us optical, llcthe lab opened. robert cotran oversees construction of us optical before its launch...

L A B I N N O V A T O R O F 2 0 1 2

US OPTICAL, LLC

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november 2012 A3totallyoptical.com

Repeat Performance

FOR THREE well-educated

individuals, graduates from Syracuse

University (Go Big Orange!), and all

with business successes outside of the

optical industry, the Cotran brothers,

Ralph, Ronald, and Robert, seemed to

show poor business judgment when

they bought an almost failed business,

Onondaga Optical, in 1986. The

equipment at the lab in East Syracuse,

NY, was outdated and not well

maintained and the core business was

down to 80 jobs a day.

They changed the name to Optogen-

ics and subsequently built one of the

larger, more successful, uncut busi-

nesses competing with the best that

New York and Florida had to offer.

By the time the Cotran brothers sold

Optogenics to Essilor of America, Inc.

in 1999, the lab was shipping over

1,500 jobs a day. Not bad for an

economist and a couple of engineers.

They stayed on at Optogenics

(working for Essilor) until 2007 when

they decided to re-enter the optical

industry as owners once again. The

Cotran brothers opened US Optical,

LLC on March 3, 2008 and this time it

only took them four years to grow an

entirely different business model to

1,500 jobs a day.

The ophthalmic wholesale laboratory

business is contracting, and yet the

brothers have bucked the trend. They

have validated the classic entrepreneur-

ial enterprise model by taking risks and

using good ideas with excellent

execution to build a successful

business. Ralph, Ronald, and Robert

are even expanding the lab by another

7,500 sq. ft. because demand is so high

for their products. And they are adding

a fourth free-form line and opening a

new Crizal® Center in March 2013.

Rather than copy their previous uncut

model, they studied the industry and

opened a highly automated, multi-axis,

free-form laboratory featuring MEI

System multi-axis machinery for

finishing, plus in-house anti-reflective

(AR) treatments. Now “old” edging and

surfacing technology is only used for

special jobs with CNC (Computer

Numeric Control) equipment for even

spheres, cylinders, and regular shapes.

The Cotrans maintained an aggres-

sive direct mail plan they had previously

used but also added dedicated marketing

representatives in targeted geographical

areas. They have turned their dedication

to value pricing, high quality, and being

the “Fastest Lab in America™” with

24-hour turnaround on all free-form—

even with AR!

Doing it all over again can be a good

business model and more than enough

to justify our recognition of US Optical

as Lab Innovator of 2012.

Jim Grootegoed is Professional Editor

of Optical Lab Products.

INTRODUCTION LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012

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A4 november 2012 totallyoptical.com

A Brotherly Bond

BY CAROL GILHAWLEY

The three Cotran brothers have been in business together for the past 26 years. US Optical is their second lab and demand for free-form is so high that they’re extending their premises in upstate New York.

THE COTRAN brothers

have had interesting careers.

Born to a United Nations

diplomat father and an Italian

mother, they spent their

childhood overseas in countries

like Italy, Switzerland, Greece,

Somalia, Laos, Japan, and the

Middle East. As a result, they

are multilingual. Ralph is the

oldest, Ronald is two years

younger, and Robert is three

years younger than Ron.

Two of the brothers, Ron, an

industrial engineer and vice president,

and Robert, president, who has a civil

engineering degree with an MBA,

began in the laboratory business in 1986.

Prior to buying a lab, Robert had been

working for Caesar’s World in interna-

tional marketing and Ron had been with

Carrier Air Conditioning internationally.

They bought a nearly bankrupt lab,

Onondaga Optical, in 1986. They saw

the lab on Tuesday and bought it on

Thursday. “Our dad wanted us to have

our own family business,” Ron said.

“Unfortunately he died of lung cancer

six months after we bought it.”

CHANGED THE NAMEOnondaga was doing about 80

prescriptions a day. “All their

equipment was broken and we bought

it knowing nothing of the optical

industry,” Ron said. They changed the

name to Optogenics, after a racehorse.

Robert enjoys horse racing and over

the years has owned several horses.

In 1999, when Optogenics was doing

about 1,500 jobs a day, they sold

the lab to Essilor of America,

Inc. “They offered us a good

opportunity and I would say that

the timing was right,” said Ralph.

