About OPTEX FA

Making Automation Accessible

We are a global manufacturer that develops, produces, and sells FA sensors, LED lighting, non-contact thermometers, and other products that play essential roles in factory automation. While the rapid evolution of automation technology in recent years has reduced the need for worker and manual effort, it has also proven difficult to implement, resulting in longer task times for customers.

“Making automation accessible.”
That is our purpose here at OPTEX FA.

Using Sensing Value in the Process, a technology that connects, measures, and detects at the field level of manufacturing sites, we work closely with customers to address their individual challenges and deliver simpler, more intuitive automation solutions.

Helping connect, measure, and detect at the production site (field level)

Diagram showing how OPTEX FA products map to manufacturing levels from business planning to sensing and manipulation

Our Strength

Proprietary Technology That Connects, Measures, and Detects

  • Connect

    IIoT

    Design, startup, operation, and maintenance of equipment and machinery take a great deal of labor and often lead to downtime. We minimize design and startup time and boost uptime for customers through IO-Link communication.

    Features of OPTEX FA
    For the IO-Link Master UR Series, OPTEX FA has developed a proprietary communication core using an FPGA to achieve 16 channels, the best in the industry. The UR Series is also the first in the industry that can mix connections between sink (NPN) and source (PNP) devices for superior connectivity.
    Field Prime, a network technology made possible by connecting the UR Series to devices, can also extend the distance between devices up to 100 meters. We will continue to increase the number of participating manufacturers to broaden the possibilities of IIoT.
    Controller enabling high-speed and stable IIoT communication

  • Measure

    Displacement Sensors

    Laser displacement sensors support micron-level quality and high-precision control at manufacturing sites around the world. The key component at the core of this sensing technology is the light receiver element. OPTEX FA develops its own receiver elements for laser displacement sensors to achieve high-accuracy, high-speed, and stable measurement without contact.

    Features of OPTEX FA
    A prime example is the proprietary ultra-high-sensitivity image sensor ATMOS (Auto Tuning cMOS). Using an algorithm that is unique in the industry, ATMOS delivers reliable and stable measurement by eliminating temporary failures and delayed responses even for difficult-to-detect objects, such as metals and dark surfaces. Its high sensitivity to received light also allows for ultra-high-speed shuttering and low laser output (Laser Class 1), helping provide high value-added products while ensuring worker safety.
    ATOMS (Auto Tuning CMOS) laser displacement sensor for high-precision measurement

  • Measure

    Thermometers

    Non-contact thermometers are essential instruments for product quality control and equipment temperature control, particularly in heat treatment processes across a range of industries. The challenge in achieving accurate temperature measurement with non-contact thermometers is in minimizing the effects of ambient temperature changes and reducing measurement drift.

    Features of OPTEX FA
    OPTEX FA has adopted a dual metal structure and split substrate design for the TI-S Series sensor head. This minimizes heat influence from both external and internal sources. The TI-S Series is also the first in the industry to feature a ring laser pointer (patent pending). During measurement, this ring-shaped laser indicates the position and size of the field of view, making it immediately clear where the measurement is being taken to enable accurate positioning. By making temperature visible in this way, we are working to create innovative technology so that temperature measurements can be performed by anyone.
    Non-contact thermometer with ring laser pointer for accurate and stable temperature measurement

  • Detect

    LED Lighting and Controllers

    LED lighting is a key component of image processing that determines the success or failure of image inspection. As a sensor manufacturer, OPTEX FA has been working to develop and promote sensing lighting equipped with its proprietary FALUX Sensing technology, which focuses on automatic brightness control.

    Features of OPTEX FA
    Combining sensing lighting that measures its own brightness and temperature with a controller that monitors and provides feedback on those measurements achieves long-term stability, brightness visualization, and predictive maintenance for LED lighting. The OPPX Series lighting controller goes further, featuring FALUX Sensing+ advanced sensing technology. Identifying individual lighting units and tracking their total illumination time delivers higher-value-added image inspection solutions and promotes the adoption of IIoT at manufacturing sites.
    Sensing LED lighting with self-monitoring and feedback control for automatic brightness control

These technologies are utilized in FASTUS brand products.
FASTUS is a product brand of OPTEX FA.

Manufacturing at OPTEX FA

Development That Stays One Step Ahead

SICK OPTEX, a joint venture between OPTEX FA and the German company SICK AG, plays an integral role in the development division. Established in 1989 through a strong partnership between these two companies, SICK OPTEX now develops high-quality displacement and photoelectric sensors for the global market. SICK OPTEX also works alongside OPTEX FA’s development division, which develops high-value-added IIoT products, sensing LED lighting, and thermometers, to develop products that are always a step ahead of the curve to meet and exceed customer expectations.

