Lenstec cuts wastage by 30%

February 2010

Lenstec, one of the largest independent UK optical laboratories, has recently cut lens wastage by 30% and dramatically reduced staffing costs thanks to new edging, surfacing technology and training.

The Caerphilly-based volume producer has made the savings thanks to the advanced Nidek SE9090, which processes up to 50 lenses an hour.  Now running eight of these machines, which also cover rimless and supra production, the Nidek technology replaces a mixture of manual technology, with greatly improved first time fit.

“We made a decision to go down the robotic route, and the barcode system is so efficient and accurate, eliminating human error.  It picks up all the information that we need and has been extraordinarily successful.  Many more opticians are ordering electronically and making use of remote edging.  The Nidek technology ensures a complete remote solution for scanning, blocking and edging,” said Nigel Castle, Managing Director of Lenstec.

“We certainly underestimated the reduction in lens wastage and first time yield  with the technology, also the reduction in man hours.  By gradually phasing in the robotic technology over a three year period, which we have just completed, we have grown our production by 80% without increasing our staff levels.  We took a decision to invest in our future and is has certainly been the right decision,” he added.

The Nidek SE9090 industrial edging provides fast grinding by the double spindle system, highly accurate edging and quality chamfering.