“We saw Essilor as the best partner

because we didn’t have the Varilux®

brand. And Varilux was king. So, it got

us into Varilux and into some new

technologies they were developing.”

Even though Essilor bought

Optogenics, the Cotrans still ran the lab.

They were totally autonomous for eight

years and reported directly to Essilor’s

CEO. “We were the only lab that

reported to the CEO. They kept us

separate because of the way we were

doing things and our own unique

business model. They were testing some

special projects at our lab, so they wanted

us to be separate,” Ralph explained.

US OPTICAL WAS BORNRalph always owned a piece of

Clockwise from top: Ralph Cotran with their mother Lola Cotran before the lab opened. Robert Cotran oversees construction of US Optical before its launch in March 2008. Ron Cotran stands in front of their first free-form line. The lab is now adding its fourth free-form line. Robert, Ron, and Ralph Cotran after the floor had been put in US Optical, their new lab, in 2008.

LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012 HISTORY

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Optogenics even though he did not

actively work in it until his brothers

brought him back east. He has an

undergraduate degree in economics and

an MBA in finance and marketing from

Syracuse University. For years he had a

job in Los Angeles working in the

international insurance brokerage

business running an international

division on the west coast. He joined

Optogenics in 1998. The three Cotrans

worked for Essilor until 2007. Then,

they attended Satisloh of America’s

SLUGfest where they saw free-form in

action and decided it was time to set up

their own free-form lab.

They bought a building, gutted it,

and renovated it. Together, they opened

US Optical LLC, one of the first

free-form labs in the country, in East

Syracuse, NY, on March 3, 2008. On

day one, they had one free-form line,

one edger, four employees, and they

did four jobs. They thought they would

eventually produce 500 eyeglasses a

day. From March 1, 2008 to 2009 their

business grew by 150%; from 2009 to

2010, by 50%; from 2010 to 2011, by

40%; and from 2011 to 2012, by 25%.

Now they do about 1,500 pairs a day

and have over a thousand customers.

“We were one of the first labs to

launch free-form and because we offered

a turnaround in 24 hours, there was a lot

of interest,” Robert said. “We did a lot of

marketing and we tried to accumulate as

many diverse products as possible to give

eyecare professionals (ECPs) choices.”

FAST TURNAROUNDUS Optical offers a 24-hour turnaround

on uncuts and three to five days on

complete edged jobs. The uncut order

needs to come in by 1pm EST to be

back the next day. “A lot of high-end

stores in the United States like to use us

for four reasons: our free-form

technology, quality, speed, and for the

brand names that we have,” Ralph said.

The ratio of uncut to finished work is

60% to 40% and the finish work is

growing. They have a lot of experience

with Carl Zeiss Vision Inc.’s anti-

reflective (AR) coatings with four Zeiss

machines. About 80% of the orders

request AR. The lab is being expanded

this Thanksgiving from 12,000 sq. ft. to

19,500 sq. ft. at a cost of $2.5 million.

Demand led to the expansion and with

it, US Optical is adding another

free-form line from Satisloh North

America, another MEI System edger,

more surfacing lines, and more Crizal®

AR coatings. A new Crizal Center will

be operational by March 2013.

“This time around we’re working

with really high-end products,

free-form, and AR,” Ron said. “The

equipment here is different from our

other lab and we also know the

business a lot better after 20 years.”

DIFFERENT ROLESThe three brothers work together doing

different things. Ralph does all the mar-

keting and sales. Robert is in charge of

customer service and accounting. Ron

is responsible for IT and lab manufac-

turing in addition to AR.

“High-end glasses are where our

growth is,” Ron said. This includes

frames with AR coating and Transi-

tions® free-form lenses. The lab also

does a lot of polarized and specialty

wraps. It offers five brands of propri-

etary lenses too. “We have one of the

largest supermarkets of free-form in the

country,” Ron said. “We have all

brands and every lens in stock.”

Every product has a barcode in order

to track it. About 99% of their custom-

ers are ECPs with 1% coming from other

labs. ECPs can check their accounts on

the lab’s Web site at USOptical.com.

Orders come in by mail, phone, fax, and

online. About 35% of orders come

through the Web site and that portion of

the business is growing. The brothers

say their turnaround is still the fastest in

the country. “We get the jobs out,”

Robert said. “That’s our business model

and it’s embedded in our employees.

