In the world of machine vision, an image is nothing without excellent optics. Today, we give the floor to Sliman, head of Kowa's French subsidiary, who explains why the synergy between their cutting-edge lenses and our vision solutions has become obvious.
How did the Kowa–Psycle adventure begin?
Sliman Bella: I launched Kowa's French subsidiary in early 2023 with a clear mission: to be as close as possible to the field in order to offer custom solutions where the catalog ends. At the end of 2024, we crossed paths with Psycle through a mutual partner. What struck us was that they ticked all the boxes our customers are looking for today: agility, constant innovation and a genuine growth trajectory. Psycle develops its own AI software, and therefore faces very demanding optical requirements. For Kowa, it is the ideal playground: supporting a company that is not satisfied with standard solutions, but pushes the limits of what can be seen and analyzed.
Supporting a company […] that pushes the limits of what can be seen and analyzed.
In concrete terms, what does this partnership bring to each side?
SB: Psycle, by its very DNA, tackles very recent problems in machine vision. These new challenges often require specific optics that Kowa is able to design. In return, we provide critical responsiveness: Psycle is growing fast, their projects can't wait, and they need a hardware partner able to keep up with this pace with flawless quality. We secure their hardware so they can focus on the intelligence of their algorithms.
Can you mention a memorable technical challenge you tackled together?
SB: Psycle is very active in the food industry, a demanding and constrained sector. One of their customers had a major problem: with the constant vibrations of the machines, standard lenses were losing their adjustment screws, causing defocusing and production stoppages. We stepped in with our Ruggedized lens range, specifically designed to withstand extreme shocks and vibrations. This technical fix was the real turning point in our collaboration.