. When you think about solving problems for customers, what are some of the other aspects that you’re thinking of besides the hardware itself, besides the specs?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Okay. So, you know, Coolens is the industrial lens manufacturer and Coolens is a brand. So Coolens design the lenses, manufacture the lens, and sell the lens. But Vico is different. Vico is looking for a way for customer how to use Coolens lenses. Just like I share with you, we do the business with TSMC for NVIDIA inspection. It’s because we’re looking for a way for customers how to use the lens to solve the issues with their project. Okay, so this is what I bring to Vico. Three years before, I joined this team and I talked to this team, we have to do something different with Coolens. We are not only selling the lens, we have to make the solution, make the trust, make the way for customers to use the lenses. So this is the experience for me to bring to Vico because I know for sales, the more important thing is to understand what the customer needs. And the need is not for the hardware, not only for the spec. The need is what the issue they want to solve. And we looking for a way to solve the issue, not to sell a spec or sell a product for customer.
Josh Eastburn
Mm-hmm. So there are a lot of companies probably in your part of the world, right? In Taiwan or in China who would like to be selling in other parts of the world, North America, Europe. Do you feel like this is a limitation for some of them that they’re just selling on hardware? They’re just selling the specs and they don’t understand. They don’t see the bigger picture that you’re describing.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Maybe it’s, I think because I do the business with different market and I think every market is very, very different, just like in America and in Europe, in Japan, in Asia, I think they are very different. You know, in China we have a lot of competitors. Only in China for the lenses manufacturers, maybe at least 10 manufacturers in China.
Josh Eastburn
Oh, okay.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
And how to make us different with others, this means we know the application, we know the issue from the customer, we know how to solve the issues with the customer. So maybe I know just like the CCS in Japan and the CCS also do the solution for the customer and just like Basler in everywhere, they also do the solutions for customer. But for Vico and Coolens, we are something different. For Basler or CCS, they do the solution, means the camera, lens, and illumination together solution. And for Coolens and Vico, we only focus with the optical solution. We only want to do professional in optical solution. So this is the reason we can do co-work with Basler, we can do co-work with CCS, we can do co-work with clients because we are not others’ competitor. So maybe we do the solution for customer, but we are not the competitor with other brand because we just focus with optical solution.
Josh Eastburn
Mm-hmm. So you see those other companies as being complementary to the solutions that Coolens is providing. Is that right?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
Mm-hmm. So you can design a solution that pulls from lots of different manufacturers, lots of different suppliers. To build the complete solution that your customer needs.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah, it’s true.
Josh Eastburn
Even though people might think of Vico as being based in Asia and focusing on that part of the world, you’re working with suppliers globally to then, and also delivering to customers all around the world.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah, it’s true.
Josh Eastburn
Okay. So you described something when we were talking earlier about an integrated model of sales and marketing. That sounds like it is an important part of this solution selling approach that you take. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah, you know, I come from Keyence and I know the Keyence way always. Keyence want to communicate with the customer directly. So Keyence do the end-user business very, very well. And I had conversations with a professional for marketing and he let me know for the B2B market, the most important thing is conversation with customer directly. Because we cannot do a lot of marketing way just like B2C market. They can make their products on the website, they can make their product on the Olympic game or with the soccer game. Every game they can put a lot of their brand on that.
Josh Eastburn
Yes.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
But for B2B market, we are very hard to do that because our customer is a unique customer. So the first way is to find out the customer, find out the right man. And the second way is to do the conversation with the man. So I think for our market, we cannot separate the marketing and the sales.
Josh Eastburn
Okay.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
We have to make our sales to be the key of marketing because they are the way to communicate with the customer. They are the way to show our marketing with the customer. And for our marketing, We have to support the sales. We are the tool for the sales because we have to know what customer, what industries, what application our sales is connecting right now and what application is very popular right now. And we have to focus to use our product to fit with the application, to fit with these industries. So this is my idea. I want to combine these two things in my team. And actually we do that, and I think we get some, a little successful in this industry.
Josh Eastburn
Yeah. So describe what that looks like. Does that mean that your salespeople are also doing marketing, or does that mean that, let’s say, your sales and marketing teams just work very closely together? Are they working on the same accounts together? Yeah, maybe tell us a little bit about that.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah. For my team, we have a meeting every day and the meetings, every sales and every marketing members have to join the meeting. I ask my marketing team members, they have to join the meeting and know all the project and know all the applications with sales.