We have the technology and procedural

systems in place to do it. It’s not an

argument anymore that we’re the fastest

lab in America.”

STEADY STAFFAs the fourth-largest, independently

owned, wholesale optical laboratory in

the United States, US Optical has a

staff of 86, some of whom have worked

with the Cotrans for at least 15 years,

others for longer. Five people in the

customer service department answer the

phones full-time and aim to always pick

up a call within three rings. The lines to

the toll-free number 800-4GLASSES

operate from 9am to 7pm.

US Optical often recruits staff through

people already working at the lab. They

also get staff from the Catholic Chari-

ties’ Refugee Program which is a joint

initiative between the Catholic Church

and the City of Syracuse.

US Optical is still very much a

family business. Their mother, Lola,

aged 82, still comes into the lab to help

out. Ron is the only one of the brothers

who is married with children. His wife

Rola works three days a week in the

marketing department. In addition to

working at least 12 hours a day and

weekends the three brothers only live a

few miles away from the lab and from

each other.

Carol Gilhawley is Editor-in-Chief

of OLP.

US Optical’s new 7,500 sq. ft extension will open around Thanksgiving this

year. The new Crizal Center will be in operation by

March 2013.

LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012 HISTORY

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on being namedLab Innovator of 2012

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We wish continued success to Ralph, Robert & Ron

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A Fast, Family-Run, Free-Form Lab US Optical is the second lab owned and run by the three Cotran brothers: Ralph, Ronald, and Robert. Since its founding four-and-a-half years ago, it has focused on high-end free-form products, speed, and quality. OLP’s professional editor, Jim Grootegoed, spoke to the three brothers about their business model.

JIM GROOTEGOED Please give us a quick summary of your backgrounds before starting in the lab business.

RON COTRAN I’m an industrial

engineer by training. I graduated from

Syracuse University then worked for

Carrier International. I had my own

business exporting engineering

equipment before we bought Onondaga

Optical in 1986. It was near bankruptcy

doing only about 80 jobs a day. All the

equipment was broken. We bought it

anyway because we didn’t know any

better. We knew nothing about the

optical industry. We changed the name

to Optogenics and developed a

high-value/low-cost uncut business and

built it up to an average of 1,500 jobs a

day. We sold it in 1999 to Essilor of

America, Inc. but continued to work at

the business until 2007. We left and in

2008 opened US Optical. Today we’re

back up to 1,500 jobs a day, except that

this time we’re doing it with really high-

end products: free-form, anti-reflective

(AR) coatings, and finished jobs.

JG Ron, what is your present job?

RON I run manufacturing and IT, but

basically we’re all kind of interchange-

able. We can pretty much step into each

other’s jobs here. But we don’t have to

because we’re always around here

anyway!

JG Robert, what’s your back-ground?

ROBERT COTRAN I’m a civil

engineer and I have an MBA in

marketing and finance. I graduated

from Syracuse University and worked

in international marketing for Caesar’s

World. Caesar’s World is the corporate

umbrella that owns Caesar’s Palace and

MGM Grand and all those other hotels.

Our dad was looking for a business that

was doing badly for all the wrong

reasons. We heard about an optical

company that was going to close. We

saw Onondaga Optical on Tuesday and

Ron and I bought it on a Thursday in

1986. We named it Optogenics after a

racehorse! I’m responsible for finance

and customer service and I can run the

lab as well.

JG What about you, Ralph?

RALPH COTRAN I have an under-

graduate degree in economics and an

MBA in finance and marketing from

Syracuse University. I was in the

international insurance brokerage

business until 1998. I ran the interna-

tional division of some of the largest

insurance brokers on the west coast.

And, though not present, I always

owned a third of Optogenics. In 1998,

Ron and Robert convinced me to move

back to East Syracuse and join the

company. Once we sold it, I stayed on

at Optogenics working for Essilor for

eight additional years.

JG I’m guessing that when you started US Optical you had pretty different business objectives?

RON Well, Optogenics took 20 years

to make it what it was.

JG What did you do differently?

