Optics with robotics

Rory Brogan visits Tant Laboratories and finds that computerisation, a clean environment and Weco machinery, including a robot, are all part of ongoing improvements at the plant

Close to £250,000 has been spent on Tant Laboratories of Bishops Stortford in the past three years on everything from Weco glazing systems to a dust-free environment.
What is perhaps most surprising is that the man spearheading the spend is an accountant – Tant’s managing director Gerard Donovan, who liked the company so much when doing a feasibility study on it he asked if he could work there.

This was five years ago when Nelson Hawkes, former MD of lens companies from Signet Armorlite to Essilor UK (now celebrating his 40th year in optics), was contemplating taking over the firm, then known as Tant Plastics.
Under Hawkes’ tutorage, Donovan worked as operations director for four years, taking over as MD in February with Hawkes becoming chairman. While Donovan admits he knew little about optics at the outset, his commercial background was founded with blue chip companies such as GE Capital, a background he describes as a valuable asset in the ongoing development of Tant.

‘Joining Tant gave me the opportunity to work with Nelson and benefit from his extensive knowledge and experience of the industry. I’ve been introduced to great people and been able to visit and  learn from many different labs because of his reputation. I am very grateful to Nelson for the opportunities he has given me over the past five years.’
The first change at Tant was the re-naming to Tant Laboratories. ‘Laboratories is synonymous with a clean environment and cleanliness in production is vital,’ he explains.

A sophisticated dust extraction system was installed, which is a lot less noisy than the industrial vacuums it replaced, and natural daylight-type lighting emphasises the bright and clean environment. In fact, staff could probably eat their lunch off the floor, were it not for the fact that a new canteen has also been provided.