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Mike Tamerius, CEO of Precision Optical Group headquartered in Creston, Iowa, has seen a dramatic increase in his lab’s Rx safety eyewear business over the last five to seven years. Driving this growth is the company’s CRX Safety Optical Laboratories, POG’s business unit that has a sales force devoted 100 percent to industrial safety. “Another competitive advantage is that we take care of the entire administrative end of the safety eyewear dispensing process,” said Tamerius.

CRX’s customers include large and mid-sized companies, with single or multiple locations nationwide. “Every customer, every deal is different and we have to be flexible to meet each customer’s needs,” said Tamerius. He pointed out that in addition to providing quality products, competitive pricing and fast turnaround, safety managers at these big companies expect smooth transactions covering the back office tasks like billing and record-keeping to minimize work on their end.

“Large companies with 5,000+ employees are trending more toward the use of online portals and on-site kiosks, and we are utilizing these tools as well,” noted Tamerius. “The more automated we can make the process, the better it works.” Employees can check frame options online and order their eyewear using on-site kiosks. “This is a nice selling point when you go into a safety director’s office and talk about how we can minimize employee downtime with these tools,” said Tamerius.

How can independent ECPs tie in with this business opportunity? The best approach, said Tamerius, is to develop a partnership with a lab that has the automated systems and network to service the safety marketplace. “We try to work with our ECP customers, exchanging customer leads and finding ways to build some margin into the business for them with upgrades and add-ons like POG’s new Fog-Free coating,” said Tamerius. About 50 percent to 70 percent of the lab’s safety business is now using its anti-fog coatings and he expects this to increase to 90 percent.