Josh Eastburn
No, I see how that makes sense though, right? So your marketing team, they’re not just focused on new leads. They’re actually sitting with your sales team and they’re hearing about active accounts, active opportunities, and the obstacles, right, that those clients are facing. And then they’re thinking about how do I deliver marketing materials that are going to help that client to solve their problems, right, to answer their questions.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yes, correct.
Josh Eastburn
Okay. And then that helps your sales teams, right, move things forward as well.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah. And very, very soon.
Josh Eastburn
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Okay.
Josh Eastburn
So yeah, so speed is really the goal there.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
Interesting. And this is an approach that you are championing within VICO Imaging. What I’m wondering is that another aspect here is that you are in Asia and you’re selling globally. When you talk to, you know, potential clients who are in Europe or North America, they’re talking to you in Asia, what are some of the concerns that typically come up? And how do you feel like this approach helps to address those concerns for your buyers?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
You know, it’s very interesting for all the new customers from Europe or from America. Their first question is, are you really the manufacturer?
Josh Eastburn
Uh-huh.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
You know, you have a chance to visit the China Vision Show and only for the lens brand, you can find more than 30 brands in China for the industrial lens.
Josh Eastburn
Oh, okay.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
But Actually, real manufacturers for the lenses may be just 7 or 8, and everybody make the website very well, everybody make LinkedIn very well, but they don’t know who is the real manufacturer. So I think for their first step is to know Vico or Coolens is the real manufacturer. And I think the second step is we do the online demo. We do the online testing for customer. Actually, we cannot do all the testing for customer every time because we don’t have the machine. We don’t know their idea for the design for the machine. We only know optical. But optical is a good product because optical, we can see it by ourselves. That’s very important. We want to see and get the result for optical. So I make a way to make the online demo and the online testing for customer. I can make the testing and the demo directly for customer online and they can see by themselves. Because at first they are worried about the spec for the product. Because you know, sometimes if the Chinese brand is not a real manufacturer, when you get the product, maybe just 60% or 50% for a performance.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
So I think the second step is to make them to see my product is the same with my specification. And I think the third step is because sometimes for your customer, they are worried about when I get a sample for your product, it’s a very, very good sample. But when I need more, your product quality will not be the same. And the third step is we do cooperations with the local partner. Just like in Europe, we do business with Stemmer Imaging, we do business with TKH Group, we do business with Basler and everybody. Because I know for the customer, they need the local service. The local service is not only the shipment, not only the tax. The local service is make them feel safe when they meet issues, they have the partner at the local and they can solve the issue with them. And I think the third step is very important for the European customers or for the American customers when they want to choose an Asian product, especially for a Chinese brand. They are confused about it or they are worried about it. And what we could do is to make you don’t need to feel confused.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Don’t need to fear risk. You can trust because we make the way for you to trust it.
Josh Eastburn
Yeah, that’s the word that I keep thinking of while you’re describing this is that the trust issues that you might have with a supplier normally in region, those become bigger when you’re dealing with someone who’s out of region and you’re not familiar with how they do business, maybe, right? It sounds like that’s kind of an underlying concern. That people have when they approach you is, like you said, first of all, are you the real manufacturer? I’m not sure, right? Can you confirm for me, or how do you confirm for me that your product meets the specifications that you’re offering? How can you reassure me that you can service the things that you sell me when you’re in, you know, so far away in another part of the world? So all of those different things, your approach is really about increasing their trust, right? Helping them to feel reassured that you can deliver on what you’re promising, and you’re confirming that all the way through in your interactions with them.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
Do you feel like that’s not typical for other brands? Like, do you see other competitors who are struggling to do that in the same way? Hmm.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
I don’t know for the other industry.
Josh Eastburn
Mm-hmm.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Does it— somebody do the same way, but in our industry, maybe I, since I’m the Number one to do that.
