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LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012 HISTORY Optogenics even though he did not actively work in it until his brothers brought him back east. He has an undergraduate degree in economics and an MBA in finance and marketing from Syracuse University. For years he had a job in Los Angeles working in the international insurance brokerage business running an international division on the west coast. He joined Optogenics in 1998. The three Cotrans worked for Essilor until 2007. Then, they attended Satisloh of America's SLUGfest where they saw free-form in action and decided it was time to set up their own free-form lab. They bought a building, gutted it, and renovated it. Together, they opened US Optical LLC, one of the first free-form labs in the country, in East Syracuse, NY, on March 3, 2008. On day one, they had one free-form line, one edger, four employees, and they did four jobs. They thought they would eventually produce 500 eyeglasses a day. From March 1, 2008 to 2009 their business grew by 150%; from 2009 to 2010, by 50%; from 2010 to 2011, by 40%; and from 2011 to 2012, by 25%. Now they do about 1,500 pairs a day and have over a thousand customers. "We were one of the first labs to launch free-form and because we offered a turnaround in 24 hours, there was a lot of interest," Robert said. "We did a lot of marketing and we tried to accumulate as many diverse products as possible to give eyecare professionals (ECPs) choices." FAST TURNAROUND US Optical offers a 24-hour turnaround on uncuts and three to five days on complete edged jobs. The uncut order needs to come in by 1pm EST to be back the next day. "A lot of high-end stores in the United States like to use us for four reasons: our free-form technology, quality, speed, and for the brand names that we have," Ralph said. The ratio of uncut to finished work is 60% to 40% and the finish work is growing. They have a lot of experience A6 november 2012 US Optical's new 7,500 sq. ft extension will open around Thanksgiving this year. The new Crizal Center will be in operation by March 2013. with Carl Zeiss Vision Inc.'s anti- reflective (AR) coatings with four Zeiss machines. About 80% of the orders request AR. The lab is being expanded this Thanksgiving from 12,000 sq. ft. to 19,500 sq. ft. at a cost of $2.5 million. Demand led to the expansion and with it, US Optical is adding another free-form line from Satisloh North America, another MEI System edger, more surfacing lines, and more Crizal® AR coatings. A new Crizal Center will be operational by March 2013. "This time around we're working with really high-end products, free-form, and AR," Ron said. "The equipment here is different from our other lab and we also know the business a lot better after 20 years." DIFFERENT ROLES The three brothers work together doing different things. Ralph does all the mar- keting and sales. Robert is in charge of customer service and accounting. Ron is responsible for IT and lab manufac- turing in addition to AR. "High-end glasses are where our growth is," Ron said. This includes frames with AR coating and Transi- tions® free-form lenses. The lab also does a lot of polarized and specialty wraps. It offers five brands of propri- etary lenses too. "We have one of the largest supermarkets of free-form in the country," Ron said. "We have all brands and every lens in stock." Every product has a barcode in order to track it. About 99% of their custom- ers are ECPs with 1% coming from other labs. ECPs can check their accounts on the lab's Web site at USOptical.com. Orders come in by mail, phone, fax, and online. About 35% of orders come through the Web site and that portion of the business is growing. The brothers say their turnaround is still the fastest in the country. "We get the jobs out," Robert said. "That's our business model and it's embedded in our employees. We have the technology and procedural systems in place to do it. It's not an argument anymore that we're the fastest lab in America." STEADY STAFF As the fourth-largest, independently owned, wholesale optical laboratory in Carol Gilhawley is Editor-in-Chief of OLP. totallyoptical.com the United States, US Optical has a staff of 86, some of whom have worked with the Cotrans for at least 15 years, others for longer. Five people in the customer service department answer the phones full-time and aim to always pick up a call within three rings. The lines to the toll-free number 800-4GLASSES operate from 9am to 7pm. US Optical often recruits staff through people already working at the lab. They also get staff from the Catholic Chari- ties' Refugee Program which is a joint initiative between the Catholic Church and the City of Syracuse. US Optical is still very much a family business. Their mother, Lola, aged 82, still comes into the lab to help out. Ron is the only one of the brothers who is married with children. His wife Rola works three days a week in the marketing department. In addition to working at least 12 hours a day and weekends the three brothers only live a few miles away from the lab and from each other.