ROBERT Well, for one thing, we now

specialize in high-end products, high-

index lenses, free-form, AR, finish

work. The equipment was different four

years ago, so today there are more

automation possibilities. And we also

know the business a lot better after 20

years. We get the jobs out. That’s our

business model and it’s embedded in

our employees. We have the technol-

ogy and procedural systems in place to

do it. It’s not an argument anymore that

we’re the fastest lab in America.

JG What you’ve done is taken

the new technology and experi-ence and wrapped it around your new business plan.

RALPH That is correct. And we’ve

also changed the way we get new

business. In the old lab, we really didn’t

have a sales force. We only had one

salesperson in Florida. With US

Optical, we hit the ground running. We

said we’re going to do what we do best.

We did direct response marketing,

along with having competent opticians

and experienced salespeople in key

states who fit well with what we

produce. We offer high-end free-form

with overnight service.

RON Difficult-to-edge frames…

RALPH Difficult jobs, wrap technol-

ogy—so we try and match it up with

large population areas where they have

the same needs and where we can

fulfill those needs.

JG So does that mean you’re going primarily urban?

RALPH We’re targeting states that

have a large population where we

believe we can grow our business. I’ll

give you an example. Arizona is not a

strong state for us because it’s primarily

VSP Optics Group. Every time I open

an account in Arizona, the first two

questions are: “Do you have Varilux®

and do you have VSP?” and I say, no

and no, and that pretty much ends the

conversation. Sometimes, however,

they are open to our branded free-form

products and 24 hour turnaround as an

alternative if Varilux is the only

“The Cotran brothers have huge hearts and are generous with their expertise,” —Jay Sagor,

lab manager.

LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012 Q&As WITH THE COTRANS

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concern. VSP is a tougher nut to crack

at this juncture. So that’s how we look

at our business. Take California, it’s a

big state for us. Even though it’s VSP,

there’s still a huge non-VSP population

in a very healthy market.

JG You guys seem to be doing it all.

ROBERT We do seven things that we

think make us different.

RALPH 1. We do speed—24 hours

on uncuts, three to five working days

on complete jobs. 2. We’re an

independent, family-owned business,

so we really care about the independent

eyecare professional (ECP). We like to

cater to the small mom-and-pop

operations, even in the large urban

areas, because they’re like us. They’re

independent and we care. 3. We’ve got

more choices than anybody else on

free-form. We’ve just signed a HOYA

VISION CARE, North America

contract and their free-form lenses are

now available. Essilor is going to give

us their DEFINITY™ progressive lenses

to process here as well as their digital

non-Varilux design.

We also just signed a Crizal®

contract with Essilor. Our goal is to

become like Macy’s—to give the ECP,

and ultimately the consumer, choices,

and that’s what I think we’ve tried to

achieve, and that’s another one of the

benefits. 4. We’re easy to work with.

You have a problem, we can take care

of it. 5. We’ve got the best edgers in

the world and we specialize in difficult

shapes, drill mounts, wraps, and

sunglass frames. 6. We have net

competitive—but fair—pricing. It’s

important that it’s a win-win for both

parties. We don’t inflate our pricing

and then tell you we’re going to give

you a 40% discount. We don’t do that

because our pricing is already fair. And

then we believe that, coupled with all

the other benefits, our products have a

value over any other lab because of the

way we can get stuff to you quickly.

Speed is imperative nowadays,

especially in tourist areas. 7. And lastly,

we’re going to always be at the

cutting-edge of new technologies. For

example, we were the first to launch

PixelOptics Inc.’s electronic eyeglasses.

JG Unfortunately, now on hold. Our industry needs exciting new technology like Pixel’s.

satisloh.com | 800.866.5640

To US Optical for being named “Lab Innovator of 2012.”

congratulations.

“We try to provide exceptional customer service with speedy and accurate informa-tion,” —Patty Magyar,

customer service phone

room manager.

Q&As WITH THE COTRANS LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012

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know, it’s very

complicated to

produce these

lenses. It’s not

turn-key.

RALPH I definitely

believe electronics

are here to stay. So

we’re always

involved in cutting

edge, you know,

Vantage™ from

Transitions Optical

Inc., Safilo USA’s

Carrera’s X-cede,

Sun Rx Program,

PhotoFusion by

Carl Zeiss Vision, Inc., so ECPs will

also benefit because we’re always

looking for the next new thing. These

are the seven ways we really try to

differentiate ourselves and incorporate

them into our marketing.

