Like all labs that have taken the plunge into digital surfacing, Expert Optics has found the process challenging. “I’ve yet to see a plug and play system,” said lab president Greg Ruden, who admits that the lab has experienced a considerable amount of lens breakages while learning the intricacies of digital technology. “It isn’t something that runs by itself,” noted Ruden. “Every day you’ve got to make sure everything is calibrated. If you’re not paying attention, 40 jobs can get ruined.”

Expert Optics’ new Satisloh OBM lab, featuring a “no touch” production line.

The Expert Optics management team has learned a lot since deciding to install Satisloh generators and polishers in October, 2007. After three months of testing, the lab started processing Shamir Autograph free-form lenses.

“One of our biggest concerns was making sure we were integrated with DVI,” said Ruden, referring to Digital Vision Inc., a leading supplier of LMS software and systems. “For every lens manufacturer’s back surface progressive, you have to have a black box [computer] with the lens coordinates, or points file. If you’re not integrated with your LMS, you have to physically program coordinates for each job.”

Ruden said one of the immediate benefits of digital surfacing was being able to streamline the surfacing room staff. “We went from a six- or seven-person surfacing room down to one and a half or two people,” he noted.

Expert Optics' lab manager Bob Pommier shows off a new Satisloh sputter coating machine in the company's speed lab.

Another benefit has been an improved workflow. “The system tells the lens pickers what department the job is going to. It’s also helped a lot with our lens inventory. Instead of having a $40 progressive on the shelf, you have a pair of three dollar lenses. I don’t stock 75 adds or ever 3.50 adds. I was always ordering those lens blanks. Now we can make them ourselves.”

Ruden said that digital surfacing not only allows Expert Optics to produce lenses with 10 times better optics than traditional surfacing, but to do it much faster as well.

“The turnaround we’ve been able to provide clients is having a huge impact,” he said. “Now, we run the jobs through so quickly. If a doctor sends in an order late Friday afternoon and calls Monday morning to cancel it, we’ve already processed the job.”

Expert Optics’ investment in digital is paying off more quickly than Ruden anticipated. “Initially, I thought we’d have a five- to seven-year payback, but now it looks more like it’s going to be three to five years.

Ruden noted that installing digital surfacing may require an expansion of the lab, which adds considerably to the cost. “We had to build out our surface room for our new speed lab, which was a half million dollar investment,” he said.

Ruden is especially proud of the speed lab, which began operating last month. Featuring Satisloh’s proprietary OBM (On-Block Manufacturing) technology, it is the first no-touch production line in the US. “I thank [lab manager] Bob Pommier for staying on the bleeding edge of technology,” he said. ■ ■