Sinclair Optical Services began in humble surroundings in 1984, working from a small barn at founder Arnold Sinclair’s home. What started as a glazing workshop fulfilling 30 orders a day for independent opticians is now, some 6.1 million lenses later, a full-service lens laboratory that supplies independent opticians across the UK.
Initially lending a hand during his spare time to help the company get off the ground, site manager Dave Pitt went on to become one of the company’s first employees.
The past 32 years have seen major developments both in the industry and within Sinclair Optical, and Pitt recalls the early stages of the company’s trading when key components were put in place that helped to set it on the road to where it finds itself today.
‘We have faced many challenges over the years, particularly in the beginning, but we’ve always strived to stay one step ahead of the competition,’ he says.
‘Frames started becoming more of a fashion accessory rather than just a means to hold lenses on the head during the mid-1980s. We saw this as an opportunity and set about recruiting frame representatives to further meet our customer’s needs.’
Within 18 months the lab had six frame reps travelling all over the country and orders rocketed from 30 to 300 a day.
In 1987, a van delivery service was launched and became a real turning point for the company. ‘We were one of the first in the region to introduce a van delivery service and respond to the industry’s need for a door-to-door service,’ says Pitt.
‘Opticians really liked the personal touch this added, as they still do today. It also meant our customer could be more competitive and pass on a quicker service to their customers.’
The following year, 1988, proved to be a significant one for the company. It began manufacturing its own uncut lenses to keep up with competitors and started producing up to 500 lenses a day to opticians and smaller labs. It had also outgrown the barn location and moved to its current premises in Corse Industrial Estate, Corse, Gloucestershire to accommodate growth.
‘Launching unfinished lenses was a real turning point for the lab which quickly out grew its premises and expanded to accommodate a surfacing and glazing department. The workforce doubled to 20 to meet growing demand,’ says Pitt.
By the end of the 1980s, the company was producing its own label frame and lens packages. This was innovative at the time and proved a big success among the optical industry, says Pitt. Frames were manufactured in-house which allowed for more competitive pricing. But after 10 fruitful years, this began to slow down as frame manufacturers became more competitive.
‘The frame and lens package concept was very popular at first but then all of a sudden we weren’t the only company offering these combination packages. Some of the larger frame companies made their frames more accessible to labs for package offers and it became harder to compete,’ says Pitt.
‘This left us exposed to being lumbered with a high volume of old stock, which proved a huge risk for us as a business. The optical industry is always changing and we had to move with the times to survive or risk being killed off by the frame manufacturers. We made the decision to cut the VFM range and this was quite a low point for the company.’
In the early 1990s, the lab expanded once again to incorporate a coating plant in Ross on Wye and introduced its own branded coating, Ultimar.
‘At the time, we were one of two labs offering lens coating so we were in a unique position,’ says Pitt. ‘As coatings advanced we kept up to date with the latest offerings including easy clean and were a top spec coating facility, well known and trusted throughout the industry, with smaller labs sending work to us.’
Once again, industry evolution meant the coating plant closed in 2015, due to bigger lens suppliers introducing cheaper coating and Sinclair losing sales.
The key to survival
Pitt was promoted from head of logistics and customer services to site manager in March 2016. One of the first things he introduced was flexi time. ‘Over the years, we’ve always put our customers first and tried to adapt to their needs. Speed is crucial now and we’ve most recently introduced flexi time among staff to meet the needs of the business to ensure deliveries are met,’ he says.
‘Staff can also now move in and around the lab to offer further flexibility. The lab can turn around uncoated RX orders in two days and opens at the weekend to ensure a Friday order can be fulfilled for Monday.’
Today, Sinclair Optical prides itself as being a ‘one stop shop’ for lenses. Its seven-person strong customer service team, with an average service time of 10 years, help customers in every way they can, so client retention is high. Pitt says the lab has become the back-end of the practice for customers so they can focus on the front-end and have more time for eye exams.
Helping to streamline the business
Long standing customer and director of Benjamin’s Opticians, Liz Ellis, talks about how working with Sinclair Optical Services has helped the family-run Skipton based company keep patients happy.
A youngster being fitted by Liz Ellis
‘At Benjamin’s, we have always strived to offer the best service to our patients and keep up with the latest technology since setting up in 1962.
‘Sinclair Optical Services has helped us achieve this and that’s why we’ve continued to work with them for the past 30 years.
‘We’ve always had our own workshop to fulfil glazing jobs but a huge surge in business three years ago left us unable to keep up with demand.
‘It was at that point we made a decision to outsource more work to Sinclair’s lab using remote edging tracer technology. Since then we’ve become much busier and they now do 99% of our glazing jobs for us because we simply do not have the manpower.
‘Working with Sinclair has alleviated much of the stress and pressure for us in a small lab. It gives us a wonderful service and allows us to concentrate on other aspects within our day to day business. We find the team extremely efficient and the lab is essentially an extension of us. They help our back office function so we can concentrate on helping more patients and offering an efficient service.
‘Clearly the customers don’t see this “behind the scenes” side of our business, but overall using Sinclair has helped streamline our business, leading to an improved experience for our patients.
‘We’ve always found Sinclair Optical Services to offer an exceptional support and the customer service team really do go the extra mile to help. There’s always a familiar voice at the end of the phone if we want to check on an order or have any questions and that’s why we’ve happily worked with them over the years.’