RON And we’re spending a lot of

money now on an addition to our

building as well as new equipment. By

January 2013, everything should be

installed and running. We’re getting an

additional free-form line. We’ve just

bought another edger. We’re getting a

whole Crizal center.

JG What is your geographic reach?

RALPH Primarily east coast, west

coast, and southeast.

JG And how many salesfolks do you have?

RALPH Eight. We’ve got upstate New

York, New York City metropolitan

area, northeast New England, North

and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia,

and California.

JG That leaves our whole great Midwest.

RALPH We haven’t started there yet.

JG Do you do business-to-busi-ness work with other labs?

RALPH Yes, we are very lab friendly.

Some labs use us because we’re faster

than their own processing systems.

And a lot of labs use us because they

don’t have the technology that we

have. Once you start using this

high-tech equipment, there are things

Congratulations!To US Optical for being named “Lab Innovator 2012”

RON The next generation is coming

out soon. Pixel has refined their labs so

that they can produce the glasses. You


Nina Pollic, Otto Calabria, and Jody Evans, Quality Control and Finishing Department Experts.

OLP.NOV2012_AF.indd 10 11/21/12 11:25 AM


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

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)?

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.

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.

Carl Zeiss Vision congratulates US Optical, on being named Lab Innovator of the Year.

Continued success to Ralph, Ronald, Robert and the entire company.

CZV_LabInnovator2012.indd 1 10/18/12 2:31 PM

CongratulationsU.S. Optical

Lab Innovator of 2012

www.LookToPSI.com

Wishing you continued successfrom our team to yours!

“Our turnaround is still the fastest in the country,” —Brian

Whitford, customer

service supervisor.


OLP.NOV2012_AF.indd 11 11/21/12 11:25 AM


RON Even if we have to run it three

times, it’s going to make it.

JG Well, it’s probably more of an inventory issue than any-thing else.

RON But if it’s free-form, it’s less

of an inventory problem as we just

stock the semi-finished single vision

lens blanks.

RALPH That’s another thing about

our inventory. We try to stay very,

very deep in inventory because of

the business model.

JG Is there anything else about your business model that you’d like to mention?

ROBERT The most important thing

about our business model is that we are

here for our customers. We exist for them.

JG Tell me about your employees.

RON Well, we’ve only been in

business for four years, but the majority

of our employees have worked for us

for at least 15 years, some since 1986.

We currently have 86 staff in total.

JG Former employees heard about you and applied?

RON Yes. They came to us over the

years. And, they’re all extremely

experienced and knowledgeable. Our

customer service people are absolutely

the best—conscientious and experienced.

JG Are there any marketing materials you use, like direct mail?

RON We do a bunch of direct mail.

Also, our Web site is usoptical.com.

Simply click on “Lab Tour” to learn

about us. Your readers have probably

seen all this before but they might be

interested in seeing our lab.

JG For AR, do you have anything other than Zeiss?

RON We will have a new Crizal Center

in operation by March 2013. And,

we’re adding 7,500 sq. ft. to the back

of our building.

JG And that would be primarily for the Crizal coating?

RON It’s not only coating because we

also ordered another free-form line.

JG So you have three free-form lines now?

RON And we’ll soon have four.

We’re trying to not run any jobs on

the conventional line because of the

superior quality from the free-form

lines. Unfortunately, because of volume

variations you can’t always do that. So

we’ll run some single vision on the

regular line. We do have an advantage

in that all our equipment is relatively

new; we don’t have older technology

that we have to use.

JG Who are you going with for your new free-form line?

RON Satisloh.

JG I would think from a mainte-nance standpoint that you would tend to go with one supplier.

RON That certainly makes sense but

I think there’s going to be a second

generation of free-form products coming

out that’s going to be even better.

JG How can it get any better?

RON It’ll be easier to make and more

accurate. You’ll have better materials.

We’re at 1.74 now, right? You know,

there may be a 2.0 index on the way.

JG Anything else you guys want

SEIKO Optical Congratulates US Optical

on winning Lab Innovator 2012

CREATING THE BEST VISIONSEIKO Optical Products of America, Inc.