Diagram of the partnership between SICK and OPTEX FA for joint development and global market expansion

Our technical partnership spanning more than 37 years with SICK AG—the world’s largest industrial sensor manufacturer—combines both companies’ strengths to develop high-quality products that meet global standards, which we now deploy worldwide.

Manufacturing Capacity for a Stable Supply of High-Quality Products

In order to ship over 2 million units worldwide each year, OPTEX FA maintains a flexible production system across multiple manufacturing plants, including its own domestic factories, a group factory in China, and contracted factories in Japan. The production engineering and quality control divisions work closely with individual manufacturing plants to boost productivity and support rigorous quality control. We will supply high-quality, high value-added products to production sites around the world.

OPTEX FA Production Management

Diagram showing a production management system with centralized engineering and multiple manufacturing sites

An in-house factory (Minami Ward, Kyoto) in charge of new product launches

Solutions That Satisfy Customers

We offer optimal solutions to satisfy customers. It is our goal to work together with our customers to take the first step that will move their businesses forward while offering return on investment. To achieve this, staff from our marketing and development sections, working across departmental boundaries, visit customer sites, in addition to sales representatives, to help propose optimal solutions and make automation more accessible.

  • Rubber Industry

    IoT Across the Factory to Manage Diverse Products

    A customer had been using OPTEX FA non-contact thermometers for quality control in the rubber kneading and molding processes. As their products grew more diverse, the customer expressed a need to adopt IoT across the factory to manage the complexity.

    OPTEX FA proposed IO-Link communication based around the IO-Link Master UR Series for field-level communication with sensors, actuators, and other devices. In addition to non-contact thermometers, displacement sensors used to measure object thickness and control equipment position were standardized with IO-Link-compatible products, which allowed for visualization of temperature, distance, and other data across the factory.

    Achievements

    Factory-wide data visualization reduced time spent on changeovers and boosted productivity, resulting in significant cost savings.

  • Automotive Industry

    Complete Temperature Inspection of Glossy Metals Impossible with Standard Non-Contact Thermometers

    For automotive parts, improper heat treatment during the manufacturing process can reduce strength and potentially lead to recalls.

    A customer that manufactures forged automotive parts needed to monitor the temperature of parts prior to quenching. However, measuring glossy metals is difficult with general-purpose radiation thermometers, and the customer had been struggling to find a solution.

    OPTEX FA offers a product range that goes beyond general-purpose models, including specialized non-contact thermometers for specific materials and temperatures, so we were able to propose a non-contact thermometer designed specifically for high-temperature metal measurement. Performing in-line temperature inspection on all objects eliminated hardness defect caused by incomplete quenching. The customer highly appreciated our swift, company-wide response.

    Achievements

    Eliminated defective products caused by insufficient object strength and prevented recalls.

Who We Are

The Heart of the OPTEX Group

The OPTEX Group holds the top global market share in each of its three businesses of security sensors, automatic door sensors, and LED lighting for image inspection. OPTEX FA serves as the heart of the Group’s industrial automation (IA) business.

  • Annual Production Volume

    2million units

    A production system that stably supplies large quantities of products to the world

    * Average number of units manufactured over the past five years from 2025

  • Partnership with SICK AG

    37years

    Technical partnership with SICK AG―the world's largest industrial sensor manufacturer

    * As of April 2026

  • R&D Personnel

    55

    A powerful R&D system that enables original product development

    * As of January 2026

  • Sales Offices

    136locations

    Providing products and services worldwide as the OPTEX Group

    * Company-owned locations, Major distributors. As of 2026

The Combined Power of the OPTEX Group

The OPTEX Group helps make the world safer, more comfortable, and more efficient by providing comprehensive sensing technology focused on people, objects, and spaces.

Pie chart showing the OPTEX Group’s business composition and revenue breakdown

Global Sales Network

OPTEX FA products can be found worldwide thanks to our global sales network spanning over 60 countries, including OPTEX FA subsidiaries in China and the US.

Our Vision

We love the automation industry.

Our desire to proactively resolve the challenges in automation faced by our customers is what lies at the heart of our message, “We love the automation industry.”
Our sensing and digital technology makes automation accessible so that anyone can make their vision real.
This is possible thanks to our optimal solutions and products that stay a step ahead of customer expectations.

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