Streng, pictured above on the far left, along with, (l to r) Winston-Salem, N.C. Mayor Allen Joines; Dan Kelly of IFB Solutions; and Guido Grobet, of Luxexcel.
EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands—Luxexcel, the Dutch tech company that is pioneering the use of 3D printing in ophthalmic lens manufacturing, is expanding its reach.

The company, based here, announced last week that it will install its Luxexcel VisionPlatform at Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab in Largo, Fla. in January. Quest will be the second lab to install the Luxexcel lens making system, following the installation at IFB Solutions in Winston-Salem, N.C. in September, which was a first for the optical industry.

“Our first operational VisionPlatform installation was unveiled on Nov. 13 in North Carolina, USA,” said Guido Groet, chief commercial officer of Luxexcel. “We are excited to make this next step with Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab. With Quest we have found a partner that will maximize the benefits of our Luxexcel VisionPlatform by printing custom Rx lenses for non-mainstream applications. Quest will help make our 3D printing technology available to a broader range of labs and end-customers.”

Michael Walach, president and founder of Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab, remarked, “Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab, is known as the lab in the industry for specialty lenses. The flexibility the Luxexcel VisionPlatform offers, empowers us to provide completely customized ophthalmic specialty lenses made to the measure.

“The Luxexcel equipment can simply address patient needs for vocational, lifestyle or special prescription requirements which cannot be produced with existing production technologies like corrective lenses for meridional aniseikonia, channel prisms, prism segs, quatrofocals and many other special vocational and corrective Rx lenses with unusual or extreme requirements This absolutely unique 3D printing technology empowers our lens designers to create totally new and sui generis solutions. In short, we are thrilled to announce our position as early adopters to this new technology,” Walach said.

The Luxexcel VisionPlatform is a turnkey system consisting of industrial grade optical 3D-printers, lens-design software and workflow integration tools. This turnkey technology solution enables an ophthalmic lab to manufacture unique ophthalmic lenses by means of additive manufacturing.

Although Luxexcel is currently focused on producing specialty lenses, the company is eyeing a much broader market. “We’re starting with making low volume, high value products in order to optimize our technology and maximize the added value of 3D printing,” Luxexcel’s CEO, Hans Streng, told VMail. “We’re going to build the business with the right partnerships. But we want to offer unique products not possible with legacy technology. We’ll be focusing on smart eyewear and customization.”