Josh Eastburn
Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
Okay. So you do feel like you’re leading the market there.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
I get the impression that you’re saying also, do you feel like that’s true going the other way? So if there are brands in Europe or North America who are interested in selling in Asia, do they run into the same obstacles where they need to overcome these trust barriers?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
At first of all, machine vision industry is the leaders. Until now, the leaders still the Europe brand and the America brand, just like Basler, TKH. IDS and everybody, Schneider, Opto Engineering, my main competitor, they are still the leaders for the industries for all the world. So for them to come to China or come to Asia market, I don’t think it’s a big problem for them because maybe there are not a lot of solutions in this market. So it’s very easy to cross the country or to cross the area to join the market. But I think maybe another big question is now there are more and more brands from China or from Asia and be the competitors for this brand. And the other things is just like my main partner, Stemmer Imaging, they also have the plan want to have an office in Asia. And how do they have to do that? If they want to do that, how should they do? Or what is my ideas? Actually, I discuss it with the Stemmer Imaging.
Josh Eastburn
Yeah.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
I let them know if you want to come to the Asian market or especially for the China market, I think the 3 steps is very important. The first thing is you have to have one guy who can communicate with the European. The communication not means language. The communication means the guy can get the trust from the European, from Europe and in Asia. And it is very important. And the second step is that guy have to know our industry because for machine vision industry is very, very different with others. I always talk to everybody, I’m a lens manufacturer, I have to co-work with the camera and the illumination. Without it, we cannot work for the customer. But You can buy a cell phone and use a cell phone alone. You can buy a notebook or the computer and you can use it alone. But we cannot use the camera alone. We cannot use the lens alone. We cannot use the lighting alone. We have cooperation with others. So a guy who know our industries is very important because we are a cooperation industry, not a lonely industry. And the third thing is very, very important. The guy has to know the China speed.
Josh Eastburn
Tell me more about that.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
The China speed means sometimes, you know, until 10:00 PM, we still have customers outside of our factory waiting for our product because they want to use it directly. It means it’s China speed.
Josh Eastburn
Wow.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
In China speed, it means we have to reply to our customer in 4 hours if we get any message, even if it’s out of duty time, but we get any message without sleeping time, we have to reply with our customer for 4 hours because without that your competitor will win the game. So I cannot make others wait for me, so I have to make everything on time. So I think if Europe brand or America brand or a distributor, they want to join the Asia market, The most important thing is they have to fit with the local speed. The China speed is a very, very high speed. So this is the biggest challenge for them.
Josh Eastburn
And then Shenzhen speed is even faster. Is that right?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah. Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
Yeah. Wow. Okay. Well, that makes sense, right? So that is the expectation when it comes to the business culture, the speed of business or the model, right? That is expected in order to remain competitive. Everyone in that market, in the Asian market is going to expect that you’re working on their terms. Yeah.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Do you ever hear about the 9-9-6?
Josh Eastburn
9-9-6?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Do you know what that means?
Josh Eastburn
No. Tell me about that.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
9-9-6, it means the Chinese worker, we can work every day from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM and every week for 6 days. So 9-9-6.
Josh Eastburn
Mm-hmm. Okay. So that’s just the expectation. Wow. Very interesting. You really are a good source of information on this kind of international collaboration. So you’re working with partners in other parts of the world and you are advising them on how to do business in Asia and that they need to change their expectations maybe in a big way. They need to have people not only who understand the market, who understand the language, but who are able to change their processes to keep up with the speed of business in China.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Right. Yeah, sure.
Josh Eastburn
Yeah, awesome. Awesome. This has been really interesting. And what I’m also wondering is if you want to talk a little bit about Coolens and, you know, tell us a little bit about telecentric lenses. That’s not something that we’ve talked about in detail on the show before. Why are they important? What industries are they good for? You mentioned semiconductor, for example. Yeah. What are the benefits of telecentric lenses?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
For telecentric, because, you know, I think maybe semiconductor is the most high technology products right now in our world, they need every pixel good enough, not the main pixel good enough. Maybe when I want to inspect for a fruit, I want to inspect for apple, I just need to see the defect on the apple and I know they have defect, it’s good enough. But for semiconductors, they need every pixel very high quality. So this is the reason we use a lot of telecentric lens in the semicon process. If you use the 5-megapixel camera and you need all the 5 megapixel with a good quality and is equal quality, you have to use a telecentric lens because you don’t have other choice.
Josh Eastburn
And what makes Coolens telecentric lenses special in the market?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
For Coolens, very different for the market. Maybe we have more than 10,000 product of the telecentric lens.
