GERMANTOWN, Wis.—After introducing a green alternative to the traditional alloy blocking process in 2014, Satisloh expanded its portfolio of blocking and deblocking machines and was honored with Germany’s Federal Ecodesign Award.

This award honors innovative products, services and concepts with outstanding ecological quality, an innovative approach and high design quality. For the first time, the jury honored an innovative production process.

Alloy Replacement Technology (ART) enables blocking and deblocking using solely synthetic materials. With ART, Satisloh offers an environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional ophthalmic blocking process that employs hazardous heavy metal alloy. ART utilizes a universal, reusable and recyclable plastic block piece and a UV-curable adhesive, also protecting the lens front. This new, ecological, cutting-edge technology protects the environment as well as staff.

“Labs have wanted an alternative to alloy blocking for a long time. ART is the first viable option that provides quality blocking for this critical process without using dangerous alloy,” said Ian Gregg, Satisloh director of sales. “ART can be seamlessly integrated into an existing production line. To implement it, labs only need a blocker and a deblocker because the ART block-piece fits all common generators and polishers,” said Gregg.

Satisloh offers both automated and manual blockers and deblockers. The company recently expanded its manual line with the addition of the first alloy-free manual blocker—ART-Blocker-M. Now labs, regardless of size and automation level, can easily start alloy-free production.

Besides its ecological advantages, ART technology improves efficiency in the lens production process, according to Satisloh. The blocking process is faster due to the elimination of time consuming taping and cooling. In addition, the precision of Satisloh’s ART blocking technology increases quality and yield for the entire lab.

Also, deblocking with ART leads to increased productivity. The separation of lens and block-piece is done with a water jet, eliminating the shock of traditional manual deblocking, and therefore reducing spoilage and labor cost. The automated deblocker sorts block pieces by curvature and diameter allowing their re-use. n

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