Alan Morrell Published 10:56 a.m. ET March 11, 2017 | Updated 59 minutes ago

Optimax Systems(Photo: Provided by Optimax)

As a high-precision optical firm, Optimax Systems does a lot of work for the defense and semiconductor industries.

Some of the other work, well, thats where it gets pretty futuristic and sounds pretty amazing. Optimax is involved in still-in-development stuff like the newest Mars Rover and autonomous vehicles think of driverless trucks hauling freight down the Thruway.

Company CEO Rick Plympton discussed another project that would radically change laser-eye surgery.

Its like something out of Star Trek, he said. Its cool.

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The Ontario, Wayne County, company with humble roots has averaged 25 percent growth each year since it was founded in 1991, Plympton said. Optimax started with two people in a barn in Webster; now there are 300 or so employees in a three-building, 60,000-square-foot facility.

Optician Jesse Mottler inspects a high precision optical lens.(Photo: Provided by Optimax)

Optimax also has made the Democrat and Chronicle Top Workplaces list for four years running. Plympton talked about the companys unique corporate culture, tossing out phrases like personal accountability and empowerment and discussing a move away from top-down management systems.

Weve always run our company open-book, he said. Were working hard at handing off responsibility and authority throughout the organization. The sphere of influence here is huge ... We have a fundamental belief that people want to go to work and create value and be rewarded.

That includes monthly bonuses, or profit-sharing checks. Optimax has created a program to fund new spin-off companies for employees with entrepreneurial spirit. As for the attitude, consider the word mellow.

Tie dye is our corporate uniform, Plympton said. The business started with a lot of musicians who love the Grateful Dead, he added.

Mike Mandina(Photo: Provided by Optimax)

Former Eastman Kodak employees launched Optimax in 1991 with an idea of building high-precision custom optics and optical components via concurrent engineering or, as company president Mike Mandina has said, To build prototypes while developing systems.

That approach made Optimax faster to respond to customer needs. The approach took time to gain traction. Optimax at the beginning had no telephone and no accounting system because no money was changing hands.

Eventually, the company got a newly developed high-end grinding machine called an Opticam and things began to take off. Optimax moved, first to an old cabbage factory building in Ontario and then in 1996 to its current site in an industrial park on Dean Parkway.

Optimax diversified into areas like fiber-optic telecommunications, solid-state lighting, digital photography and diagnostic medicine. Through word of mouth, the company grew, Plympton said. Were make-to-print manufacturers. (Customers) come to us and say This is what we need, and we make them.

Top Workplaces 2016(Photo: FILE)

That has resulted in the companys ongoing growth and success. Plympton called the aerospace work one of the funnest markets and discussed Optimaxs involvement making optics for what NASA is calling the 2020 Rover, which is set to launch in 2020 and explore Mars.

Optimax is continuing to increase its workforce and utilizing its unique corporate culture to retain and encourage employees. Thats paid off with the Top Workplaces awards.

Thats reinforcement that were doing something right, Plympton said with a laugh, even if we dont know what it is.

Alan Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.

Rick Plympton(Photo: Provided by Optimax)

Founded: 1991.

Location: 6367 Dean Parkway, Ontario, Wayne County.

Executives: Rick Plympton, CEO; Mike Mandina, president.

Employees: 300.

Website:www.optimaxsi.com.

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Business spotlight: Optimax, high-tech firm started in Webster barn - Rochester Democrat and Chronicle