BEAUMONT, Texas—Essilor of America’s Omni Optical Lab in Beaumont, Texas, ceased operations on May 19. Seventeen people were employed at the lab.

Commenting on the decision to close Omni, an Essilor spokesperson told VMail, “Our focus is to continually improve our service and quality to better serve our customers and ultimately their patients. The decision was made because we believe that by optimizing our lab network we are in a better position to address the needs of our customers today and into the future. We are committed to making the transition to one of our other labs seamless and easy for our customers.”

According to the spokesperson, Essilor has offered jobs to Omni employees at the company’s other labs. “We do not take decisions that impact our employees lightly, and it's our first desire to keep our employees in the Essilor Lab Network,” she said.

“In this case, our facility is located in Beaumont, Texas and there are no nearby facilities in our network in that area. We have given all of the employees the option to transfer into a lab outside their geographical area, but we do not have final numbers on who is transferring at this time. We will help the remaining employees with their employment needs.”