Products & ideas for the laboratory professional.
Issue link: https://opticallabproducts.epubxp.com/i/92532
Q&As; WITH THE COTRANS LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012 Carl Zeiss Vision congratulates US Optical, on being named Lab Innovator of the Year. us. So we have 70%-80% AR. Same turnaround, 24 hours on uncuts with AR. JG What is free-form as a percentage of progressive addition lenses (PALs)? Continued success to Ralph, Ronald, Robert and the entire company. RALPH As a percentage of the whole business, it's about 35% to 40%, but as a percentage of PALs it's 60% to 70%. JG That's a good business model: PALs, free-form, and AR. RON Yes. That's what we were telling you at the beginning—we specialize in the high-end. "Our turnaround is still the fastest in the country," —Brian Whitford, customer service supervisor. you can do that other people can't. For example, we do a digital slab-off. RON That was invented by Jay Sagor, our lab manager. RALPH These are like side products that come out of the technology. He can do it in one day where it used to take a week. JG What is your percentage of finished and uncut? RON Our finish keeps growing. Right now it's about 40% plus, and uncuts is still around 60%, but definitely the finished work is growing. JG How about AR? RON Because we have AR in-house, people have a tendency to order from totallyoptical.com RALPH A lot of high-end stores in the United States like to use us for four reasons: free-form technology, quality, speed, and the brands that we have. They like brand names. JG Do you do any in-house marketing for your customers in support of your private label? RALPH Oh, we have done some. If somebody needs a private label lens, we can create one and give them the flyers, but we're not going to pay for the marketing. JG Will you use the lens manu- facturers' marketing programs? RALPH Yes. JG You promote your 24-hour turnaround. Have you ever missed a deadline? RALPH Here's how it works. Order by 1pm eastern time, let us know you need the uncut job tomorrow, and we will give it to you tomorrow. If it doesn't make it out through quality control, we'll call you by 9pm and let you know. If it gets rejected, we'll call and leave a message. november 2012 A11