Perry C. West is founder and president of Automated Vision Systems, Inc., a leading consulting firm in the field of machine vision. His machine vision experience spans more than 30 years and includes system design and development, software development of both general purpose and application specific software packages, optical engineering for both lighting and imaging, camera and interface design, education and training, manufacturing management, engineering management, and marketing studies. He earned his BSEE at the University of California at Berkeley, and is a past President of the Machine Vision Association of SME Among his awards are the MVA/SME Chairman’s Award for 1990, and the 2003 Automated Imaging Association’s annual Achievement Award.