Coherent Inc. has expanded its fiber laser operation in Tampere, Finland, designating the facility as a “Center of Excellence for Fiber Lasers.” Fiber lasers have been produced at the location since 2003. To further streamline the production flow, Coherent will combine stand-alone fiber laser source assembly and testing at the same site with the manufacture of fiber laser components, laser engines, and combiners. This Center of Excellence for Fiber Lasers will become the source for all Coherent HighLight fiber lasers series, comprising industrial high-power fiber lasers with output powers ranging from 1000 W to 10,000 W and a wide range of beam qualities — including single-mode, multimode, and adjustable ring mode — for a variety of challenging welding tasks. Coherent plans a particular focus on a new generation of lasers that offer additional benefits, such as full range of adjustable output powers (from 1% to 100% of rated power) as well as dual beam and ring mode, with truly independent center beam and ring beam power control. Coherent says its Center of Excellence for Fiber Lasers will bring together the company’s fiber laser manufacturing and testing expertise into more than 53,000 sq ft of production floor space, including a more than 10,000-sq-ft clean room devoted to the fabrication of critical optical components. The location will also house an applications lab featuring the full range of Coherent fiber lasers, industrial welding heads, and related state-of-the-art analysis tools for weld seams. Coherent says this facility, together with its existing global applications network, will help ensure that customer requirements are rapidly translated into reliable processes, no matter location. “The fiber laser business is becoming increasingly competitive, so Coherent is pursuing this expansion to ensure that we deliver high-quality products while also reducing costs,” said Jarno Kangastupa, the newly appointed managing director of the Tampere site. “Specifically, having the entire production process at one location is designed to reduce cycle times and give us better control over quality and reliability. For the customer, the intended benefit is the ability to get high-performance, customized, and cost-effective fiber lasers on a shorter time frame.”