By Julie Bos / Contributing Editor
Sunday, January 29, 2023 12:30 AM
OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss.—Every company’s growth journey is unique, but for Superior Optical Lab in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, it’s an impressive story marked by Service-Disabled Veterans support, 400 percent revenue growth in the past five years, and a recent expansion effort that has quadrupled capacity through state-of-the-art automation. Today, Superior Optical Lab is on the forefront of the industry—fueled by focused leadership, a strong presence within the Veterans Administration (VA) and ECP communities, and the powerful, behind-the-scenes Schneider Modulo One technology.
By Sarah McGoldrick / Contributing Editor
Sunday, January 29, 2023 12:29 AM
WITCHITA, Kan.—When Mark Nordyke and Richard Huynth combined their experience and expertise to build a new wholesale optical lab in Wichita, Kansas, they believed they would hit a home run. Today, less than two years after opening their lab, Optical Resources Group services about 200 accounts nationally and is fast becoming one of the leading wholesalers in the Midwest. In the wholesale lab business, that’s certainly a homer.
By Julie Bos / Contributing Editor
Friday, January 27, 2023 8:30 AM
Every company’s growth journey is unique, but for Superior Optical Lab in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, it’s an impressive story marked by Service-Disabled Veterans support, 400 percent revenue growth in the past five years, and a recent expansion effort that has quadrupled capacity through state-of-the-art automation. Fortunately, two local financial partners saw great potential for the lab’s future—and had the right mindset and qualifications to make it happen. Today, Superior Optical Lab is on the forefront of the industry—fueled by focused leadership, a strong presence within the Veterans Administration (VA) and ECP communities, and the powerful, behind-the-scenes Schneider Modulo One technology.
By Jeff Hopkins / Contributing Editor
Tuesday, October 11, 2022 12:39 AM
Some of us can remember a time when video could only be seen on the living room TV, and viewing options were limited to whatever the local stations were showing. Now it’s everywhere, and anyone with a smartphone is a budding videographer. One of the benefits of this proliferation of video capabilities is that almost anyone with can share their message with the world—and they usually share it on YouTube.
By Julie Bos / Contributing Editor
Friday, October 7, 2022 8:30 AM
RLab, formerly Rochester Optical, has always believed in putting its best foot forward for its customers, its people and the planet. So, in June 2020, when the lab experienced a main water line break that flooded its 30,000 square foot facility and damaged millions in equipment and infrastructure, leaders already knew they were facing a complete rebuild. But they took it one step further—viewing the challenge as a tremendous opportunity to transform its entire operations, and ultimately, achieve an aggressive goal to reach a zero-carbon footprint.
By Julie Bos / Contributing Editor
Thursday, August 4, 2022 1:00 AM
In today’s optical labs, automation is making it possible to perform everyday tasks more precisely and efficiently than any human could ever hope to do. Yet while automation is important, it’s not everything. In fact, there’s a strong case to be made for why the human element should never be completely removed from a lab’s operations.
By Sarah McGoldrick / Contributing Editor
Thursday, August 4, 2022 12:59 AM
In an optical market that continues to be dominated by multinational corporations, many independent optical labs are finding a niche by focusing on customer service and custom lens designs. After nearly 20 years in the optical industry, this is where Dover Eye Lab founder and CEO Scott Rosenwald knew he could corner the market.
By Sarah McGoldrick / Contributing Editor
Saturday, April 23, 2022 1:30 AM
Microchips may be tiny, but they’ve having a huge impact worldwide, as every industry scrambles to deal with a global chip shortage. Already in short supply before COVID-19, the pandemic quickly pushed the shortage to new extremes, as everyone from car manufacturers to makers of optical lab equipment struggled to find alternative sources.
By Jeff Hopkins / Contributing Editor
Saturday, April 23, 2022 1:29 AM
The story is the same anywhere you look – favorite foods missing from the grocery store shelves, restaurants and shops shortening their hours, delays in getting prescriptions filled. It’s no surprise when you consider that according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in 2021 47.4 million people voluntarily left their jobs – a phenomenon known as “The Great Resignation.” The situation has affected nearly every type of business, including optical labs.
By Jeff Hopkins / Contributing Editor
Monday, August 2, 2021 1:45 AM
Private label brands, also known as house brands (or somewhat less kindly, generic products) are a common feature of grocery stores, providing shoppers with a lower-priced alternative to well-known and trusted brands. Often they are relegated to the lower shelves, with brand names occupying the coveted eye-level spots. Optical labs have sometimes referred to themselves as “grocery stores,” offering their customers a wide range of branded products to suit their preferences. As relationships with manufacturers evolved, some labs would give a particular name-brand prominence over others. Often labs would also offer a private label as a lower-priced, lower-shelf alternative. Today, some independent labs are flipping the script on brands, positioning their private-label in the foreground as their go-to product line, while offering established brands as alternatives. To understand this new phenomenon, we spoke to three independent lab execs whose labs are using this approach and having success with it.
By Sarah McGoldrick / Contributing Editor
Monday, August 2, 2021 1:44 AM
Despite a slump in optical retail sales caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a strong year for online optical sales. Total optical retail sales fell 17.4 percent from December 2019 to December 2020 and $36.05 billion in retail revenues during the same period, according to The Vision Council’s VisionWatch report for Q4 2020. Yet online sales of eyeglass frames topped 9 million pairs during the same period, a 22 percent increase over the previous year.
By Jeff Hopkins / Contributing Editor
Thursday, February 18, 2021 12:30 AM
The optical industry is often viewed as a family: it is relatively small, as industries go, and it often seems like everybody knows everyone else. But many optical businesses, including labs, are literally family affairs passed on from one generation to the next, creating a continuity of culture and customer relationships. To understand the attraction, advantages and the rewards of working in the family business,
VM spoke to four lab leaders who are following in their parents’ footsteps and creating new ones of their own.
By Jeff Hopkins / Contributing Editor
Thursday, February 18, 2021 12:29 AM
The first two decades of the 21st century have seen many new developments and large investments in lab automation. Automating functions increases efficiency, reduces turnaround time and points of failure in lens fabrication and finishing, and almost everyone who knows the lab business would agree that the changes are for the best.
By Jeff Hopkins, Contributing Editor
Tuesday, December 22, 2020 6:29 PM
With the optical lab landscape seemingly dominated by manufacturers’ networks and a few large independent labs, you could be forgiven for thinking that there is no room in the market for new players. Yet optical veterans continue to find fertile ground for the establishment of new small independent labs, and success is following.
By Andrew Karp / Group Editor, Lenses & Technology and Jeff Hopkins / Contributing Editor
Monday, November 2, 2020 12:30 AM
In the first days of the coronavirus pandemic, as states and municipalities began issuing shutdown orders, optical retailers and optometric practices across the country went into shock. With many offices closed and eyeglass shipments disrupted, the situation was chaotic.
“When everyone literally had the rug pulled out from under them, no previous systems you had in place were going to be helpful when you’re winging it,” recalled optician Ruth Domber, who co-owns 10/10 Optics, a popular optical boutique and optometric practice in New York City.