How VA Manufacturing Turns Ideas into Products
VA Manufacturing develops practical industrial imaging products by combining customer feedback, market insight and engineering. From the first idea to product validation and manufacturing, the focus is on creating solutions that solve real application challenges and can be manufactured reliably at scale.
How VA Manufacturing Develops Machine Vision Products
A successful industrial product starts with a clear application requirement. VA Manufacturing’s product development process combines market research, engineering, prototyping, testing and production optimisation. The objective is to develop practical products that meet the required performance, remain straightforward to use and can be manufactured consistently.
VA Imaging has been developing its own products for several years. VA Manufacturing builds on this experience as a dedicated product development and manufacturing company. It develops its own products and product specifications and performs product validation and quality checks.
This approach allows application knowledge and customer feedback gathered through VA Imaging to contribute directly to the development of new VA Manufacturing products.
Check VA Manufacturing productsWhy VA Develops Its Own Products
Product development at VA often starts with something that is missing from the market.
Through daily contact with customers, VA Imaging sees applications where no suitable standard product is available, where an existing solution is unnecessarily expensive or where a product needs to be adapted for a specific industrial environment.
This was already visible in some of VA’s earliest developments. Suitable accessories such as waterproof camera enclosures could be relatively expensive compared with the cameras installed inside them. VA also identified a need for a practical C-mount to M12 lens adapter, particularly for applications where an M12 lens needed to be used with a C-mount camera.
The same pattern later appeared in lighting. VA Imaging was increasingly involved in applications with pallets and other large objects. Standard machine vision solutions are often designed for relatively small inspection areas, while illuminating much larger areas can quickly become expensive.
This market demand contributed to the development of VA’s own machine vision lighting products.
From Customer Feedback to a Development Project
Sometimes a customer approaches VA with a specific requirement and enough volume to justify a custom solution. In other cases, several customers independently request something similar. Repeated requests can indicate that the requirement is not limited to one application and may represent a wider market opportunity.
Before development begins, the team investigates what is already available, current market pricing, expected demand and whether a new product could provide a meaningful technical or commercial advantage.
A business case is then created. This includes the estimated development and production costs, expected selling price, required volume and the features that are essential to the application.
One principle remains important throughout the process: keep the product as simple as possible.
A simpler product can be easier to manufacture, install, operate and support while also helping to keep the final cost under control.
Defining the Product
Once a project is approved, the requirements are translated into a product specification.
Depending on the product, this can include dimensions, interfaces, mounting, electrical requirements, optical performance, environmental requirements and other functional characteristics.
Not every specification has to be a single fixed value. In some cases, the specification can define a preferred value together with an acceptable range. This gives the engineering team room to balance performance and production cost during development.
From Prototype to Production
The first prototype is primarily used to determine whether the technical concept works.
For a lighting product , for example, the first questions may be whether the required output and illuminated area can be achieved. At this stage, the prototype does not need to look like a finished commercial product.
If the principle works, development moves to a second prototype that is much closer to the intended final design.
This is where practical details become increasingly important. Mounting holes may need to be added. A filter replacement mechanism may need fewer screws. Connectors, cables, housings and assembly methods may need to be adjusted.
The product is also reviewed from a manufacturing perspective. A design that works as a prototype is not automatically easy to produce repeatedly.
From a Customer Requirement to a Commercial Lighting Product
A high-power coaxial input light provides a good example of how customer projects can contribute to later product development.
The original project involved a large telecentric lens. Standard coaxial input lights for this type of application typically provided only a few watts of power, while the customer application required substantially more output.
VA therefore developed a custom solution of approximately 150 watts.
The project provided practical experience with the optical, electrical, thermal and mechanical requirements associated with much higher-power illumination.
That experience was later used for another design intended to be significantly more affordable and suitable for broader commercial use. The commercial version, the industrial coaxial LED spot, operates at 24 volts and provides approximately 20 watts.
This illustrates an important part of VA Manufacturing’s development approach: a specialised customer requirement can provide knowledge that later contributes to a product for a wider group of users.
Customers with requirements outside the standard portfolio can also discuss custom machine vision lighting with VA.
Engineering Precision in Camera Development
Product development can also reveal requirements that are not obvious at the start of a project.
During VA’s own camera development, the team found how critical the distance between the image sensor and the C-mount interface can be.
A difference of approximately 0.1 mm can affect whether the complete range of compatible C-mount lenses can achieve focus.
Different board-level camera models can also have different sensor heights. As a result, each model may require a different spacer when installed in the same housing.
These tolerances become particularly important when VA Manufacturing supplies a configured camera system containing an industrial camera , enclosure and lens that need to work together.
Testing and Production Consistency
Testing continues throughout development and production.
For lighting products, VA Manufacturing uses dedicated measurement equipment to evaluate characteristics such as beam angle, illuminated area and optical output. These measurements are used both to validate prototypes and to establish reliable product specifications.
Every industrial light undergoes functional testing. Quality checks are documented using checklists to support consistent product validation.
Component variation must also be considered. In LED lighting, for example, differences in forward voltage and LED binning can affect consistency between product batches. Supplier specifications, component selection, inspection and testing are therefore considered during product validation and quality checks.
Quality and Regulatory Requirements
Development Timelines
Development time depends heavily on the type of project.
A relatively simple modification to an existing product, such as changing the LED wavelength configuration of an existing spotlight, may take approximately 6 to 12 weeks.
A development requiring a new shape, electronics or mechanical design may take approximately 3 to 4 months to reach the first prototype.
For a completely new product, the period from initial concept to volume production can be approximately six months, depending on complexity, testing, components, tooling and the number of development iterations required.
What Comes Next for VA Manufacturing
VA Manufacturing’s product portfolio continues to expand.
Recent developments include VA’s own UVC cameras and IP cameras . A strobe controller is also being developed as an additional product within the portfolio.
Lighting development will continue as well. One project on the roadmap is a more compact version of the existing bar light concept, designed to illuminate a similar area while using a smaller form factor. VA has also been experimenting with an IP69K version for applications requiring a higher level of environmental protection.
Large-area illumination remains an important area of expertise. VA has already developed backlights up to approximately 1.5 × 1.5 metres, reflecting the focus on applications that are difficult to address with standard machine vision lighting.
The longer-term objective is for VA Manufacturing to become increasingly recognised as a manufacturer while continuing to use the market knowledge and application experience built through VA Imaging.
Contact us!
Do you have a machine vision requirement that cannot be met by an existing product?
VA Manufacturing supports modifications to existing products, custom industrial lighting, camera and enclosure development, configured camera solutions, private-label products and new mechanical and electronic designs.
Contact VA Imaging to discuss whether a custom or configurable solution is possible.