Products & ideas for the laboratory professional.
Issue link: https://opticallabproducts.epubxp.com/i/472711
RUNDOWN NEWS 26 march 2015 opticallabproducts.com BIG U.S. PUSH FOR OPTOTECH OptoTech Optical Machinery, Inc. has opened a new ophthalmic headquarters in the U.S. in Germantown, WI. The 17,000-sq.-ft. opera- tion houses sales, service, and marketing personnel. In addition, it has a customer training facility with machine demonstration rooms for surfacing technology and a clean room environment for AR and hard- coating equipment. It also carries a full selection of surfacing and AR consumables as well as machines, parts, and accessories. OptoTech's other U.S. facility in Palm, PA, will continue to serve its precision optics customers. RODENSTOCK RETURNS TO THE U.S. AND CANADA Rodenstock GmbH, a German manufacturer of progressive lenses, will once again be available to North American ECPs this time through EGMA LLC, beginning in the next few months.EGMA Lens Factory LLC, a manufacturing partner in the Middle East and North Africa and a distributor for Rodenstock, has established a laboratory and distribution center in Dallas, TX. Headed by Poya Eghteraf, president and CEO of EGMA, the lab will manufacture a full range of Rodenstock proprietary free-form lenses as well as AR coat- ings and photochromics. Alan Yuster, who was previously vice president of lenses for Rodenstock USA in the '90s, is senior vice president of lenses. In addition, Rodenstock has handed over its Canadian business to Plastic Plus, Ltd., Canada's largest independent lens manufacturer. Plastic Plus is acting as its exclusive production and distribution partner and will serve the Canadian market through a central production lab in Toronto. ESSILOR'S IDD LAB AWARD WINNERS The Independent Distributor Division of Essilor of America, Inc. has named the 2014 annual laboratory award winners. Essilor Transitions ® Award of Excellence - Superior Optical Lab Essilor Xperio UV ™ Award of Excellence - Luzerne Optical Laboratories, Ltd. Crizal ® Award of Excellence - Diversifed Ophthalmics, Inc. Varilux ® Award of Excellence - I-See Optical Lab, Inc. X-Cel Outstanding Achievement Award - Icarelabs Essilor IDD Managed Care Lab of the Year - VSPOne Optical Technology Centers Essilor IDD Lab of the Year - Walman Optical BIFOCAL LENS PATENT RECEIVED Michael Walach, president of Quest Optical Specialty Lab in Largo, FL, has received a patent on a new free-form Easy Top ™ lens that he expects will signifcantly enhance the bifocal lens market. On January 13, 2015 the U.S. Patent offce issued a new patent number 8,931,898, on a: "non-progressive corridor bifocal lens with substantially tangent boundary of near and distal visual felds." Walach says: "this is the only bifocal free-form lens that can be fully individually optimized." A NEW DIGITAL LAB IN SOUTH CAROLINA Robertson Optical Laboratories has opened a new digital surfacing lab in Columbia, SC. Since 2009, it has been processing free-form lenses at its other digital lab in Loganville, GA. Now with two digital labs, Robertson can pro- cess in-house free-form PALs from Carl Zeiss Vision, Inc., Signet Armorlite Kodak, Seiko Optical Products of America, Inc., and Shamir Insight, Inc., in addition to its own house-brand, Cozé. Technician Joey Byrne applies laser engravings to free-form lenses at Robertson Optical's new digital lab in Columbia, SC.