BUSINESS: Labs Kaiser Permanente Lab Manager Jeff Zeidner Retires, Capping a Five-Decade Career By Andrew Karp Wednesday, February 17, 2016 12:00 AM Jeff Zeidner (seated, center) celebrates his retirement with friends and colleague. Jeff Zeidner and “Cornelius,” oneof the Baxter robots he helped installat the Kaiser Permanente lab. PASADENA, Calif.—Kaiser Permanente announced that optical lab veteran Jeff Zeidner, who managed its Southern California lab, recently retired, capping a career that spanned five decades. Zeidner joined Kaiser Permanente in 2003, where he successfully led the transformation of an aging, traditional manufacturing plant to an automated, efficient, high tech leader in the optical lab industry. During his tenure, he increased production capacity by 50 percent with the same number of employees and the same facilities space constraints. He implemented Flexlink conveyers throughout the optical lab, brought in digital free-form surfacing lines, brought AR coating processing in-house, and implemented RFID technology for tray tracking. Among Kaiser Permanente staff, Zeidner is best known for introducing two Baxter robots into the lab, technology which is not specific to the optical industry. “Jeff led our transition from a deteriorating, traditional manufacturing lab to a leading, state of the art operation, and that is an example for other large optical labs,” remarked Susy Yu, OD, MBA, FAAO, director of business strategy and operations support for Kaiser Permanente. “He left a giant footprint in our optical lab, at Kaiser Permanente and in our hearts.” Zeidner started his career over 50 years ago as an assistant optical lab manager. He founded Triconic Optical Lab in Center Moriches, N.Y. While at Triconic, Zeidner was awarded two U.S. patents and developed the foundation for modern day optical lab management software. He was the first to link a computer system to a generator, increased efficiency, reduced breakage and improved overall turnaround time. akarp@jobson.com