European Visual Communication Product Manager, Sony Europe Ltd – Image Sensing Solutions Department of SES Year and location founded: 1968, Weybridge, UK
What are three interesting things about you that people might not know? I have produced a short TV program for the French broadcaster Canal +. I’m a fan of Robots, from R2D2 through to the new AIBO from Sony, and I know the best restaurants in Paris (and have tested most!)
What are your top three favorite movies of all time? Apocalypse Now, Terminator, The Avengers
What are your top three favorite TV shows of all time? The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon
What are three of your favorite bands or musical acts? The individuals change, but Jazz has to be in there. Almost anything on the Motown record label, especially Michael Jackson. And then pop/house music.
What do you like to do in your free time? I like to travel and be near the sea, I especially love surfing. Of course, as a sports addict, I also spend a lot of time in front of my TV set watching many types of sports.
How did you get into your field of expertise?My passion for technology has driven me into this field. Marketing is a support function where time is merely a challenging parameter. Rather, the core activity is to educate, explain and facilitate new technology adoption. My expertise is in imaging products, which are also the main elements of factory development for Industry 4.0, which is another area of interest for me.
Why did you choose your profession? I thrive upon working in a team environment and love to work with new technologies. Imaging and/or video technologies are always in development, so I could not find a more exciting job. I especially enjoy my role as an evangelist of Sony technology.
What do you like about working in your field? The revolution of robots and the deployment of smart factory concepts (IoT) has meant that technology is truly changing the way we work. We are at the beginning of a new industrial phase, and imaging technologies are representing the centre of innovation and creation for our world.
What is your company’s core focus and mission? Sony’s brand image is strongly linked to innovation and new imaging technology centred in the consumer world.
Sony’s Image Sensing Solutions division seeks to establish, spread and amplify this message into the industrial world with new cameras and smart vision technologies.
What are you most excited about at your company right now and why? I see Sony and its capacity to both surprise and innovate in many segments. With people waiting for something from us, and expecting us to move the industry forward.
In what markets or applications do you see the most growth? Definitively in robotics. You have so many new products coming soon in the retail-, service- and industrial-robotics market. At the heart of these will be adapted vision systems. The second challenge is how to more smartly produce the foods and materials that humans need, and vision components will be a key part of this new way of manufacturing.
How have market changes affected product or service development at your company? These market changes are the engine of our product development. From digital to embedded vision, Sony design is considering any changes as an opportunity to create efficient solutions for our customers.
What is one particularly interesting way you’ve seen your product utilized recently?I’ve seen our cameras used in so many ways, from industrial automation to traffic management to deep-water oil pipe inspection; to research to quality control and security.
Just last week I received an email from the management staff of one manufacturing company who were able to use our new GS CMOS cameras to “immediately detect and analyze [types] of scratch/stress defects that could not be seen before.”
