LASER INSTITUTE OF AMERICA


trimming thin film resistors. It soon became clear to me that laser marking was very attractive. Technically, it was much easier than trimming resistors and the market had big potential, so in we went. I somehow was promoted from marketing


manager to president, and we launched the Quantrad Blazer line of laser marking systems. By this time lasers were much more reliable, good enough for production use, so it was a good market that now accounts for 11 per cent or so of the industrial laser market. By now people were thinking beyond stand-alone systems to include lasers within a sophisticated production line, which yielded still more value in production. It all took so much longer than I expected


for laser technology to be adopted successfully in the workplace. Systems have to be reliable. Fears have to be overcome, fears of being leapfrogged by adopters, fears of job losses by unions and so on. In fact laser systems are now extremely


reliable, with a wide range of wavelengths and pulse widths, which have dramatically increased the possible range of applications. Also the available power and wall plug efficiency has seen a huge increase since I built my first laser in 1970. My laser had a wall-plug efficiency of about 3 per cent. Current lasers approach 50 per cent, which dramatically decreases the power needed to run them. Also my lasers had an average power of 10W. I ultimately realised that laser adoption was


like an expanding bubble. Te boundary is knowledge and education. Knowledge of what the laser can do and what it cannot. When we surveyed laser users there is still a critical shortage, at least in the US, of technicians with at least a basic understanding of numbers and science fundamentals. I wrote several articles promoting the use of


laser marking in industry. As a consequence I was invited to speak at the Laser Institute of America’s (LIA) first conference, the International Laser Material Processing Conference, chaired by David Belforte and Professor Yoshiaki Arata from Osaka University, Japan. I gave a paper on ‘laser marking and serialising’. I joined LIA as a member and was


(Left) In 1969 Baker was recruited by a two-man startup to develop and build YAG lasers to trim thick film resistors; Baker’s first laser (right) in the 1970s had an average power of 10W


As I said in the beginning, none of this was


a wall plug efficiency of about 3 per cent… [and] an average power of 10W


subsequently invited to become treasurer and later president in 1987. Tis gave me an insight into the fine work being done in laser applications worldwide.


10 LASER SYSTEMS EUROPE ISSUE 36 • AUTUMN 2017 My [first] laser had


planned; I seemed to go from opportunity to opportunity with a stunning loss in between. My next major move was also completely unplanned. LIA decided to make some changes that ultimately resulted in my appointment as executive director in late 1988. As I look back on it, my


career was like Brownian motion with a driſt velocity that took me through a number of educational opportunities. I learned how to


build lasers, then laser systems, and the importance of reliability. I learned by doing, on the job; learned marketing, sales, HR, production, finance, then finally management and leadership, so you can see how lasers shaped me. On the topic of leadership, I learned what


not to do from some of the lesser bosses I had early on. My master class came from my LIA experience, where I worked with a new president each year. Look at the list of presidents and you will see what I mean. Each one is a leader, some from research, some from industry, all of them taught me something, and I am the better for it and very grateful. Te top people are extremely nice people. Of


course there are exceptions, but very few. In our industry, there is no lasting success from lying or bullying. True leaders deliver results because they understand people and treat them right. I believe our industry is alive and well. It is


just moving past the ankle of the growth curve so that all readers of this fine magazine can look forward to a very positive and exciting future. Tere’s more Laser Institute of America news starting on page 35.


@lasersystemsmag | www.lasersystemseurope.com


Baker giving a presentation at Interkama in Düsseldorf, Germany in the early 1970s


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