Josh Eastburn
Wow. Okay.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
10,000 types because the working distance, the magnification, and the aperture is fixed. So if you want to change the working distance, you have to change another lenses. If you want to change the magnification, you have to change another lenses. This means if I want to support all the requests from customers, I have to make more and more types to fit with the requirement. And for Coolens, our special way is we make more than 10,000 types of products, so we can fit with almost all the requirements from customers. So especially for the semiconductor industry, just like for the packaging industry, they always need the high working distance lenses because their machine is a very small size. And you know, for the Japanese brand at first, they don’t have the high working distance telecentric lens. For the Japanese brand, maybe the longest working distance is 150. But in Coolens, for the working distance, we have 150, 180, 200, 210, 300, 500. We have a lot of different choices for customers. So with the same magnification, If you need the different working distance, we can support you. So this is the symbol for Coolens. We make a lot of different specifications for the telecentric.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
And because Coolens have the product availability, VICO can do the service because we have a lot of different product. So we can do a lot of different service for customer to consider about the working distance. To consider about the DOF, to consider about everything, not only the spec, but also for all the things when you want to design for your project, we can consider everything for you because I have so much product.
Josh Eastburn
Okay. Yeah, that makes it very clear. If somebody is interested in learning more about Coolens or about Vico, where’s the best place for them to go and get educated?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
We have a website, but in website we just have 600 products on our website and we still work with LinkedIn and YouTube. We share video every week on YouTube and for LinkedIn every week we will update a new post to share our application, to share our new product, to share our new process for our customer. So this is a better way. Then the website to know VICO and Coolens. But I think now the best way is to connect with VICO guys directly. We are always here. It’s a better way is to connect with us because I always talk to my customer. We make the online lens selection for customer because I have more than 10,000 products. Even myself cannot know every product for us. So if you give me your application, you give me your issues, I can ask my engineer team to looking for a way how to use my lens to solve your issue. It’s the best way to know what the difference is between Vico and Coolens with other brands.
Josh Eastburn
Yeah, I’m interested. What kinds of things are you able to demonstrate remotely?
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
I always have to explain what the difference between the online demo and the online testing. The online demo means you want to know the availability for the current product. So maybe the online demo, we just testing the lens for maybe the resolution, the DOF, and to let you know my product and my specification is the same. Okay, so this is the online demo. And the online testing means you can ask me to use the sensor what you need. And the lens you need and maybe the illumination you need. And sometimes my customer will let me know, Oscar, my object is the wafer, my object is the cell phone, my object is what. And we can prepare the object and we can make a testing for you, the same camera, the same lens and the same illumination to let you know the image what you need. So this is different.
Josh Eastburn
So in an online test, you actually will mock up or assemble their setup that they’re trying to build in real life and then demonstrate live what the results look like.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah, we will be setting everything just to their request, the working distance, the camera, everything, and make the testing. So sometimes for our customer, they can cost down the risk. Before they get the product because they can use our service. I always talk to them, it’s not really testing because the real testing is on the machine.
Josh Eastburn
Sure.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
But before testing, we can do the service for you because you just need to know the image and we can make it for you first. And sometimes we do the service at the same time when we ship out our sample. You know, maybe you just ask a sample from Vico. I will ship the sample to you, but the ship time maybe need to take 1 week. So before you get the sample, you can see the testing first. You can see how to setting the lens. You can see the quality for the lens. You can see the image first. And when you get the sample, you are more easy to use it and more helpful for your project.
Josh Eastburn
Awesome. So you’re able to do a lot actually, regardless of where you are in the world. It sounds like you’ve put in the effort to make that possible for your customers, and that makes a big difference in the experience that they have and the trust that they feel, and you de-risk that whole process for them.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yeah.
Josh Eastburn
Fantastic. Well, thank you, Oscar. This has been a great conversation.
Oscar Lin – VICO Imaging
Yes, thank you.
Josh Eastburn
That was my conversation with Oscar Lin, Global Sales Director at Vico Imaging and International Representative for Coolens. I think the message that our work is not just about selling a particular product, but about solving problems and earning trust translates to a lot of markets. If you’d like to learn more, go check out Vico Imaging and Coolens online, find them on LinkedIn and YouTube. And if you have a specific inspection challenge, consider booking an online demo with Oscar’s team. If this kind of conversation is useful to you, let me know. If not, let me know that too. Reach out to me or MVProMedia on LinkedIn with your questions, comments, recommendations, or experiences of your own. I’d love to hear from you. For MVProMedia, I’m Josh Eastburn. Be well.
