Galaxy Optical is best known within the UK optics scene for its long standing association with Tesco Opticians. With the relationship now coming to an end, Galaxy is making a striking introductory offer to independent practices, enabling them to benefit from its state-of-the-art lab facility.
‘For 20 years Galaxy Optical have been the end-to-end supplier to Tesco Opticians for their infrastructure, shop fits, systems, training and frames selection right through to the manufacturing and supply of the finished product,’ says Sergio Weingarten, international operations director at Galaxy Optical. ‘This was a highly successful relationship and along the way we won several awards for innovation and customer care.’
Galaxy has been based out of headquarters in Altrincham and it is there that the company carries out lens glazing.
‘All our glazing is done there and we have developed a sophisticated, IT enabled, lean manufacturing system with extremely high quality control standards,’ says Weingarten. ‘We have a number of MEI machines and we kept hearing from our independent customers that they can’t get the service and the quality; that there’s no one really out there championing their best interests. We feel that we are uniquely positioned with our service and our infrastructure to support this sector of the market.’
The lab has the capacity to process up to 7,000 glazing jobs per day (no lens generation is carried out on site) and it underwent a significant revamp five years ago that reduced return rates and improved overall quality.
‘When someone is checking 100 products per day they can get inspection fatigue and make a mistake,’ says Weingarten. ‘Our in-house patent protected system actually prompts the inspector with some real time questions that are answered via a touch screen while the job is in front of them. The process involves 14 questions pertaining to frame and lens. Examples of questions include “is it a single vision or bifocal?” and the system will check against the original prescription, “is it a Dunlop frame?”, “is it a Kangol frame?”. This is very cost effective because it has reduced the return rate and the system even uses the mistakes flagged up to identify future training for the team.
‘Our staff say there is really nowhere to hide because with this system you have to stay on your toes for every single job. The information is all on the system as to who picked it from warehouse, who glazed it, who fitted it, who checked it, who dispatched it and where it has been dispatched to. We call the system SPIV which stands for Scannable People Interactive Visual.’
At the same time that this operations system was introduced, Galaxy also invested heavily in equipment with five MEI TBA machines added to the lab. Weingarten (pictured) feels these produce high quality jobs and also help reduce returns.
‘We really upgraded the lab to the point where it is state of the art and optical professionals have been blown away by how sophisticated our system is. The lens market is a very competitive space and, as an independent company, you are competing against the big boys. We are very proud of our lab because it ensures the quality is right first time. Our return rate is less than 0.5% which is off the scale.’
Galaxy is currently offering indepen-dent practices two glazing orders completely free of charge.
‘We are confident in our service and the quality of the jobs so we are happy to do this. We understand there are a lot of longstanding relationships between practices and labs, and therefore we are offering them the chance to test the water and see what we can do.’
Galaxy has also launched a new all-in-one frame and glazing ordering portal, allowing customers to order lenses and eyewear in one place.
‘We are offering all-in-one frame and glazing; the complete package. This reduces stock inventories for independents. We offer cross country delivery via DX completely free. The ordering portal is intuitive and incredibly user friendly. It takes just five steps to purchase, saves account details and it is intelligent as well – it will recommend when you can use stock or alterntively if a job needs surfaced because of very high parameters. We also have a technical team of dispensing opticians to help customers with any questions. They are on hand to advise seven days a week via a helpline.’
The frame brands available on the portal are from Galaxy’s global frame supply business and include Dunlop, Kangol, Lipsy and Pink Ribbon.
Galaxy invested in five MEI TBA machines to improve quality and lower return rates machines
‘We have a wide range of frames on the portals that we hold exclusive optical licences for but we can do any frame sent to us by the practice and also re-glazes. We can be very flexible in the service we provide.’
One of the key things independents can expect from Galaxy is straightforward pricing.
‘We pride ourselves on clear and simple pricing,’ says Weingarten. ‘So there are no unexpected charges and the price offered is the price paid. We are transparent, the pricing structure which you see applies throughout the customer journey.
‘Our mantra is the same price for glazing, irrespective of the frame type and size so we don’t charge more for supra or rimless. There is no additional cost for larger diameters or prisms either, just top quality jobs at a competitive price.’