Nikon sets up Euro lens base in Buckinghamshire

The &\#163;3m laboratory, in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, will take in finished and semi-finished ophthalmic lenses from Japan. The new UK unit will then polish the lenses and apply tints and anti-reflection coatings. A sales group will market the products to Europe. The new facility, which will be fully operational in the autumn, completes a global strategy for the Japanese company involving three production units in North America, Japan and Europe and is the first venture the company has embarked on in the UK to serve the growing European ophthalmic lenses market. The Milton Keynes site was acquired from government agency Commission for the New Towns (CNT) which has attracted around 60 Japanese companies to the town. Rob Timpson, CNT's director of operations, said: 'We have been negotiating for several years to bring Nikon to Milton Keynes, so we're delighted that the Nikon Corporation has picked this site for its new operation.' CNT worked with a local investment agency, International Milton Keynes, to secure the deal, which will bring 30 new jobs. Nikon lenses will be distributed in the UK up until the end of this month by Young Optical (optician, News, December 12 1997).