imaging and machine vision europe june/july 2010 www.imveurope.com


profile Being part of a much larger company – in an


industry comprising mostly small companies – has its pros and cons. ‘We have a huge worldwide infrastructure at our disposal,’ says Beraneck. ‘We have offices worldwide, so should there be any problems with any of our products – and to be honest, that’s very rare – customers can be sure that there will be dedicated support close at hand, whether from one of our own offices or via our extensive distribution network. In addition, we often benefit from technologies developed in other divisions of Sony. ‘On the downside, there are many more authorisations and procedures to go through, and that can sometimes slow down decision processes. In general small companies can react quickly to market changes.’ Although historically aligned to CCD sensors


and FireWire interfaces, Sony Image Sensing Solutions recognises the need to keep abreast of competing technologies, and to develop products accordingly. This has already been evident to a certain extent with the introduction of its GigE products, and there has even been some development of CMOS technology in the video surveillance and multimedia side of the business – although not yet to a level that is


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Sony’s customers expect durable and high quality products


appropriate for use in industrial vision. ‘Whenever we develop new technologies or


new products, we need to be certain that we can deliver a durable solution that provides a high image quality,’ says Beraneck. ‘Customers want long lasting, high quality products, so any new products must meet those needs.’ Sony’s products are principally sold


to OEMs, or direct to manufacturers incorporating vision technology into their own products. The range of applications is vast and includes automotive, semiconductor and wafer inspection, photovoltaics, and fruit and vegetables, through to the non-manufacturing


areas, such as medical, security and traffic. Looking to the future, Beraneck believes


that analogue cameras still have plenty of time ahead of them. ‘There is still a huge installed base out there,’ she says. ‘And last year’s recession will have done very little to accelerate the shift to digital cameras. It’s a huge investment for any customer to make that sort of change, so such decisions will have been put off for several months. Digital cameras are still more expensive than their analogue equivalents, and until the prices are equitable, there will still be room for analogue cameras in the machine vision market.’


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