nLight, a provider of high-power semiconductor and fiber lasers used in the industrial, microfabrication, aerospace, and defense markets, has acquired the assets of Plasmo Industrietechnik, an Austrian-based provider of automated quality assurance and diagnostic solutions primarily for the welding and additive manufacturing markets.

Plasmo’s innovative quality assurance solutions empower customers to implement robust, efficient, and cost-optimized production processes. Its products are driven by proprietary machine vision and analysis software that monitor and help automate a wide range of industrial welding and additive manufacturing processes. Complementing nLight’s expanding laser portfolio, the acquisition of the Plasmo assets strengthens nLight’s position as a critical enabler of next generation manufacturing solutions in these growth markets.

“Plasmo is a technology leader in process monitoring and quality assurance systems for laser-based manufacturing processes,” said Jake Bell, general manager for industrial lasers. “Combining lasers with Plasmo’s real-time process monitoring solutions provide customers with a significant advantage as they develop, qualify and produce increasingly complex laser-printed or welded parts, particularly for high volume electric vehicle production.”

With Plasmo, nLight has expanded its European footprint in support of critical customers and strategic markets. “Our new team members in Germany and Austria are positioned geographically to serve a critical, growing part of the industrial market,” said Mr. Bell.

Further reading: Thomas Grünberger: Machine Learning for Process Monitoring Systems – Examples from laser materials processing to additive manufacturing, PhotonicsViews 17(3), June/July 2020, pages 56–59; DOI: 10.1002/phvs.202000026 • Dahv A. V. Kliner, Brian Victor: A Breakthrough for Fiber Lasers – Tunable beam quality enables optimized cutting of thin and thick metal, PhotonicsViews 16(1), February/March 2019, Pages 51-55; DOI: 10.1002/phvs.201900001