By Staff
Wednesday, November 4, 2020 12:15 AM
NEW YORK—Service has always been a key differentiator for optical labs. In fact, a customer’s loyalty often depends on the quality of service a lab can provide. What defines good service in today’s highly competitive optical industry? What do eyecare professionals want from their labs, and how are labs responding? Vision Monday’s October cover story,
At Your Service: How Successful Rx Labs Exceed Customer Needs and Expectations, takes an in-depth look at the complex, symbiotic relationship between ECPs and labs and what good service looks like in 2020.
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.
By Andrew Karp
Wednesday, October 28, 2020 12:00 AM
Partnership is one of the most overused words in business communications these days. It seems like nearly every new vendor-customer relationship, distribution deal or joint sales promotion is touted as a “partnership.”
By Staff
Monday, October 26, 2020 12:29 AM
Surveys for the Modern Labs 2020 Report were conducted by Jobson Research from July 14 to July 27, 2020. Email invitations were sent to in-house databases of eyecare professionals (ECPs) and optical laboratories. A total of 452 ECPs responded, as did 37 labs. An incentive was offered to each survey respondent.
By Staff
Monday, October 26, 2020 12:28 AM
Kaiser Permanente does not do business with independent eyecare professionals. The California-based, non-profit health care giant operates a closed network for its members, and its optical lab works only with Kaiser Permanente’s Vision Essentials clinics. Despite these dissimilarities with the wholesale lab business model, there are aspects of Kaiser’s lab business that are somewhat the same.
By Staff
Monday, October 26, 2020 12:27 AM
Essilor of America operates the largest wholesale laboratory network in the U.S. The network, which consists of about 100 labs, was built through the acquisition of independent labs and through organic growth.
By Staff
Monday, October 26, 2020 12:26 AM
As lens processing, the main function of prescription labs, grows more sophisticated, labs rely increasingly on their technology partners for support, guidance and the new machinery, systems and software that lets them provide the top-notch service to remain competitive.
By Staff
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 12:15 AM
GREENSBORO, N.C.—
Independent Optical Lab (IOL), an advanced automated freeform lab located here, announced the promotion of optical lab veteran Mike Lake to national sales director. “IOL has quickly gained a following in the mid-Atlantic region since our March 2020 launch,” said Ben Collier, the company’s founder and CEO. “Mike has been instrumental in the lab’s early success. We started the company with a mission to show the independent eyecare community that ‘independent is the new local’ and Mike is the perfect person to help the lab realize this mission across the U.S.”
By Staff
Monday, October 21, 2019 12:00 AM
Vision Monday and LabTalk hosted the Modern Lab event, an hour-long session on Thursday that explored how smart investments enable optical labs to adapt and grow. Editors Andrew Karp and Brian Dunleavy presented the results of an exclusive research survey that probed investment trends among labs.
By Andrew Karp and Brian Dunleavy
Monday, September 16, 2019 12:30 AM
NEW YORK—The optical lab business, at its most elemental, has always been a numbers game.
Running a lab, though, is a complex undertaking that involves more than simply dollars and cents. It also about the number of prescription jobs per day it can produce, and the percentage of those jobs that are rejected because they don’t meet quality control standards. It’s about maintaining a job average that’s calculated based upon production yields and the average price per job. It’s about the cost of capital equipment, consumables, overhead, labor and dozens of other budget line items.
By Staff
Tuesday, September 10, 2019 10:00 AM
VM’s Andrew Karp and
LabTalk’s Brian Dunleavy will co-host The Modern Lab, a special, live event that complements their Modern Lab Report in the September issue of
Vision Monday. In this
video, Karp and Dunleavy describe their program, which will feature exclusive research findings and a panel of lab experts who will discuss the strategic investments optical lab owners and operators are making in technology and personnel. Join them for this one-time-only event, which will take place at the Sands Convention Center in Las Vegas on September 19, 2019. To register, go to
www.visionmonday.com/modernlab.