Kowloon, Hong Kong — In another historic meeting of West meets East, Industrial Laser Solutions (ILS) and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University formed a new entity, the Association for the Promotion of Industrial Laser Applications. The event—coincided with a seminar series conducted by ILS Publisher/Editor-In-Chief David Belforte, which kicked-off May 31 at the University and was followed by similar seminars at universities in Wuhan and Beijing—was marked by the co-signing of the agreement by Belforte and Professor W.B. Lee, chair professor of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and director of the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Centre at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
This Association has as its charter the melding of ILS editorial with the educational activities of the University to provide technology information and processes to companies supplying products to the industrial laser markets in Asia and to the end users of this technology. The goal: to assist in the enhancement of their ability to compete in the rapidly expanding global market for industrial laser technology.
The reputation of ILS as a premier supplier of industrial laser material processing information became clear, as this approval was mentioned by many of the participants in the seminars and management of a number of private companies visited during the seminar period. —DAB
David Belforte | Contributing Editor
David Belforte (1932-2023) was an internationally recognized authority on industrial laser materials processing and had been actively involved in this technology for more than 50 years. His consulting business, Belforte Associates, served clients interested in advanced manufacturing applications. David held degrees in Chemistry and Production Technology from Northeastern University (Boston, MA). As a researcher, he conducted basic studies in material synthesis for high-temperature applications and held increasingly important positions with companies involved with high-technology materials processing. He co-founded a company that introduced several firsts in advanced welding technology and equipment. David's career in lasers started with the commercialization of the first industrial solid-state laser and a compact CO2 laser for sheet-metal cutting. For several years, he led the development of very high power CO2 lasers for welding and surface treating applications. In addition to consulting, David was the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Industrial Laser Solutions magazine (1986-2022) and contributed to other laser publications, including Laser Focus World. He retired from Laser Focus World in late June 2022.