On Friday, September 15th Adele Ratcliff, Director of Manufacturing Technology at the Department of Defense, along with Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25) met with 14 different photonics and optics companies, trying to get a better idea of how they function as manufacturing organizations and the critical role they play in the DOD supply chain.
On Thursday, September 14th, Ratcliff toured New York Photonics companies, Optifab, Optipro and Lasermax with New York Photonics Executive Director, Tom Battley.
“I don’t think many people know, including people in this region, that this is the large, arguably the largest cluster of optic companies in the nation, in North America,” said Ratcliff. “The Department of Defense doesn’t really have a dedicated defense industrial base. We lean on companies that do both defense manufacturing and commercial manufacturing.”
http://13wham.com/news/local/top-dod-official-visits-rochester-optic-companies