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| Sunday, 16 June 2002 |
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Lankan innovation to service gem and jewellery industry Gemonics (Pvt) Ltd., a wholly Sri Lankan owned company in collaboration with Cambridge Gemonics (Pvt) Ltd., has developed a gem cutting solution which can transform the entire gem and jewellery industry, opening new boundaries hitherto not attempted. The cost efficiency productivity and volumes envisaged by the use of this technology and marketing of the technology to others in the industry will allow Gemonics to reach new heights in the local international markets. The manual processing of gemstones relies entirely on human skill and decision making. In the case of high value stones, the work is carried out by a skilled lapidarist who is responsible for the final quality of the finished stone. In the case of cheaper varieties of precious stones and semi-precious stones the process is broken up into different sections and each stage of the production process such as sorting, sawing, calibrating, faceting and polishing is carried out by different groups of workers. The traditional method of handcrafting jewellery is becoming obsolete, as the jewellery and watch industries are rapidly moving towards the age of technology and have traded in the traditional methods to mass scale CAD/CAM casting methods resulting in the demand for very high precision and consistent stones which the manual gem-cutting methods cannot satisfy. Lapidaries in Sri Lanka too are rapidly expanding their production of precision cut coloured gem stones in calibrated sizes in particular emeralds, rubies and sapphires to meet the increasing demand for this category of gemstones. The robotic gem cutting and polishing machine, developed and fabricated by Gemonics with technical inputs from Cambridge Gemonics, a research and development company, is a multi-spindle fully automatic machine, of which the technology and design are based on the CAD-CAM principles. The commercial grade machines in their present state of development are capable of faceting and polishing synthetic and natural gem stones to sizes of one millimetre and above for standard round brilliants with 57 facets. Having perfected this, Gemonics now intends moving on to other standard cuts such as ovals, squares, pears, trilliants and marquise. According to Dr. Vickum Senanayake, CEO of Gemonics (Pvt) Ltd., the company's immediate plans are to engage the service cutting of gemstones as a mechanism driven towards proving the technology to the industry. "We already have two companies in Germany supplying roughs for service cutting. The reports received from these two companies as regards the quality of stones cut and finished by Gemonics have been very encouraging. Today employing two machines, we are able to do the work of 25 top quality manual cutters", he said. He further stated that the long-term objective of the company after establishing a commercial benchmark for service cutting, is to manufacture the machines on a commercial basis to cater to the local and export markets. He is optimistic that this could be achieved soon, with the envisaged next round of funding and industry tie-up with a leading machine manufacturing company. Gemonics, set up three years ago under licence from Cambridge Gemonics, relocated to new premises recently. |
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