On site surface Lab!

**LENNY** · 06-04-2005, 07:51 AM

Can you buy extra OCs?

How many do you need for a day to day operation?:bbg:

Does Essilor make the or they could be found generic in China?

Please help!:idea:

**35oldguy** · 06-04-2005, 10:11 AM

Always do a WRITTEN business plan. So many people keep it in their head.

Originally Posted by Jacqui

Lenny:

Do what rbaker says, do the cost analysis. Don't believe the equipment salesmen, do your own.

**rsandr** · 06-04-2005, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Jacqui

Lenny:

Do what rbaker says, do the cost analysis. Don't believe the equipment salesmen, do your own.

Also with regard to salesmen, when you have found out all the things that the equipment will do (according to the salesmen) phone one of the company's engineers to confirm with them.
They will most likely be honest as is is them called out to make your machine do the things you expected that it is just not capable of.

Rick

**rbaker** · 06-04-2005, 11:35 AM

Lenny’s original question in this post is quite similar to a decision that we had to make a few years ago when I retired. We have a home in East Lyme, Connecticut and a ranch in Gold Hill, Oregon and we still have business interests in Hermosa Beach, CA. The family is back East but we plan to spend most of our time in Oregon. We will cross the fruited plain four times a year, you know, a few months here and a few months there.

Some friends who own motor homes suggested that we buy one and drive in style and comfort. It would allow us to sleep in your own bed every night (did you ever wonder who slept in the motel bed the previous evening ? ? ?) and would certainly make the trip more enjoyable. We went to the RV show and found the rig of our dreams. A great big mother with three slide outs and a honkin 550 hp diesel all for the show give away price of $155,000.00. Well a little steep but Jane loved it (washer & drier and full bath tub) so what the hey.

But then, this nagging thought kept wiggling up out of the haze of my early dementia “run the figures – do a break even analysis.” I booted up Microsoft Excel and went to work. Plug in all the fixed costs – and I mean all of them. Then the variable costs. As I am doing this I am getting a feeling that this is absolutely the dumbest idea that I have ever had. What ever possessed me into think that this RV was even a contender as a means of transportation from coast to coast.

I will not belabor you with all the details but suffice it to say that we would be spending over $20,000.00 a year in variable costs such as fuel and campgrounds. All this in addition to 48 days a year on the road. Yikes !

So, sound financial planning and decision making triumphs again. No RV for Dick & Jane. We have better uses for $20,000.00 a year. We now fly first class with limo service door to door. We take a minimum of two cruises a year. If we want to visit some tourist gulch we fly and stay in the best joint in town. And, we will now start to winter in the Mediterranean. All for less than the price of diesel fuel. How sweet it is.

Dick
www.aerovisiontech.com

**Jacqui** · 06-04-2005, 11:41 AM

Can I go with you??

**rbaker** · 06-04-2005, 11:43 AM

Hey, did you hear the one about the widget manufacturer who when asked how he made any money selling widgets for a dollar when they cost him a two dollars to manufacture replied “volume.”
Dick
www.aerovisiontech.com

**slackware** · 06-07-2005, 11:02 PM

in my lab, i have a coburn surfacing lab. on a daily basis we process i'd say: 60% single vision poly, 5% single vision cr-39, 30% bifocal/progressive mostly poly and 5% finished lenses in single vision. on a busy day we'll get around 30 orders for surfacing and edging. on a busy saturday, the sales people tend to sell AR jobs and varilux. about 2wks ago, we had about 7500 dollars in outside processing orders, id say the majority was varilux and AR. on a normal day with nice volume, we'll make about 7 grand and change.

today i had 2 casulties with a pair of progessives on a 1 base and 1 add. i generated the order and it was fine. i took the thickness guage just to double check myself and i was about .5 over the preferred thickness. i went to fine them out and i lost the axis on both and gain a .25d on the sphere in each eye. usually if my axis is off, if my actual axis is let's say : 70 and im getting 92 , i'll subtract 70 from 92 which would give me 22 and then subtract that from 70 so there i am marking the lens at 48 so it would bring me at 70 once it's fined out for the minute or so. everything was fine then the power caught me. after seeing the thickness just shred away, i said the h:)ll with it and generated two new lenses. it came out great.

i was wondering, i know this is off topic but is there a better way to align everything on the coburn wax blocker so i dont run into off axis orders? i do what i always do but who knows, maybe there's a better way of doing it.

other than that, i haven't worked in a gerber lab, but i love my coburn lab dearly when i have great days. im using the coburn 108ct series generator if someone has heard of it. the prism rings make my heart ache.

love the feedback from you folks !

**IIII** · 06-08-2005, 07:50 AM

I think it boils down to people.

Do you have somebody on staff that has surface experience? What happens when he/she is not there; sick, vacation,etc...
If you don't have this person on board already. I think that it would be hard to find someone with the qualifications, experience, work ethic and desire to do a good job.
What kind of inventory investment are you going to make?

**LENNY** · 06-08-2005, 08:01 AM

IIII

I do have a person who ran a Gerber lab before for a couple of years.
I also understand that we need to put quite a few $ into the inventory.
We already have stock of CR-39, SV poly, FT-28 and Stock progressives.
So our stock will actualy go down a bit. We can use some money for surfaced stock.
We are planning to have 3 progressive designs in CR39, Poly and Trans/sunsens.
FT28 in the same materials. This shoul be about 95% of our jobs.

BTW I was wondering if Surface Buying Groops are still around?
I did not see Jeff Trail on the board for a long time now!?

**Augie** · 06-08-2005, 02:25 PM

It sounds to me like a whole lot of work for just one person and constant delays for your patients. Most labs these days are all too happy to get the lens you need the next day, so I say let them and minimize your headaches. You are still going to out source stuff regardless right? My 2 cents.;)