CONGRATULATIONS TO US OPTICALON BEING NAMED LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012

CONTINUED SUCCESS FROMYOUR FRIENDS AT ULTRA OPTICS

Ultra_LabInnovator2012.indd 1 10/23/12 11:57 AM

OLP.NOV2012_AF.indd 12 11/21/12 11:25 AM


to say?

RON Yes. We have five proprietary

products which are US Optical-de-

signed free-form lenses. The Ultimate

HD which will compete with the best

out there and is available in a PAL,

single vision, and a D25. Then we also

have an even more advanced free-form,

the Advanced HD, which is pretty

advanced too with a larger reading area

than the Ultimate HD. We have a Wrap

HD PAL design and two single vision

products. So those are the five

bread-and-butter free-form products

that we have that are proprietary in

addition to all the brands.

JG Anything else you promote?

RALPH Yes. We have Shamir Insight,

Inc.’s Autograph II Office™. Then, of

course, we do HOYA’s Hoyalux Tact.

We also have the Access, the Gradal

RD, and the Business from Zeiss. The

occupational lenses are a wonderful

technology but only a small part of our

business.

JG I know. It should be larger.

RON Right. You know what’s a really

big part of our business? The wraps—

Oakley, Inc., Rudy Project, North

America, and others.

RALPH As far as ECPs go we try to

do seminars in conjunction with the

manufacturers to inform them of the

new products that come in. For

example, all over the country now

we’re doing Transitions® Vantage™

seminars. We’ve done them in upstate

New York and Massachusetts. We’re

doing them in North and South

Carolina and California. So we try to

join forces with the suppliers to

promote new technology. We’ve also

done some joint seminars with Shamir.

Wherever there’s new technologies and

great products that the American

consumer can benefit from, we try and

bring it to the ECPs in conjunction with

the manufacturers.

JG Will you do mail promotions on that too?

RALPH Yes, we do a ton of mail

promotions. We’re into technology.

That’s what we sell—technology and

speed. We’re the “Fastest Lab in

America™!”

for being recognized as Lab Innovator of 2012!

Kodak and the Kodak trade dress are trademarks of Kodak, used under license by Signet Armorlite, Inc. ©2012 Signet Armorlite, Inc.

“Everything has a barcode to track it,” —Indira Halilovic, inventory

manager.


OLP.NOV2012_AF.indd 13 11/21/12 11:25 AM


New Equipment All the Way

BY CAROL GILHAWLEY

US Optical will soon run four lines of free-form. The Cotrans bought all new equipment when they opened the lab’s doors four-and-a-half years ago. Now, with the lab’s nearly completed extension, they are adding new machines to include more Crizal AR coating, a new edger, and more surfacing lines.

SINCE US OPTICAL is

only four years old, all its equipment is

brand new. In Optogenics, the old lab

that they previously owned and

subsequently sold to Essilor of

America, Inc., the Cotran brothers

specialized and pushed mostly uncuts.

With US Optical they’ve taken the

position that the optical industry is

moving toward more edging and

free-form lines. The first and second

lines they bought were from Satisloh.

The third line was from Schneider

Optical Machines Inc., and the fourth

line they will install in December is

also from Satisloh.

“We wanted machines from both

companies so that we could have

experience with both, but I think they

pretty much all do the same thing,” said

Ron. “Some of the jobs we can’t run on

Schneider and some of the jobs you

can’t run on Satisloh and some of the

jobs you can’t run on either—you have

to run it on a conventional machine,

such as the very high plus powers and

small B measurements.”

Now, US Optical has two Bisphera-

XDD MEI automatic edgers which,

according to Ron, “are the most

expensive, finest edgers in the world.

Because, interestingly, once you get an

MEI, you don’t want another edger.

You don’t want a different type of edger

complete jobs on behalf of labs and so

they are investing in quality and

technology.

Ron, Ralph, and Robert were always

up on technology. They went to one of

Satisloh North America’s SLUGfests

where they saw this new digital

technology called free-form and

decided to open their own free-form

lab. Soon, they will operate four

because you get spoiled.”

The lab’s staff is highly trained in the

most complicated, drill mount edging

processes. US Optical sent Ron

LaCross, an MEI edger specialist in the

Finishing Department, and two other

finishing department specialists to the

MEI School in Chicago to learn how to

operate and calibrate the two MEI edgers.

