&\#163;2.5m lab refit for lens company

The Northfleet premises has been redesigned to provide a laboratory area of 28,000sq ft, with an adjacent 16,000sq ft building acquired to house its frame and lens stocks. In the new laboratory automated systems control lens surfacing, lens edging and final lens checking. Practitioners can use electronic tracers to order lenses to be returned cut to shape and edged. Business customers using Rodenstock's 'SpeedMaster' electronic ordering system can, the company claims, send fully validated orders via the internet direct to production, and a tracking system will show the progress of each order. 'The optical market is polarising rapidly,' said Rodenstock UK's managing director Chris Hunt. 'We want to progressively distance ourselves from the low cost 'make-it-yesterday' sector of the surfaced lens market. 'The modern consumer is becoming more discerning and has more disposable income,' he said. 'This creates added value sales opportunities for sophisticated spectacle products but it also requiring a more knowledgeable and technically competent practitioner. Our new laboratory is a clear statement of our intent and where we see our future.'