In this episode of Focus on Precision, host Justin Starbird kicks off the 2026 season with a look ahead to the industry's premier event: SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco.

Joining the conversation are Janice Hunter from Precision Optics (POC) and Carlos Penalbert from Ross Optical. Together, they bridge the gap between high-level design engineering and global component sourcing, sharing their unique perspectives on why 2026 is poised to be a breakout year for the optics industry.

In this episode, we explore:

• The "Reunion" of Photonics: Why in-person trade shows remain the "grad night" of the optics world, where handshakes turn into high-stakes partnerships.

• A Rosy Outlook for 2026: Carlos and Janice discuss the shift from the economic caution of 2025 to a more stable, aggressive planning cycle for the year ahead.

• The Trend Toward Miniaturization: Insights into the growing demand for compactness, fitting 6 or 7 optical elements into a 1–2mm housing for medical and defense applications.

• Coatings: The "Icing on the Cake": Why the right thin-film coating is the critical difference between a theoretical design and a high-performance functional system.

• The Unity Platform: How POC’s out-of-the-box solution is shortening development timelines and validating customer concepts faster than ever.

• Design for Reality: Real-world stories of "hashing it out at the podium" to turn impossible drawings into manufacturable, high-performance optics.

Are you heading to San Francisco? Visit the team at Booth 1462 during the Photonics West Exhibition, January 20–22! Tune in to the podcast to learn more!

In this episode of Focus on Precision, host Justin Starbird and POC VP of Sales and Marketing Clay Schwabe sit down with the leadership team at Ross Optical to pull back the curtain on the critical bridge between global supply chains and high-precision engineering.

Joining the conversation are Divi Mangadu, President of Ross Optical, and Carlos Penalbert, Sales and Coating Engineer. Together, they discuss how Ross has evolved from a 1980s lens manufacturer into a sophisticated metrology and sourcing powerhouse within the Precision Optics Corporation (POC) family.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• How ROSS Optical transitioned from high-volume domestic manufacturing to building a resilient global network of suppliers across Taiwan, South Korea, and Europe.

• Why the 2019 merger with Precision Optics was a game-changer, combining POC’s high-level design engineering with Ross’s worldwide sourcing and high-volume production capabilities.

• A look at the El Paso lab’s technical edge, using Zygo verifiers, Trioptics instruments, and Keyence microscopes to ensure every component, from 3mm to 150mm, meets exact specifications.

• How the team navigated the shift from 25% to 50% tariffs with near-zero late shipments through aggressive inventory management and risk mitigation.

• Why "people answering the phone" and inventory buffering (keeping 99.9% of common parts in stock) remain the foundation of their customer loyalty.

• Why the optics industry is currently "booming" and how savvy OEMs are placing orders years in advance to stay ahead of market trends.

Tune in today!

In this episode of Focus on Precision, host Justin Starbird welcomes back Clay Schwabe, VP of Business Development at Precision Optics, and special guest Tiffini Wittwer, COO and Founder of MedEdge, for an in-depth discussion on one of the most challenging and rapidly evolving parts of medical device innovation: regulatory strategy.

Tiffini brings over two decades of experience in clinical, regulatory, and quality leadership, and she shares how MedEdge was founded to fill a critical gap for startups navigating the increasingly complex path to commercialization. From accelerating time-to-market to reducing the burden on small teams, she explains why today’s environment allows innovators to bring ideas to life without massive internal infrastructure, if they have the right expert partners!

The conversation dives into:

• How regulatory pathways have transformed over the last 10–20 years
• Why the FDA’s evolving stance on software, AI, and cybersecurity especially impacts optics-driven devices
• The growing role of de novo classifications, and why more startups are choosing this route
• The challenges of finding predicate devices in a world of rapidly advancing technologies
• Why investors are pushing for earlier clinical evidence, and how that influences strategy
• How optics innovations often sit at the forefront of the FDA’s expectations for next-gen medical devices

With practical insights, honest stories, and real-world examples, this episode is a must-listen for medical device engineers, startup founders, and anyone navigating the path from concept to clearance.

Whether you’re building imaging systems, developing software-driven devices, or gearing up for your first 510(k), you’ll walk away with a clearer understanding of the regulatory landscape, and what it takes to succeed.