They received certifications. “We needed

a second MEI machine because we had so

much work,” LaCross said. The second

MEI edger came in July 2012.

US Optical has invested in free-form

technology. The lab is being expanded

this Thanksgiving from 12,000 sq. ft. to

19,500 sq. ft. at a cost of $2.5 million.

Demand led to the expansion and with

it, US Optical is adding a fourth

free-form line, more surfacing lines,

and more anti-reflective (AR) coating.

A new Crizal® Center will be opera-

tional by March 2013.

“This time around we’re working

Ron LaCross, MEI edger specialist in the Finishing

Department, stands in front of one of US Optical’s

two MEI Edgers.

LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012 TECHNOLOGY

OLP.NOV2012_AF.indd 14 11/21/12 11:25 AM

with really high-end products,

coatings,” Ron said. “The equipment

here is different from our other lab and

we also know the business a lot better

after 20 years.”

When they owned Optogenics,

free-form lenses didn’t exist. “So even

if it’s not a free-form lens, the

free-form equipment will make the lens

a lot more accurate just to begin with,

in controlling thicknesses, edging

thicknesses, powers, everything is just

more accurate,” said Ron. He runs the

lab and programs all the software used

by US Optical.

Finish work is not new to the Cotrans

but the modern machinery makes it

much easier. For example, they use the

A&R Optical Machinery Inc. automat-

ed inspection and blocking system for

their finish work. Their lab manage-

Who Supports More LMS’s Than Any Other Provider?

1-800-708-1736

Congratulations to US Optical, Fastest Lab in America™

[email protected]

CCAD5 (shadow).indd 1 10/25/12 10:46 AM


ment software is run by CC Systems.

They use everybody’s free-form

software. They began with Seiko

Optical Products of America, Inc.

followed by Shamir Insight, Inc. The

third software was from Carl Zeiss

Vision, Inc. They also have HOYA

VISION CARE, North America, and

will be getting DEFINITY™ and some

non-branded digital lenses from Essilor

of America, Inc.

In addition, they have a “house”

non-branded software with three

designs. “So we’ve got a nice mix,”

said Ralph. “And then we also have

produced lenses that can’t be copied, so

these private label companies produce

stuff that is only for US Optical.”

Carol Gilhawley is Editor-in-Chief

of OLP.

US OPTICAL’S LAB EQUIPMENT

1 National Optronics 5T Frame Tracer

1 National Optronics 7T Frame Tracer

2 PSI Lens Tape Machines

3 Satisloh PRA Blockers

1 NCR Tray Stacker

2 Simplimatic Tray Stackers

2 Satisloh VFT Ultra Generators

1 Schneider HSC smart Xp Generator

1 Coburn DTL Generator

8 Satisloh Auto-Flex soft pad Polishers

2 Schneider CCP-103 dual head Polishers

3 Coburn CMX-50 Finers

8 Coburn CMX- 50 Polishers

1 A&R Rob Control Unit

1 Satisloh ALC Robotic Lens Engraver

1 LaserOp Ltd. Lensmark Manual Lens

Engraver

2 Teco TP2 V90-302 lens stamp machines

2 Bisphera-XDD MEI automatic edgers

2 National Optronics HLP edgers

1 Satisloh ES3 edger

2 BPI Tinting units

2 BPI Safety Vent Hoods

1 Satisloh Magna-Spin 2SV backcoater

2 Ultraoptics MR-3 backcoaters

1 Interlab Wash Unit

3 ZEISS B-12 AR coating machines

1 ZEISS A-20 AR coating machine

2 ZEISS DAS-1 Hydrophobic coating units

2 ZEISS C10S Hydrophobic coating units

TECHNOLOGY LAB INNOVATOR OF 2012

OLP.NOV2012_AF.indd 15 11/21/12 11:25 AM

CongratulationsOptical Lab Products

is proud to honor US Optical.

Best wishes forcontinued success

to Ralph, Ronald, Robert and the entire company.

LabInnovator_salutations.qxp:Layout 1 11/8/11 12:55 PM Page 7

us optical, llcthe lab opened. robert cotran oversees construction of us optical before its launch...

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