In Office Finishing Lab

[JoshABOCNCLEC]

I am currently working for a 2 doctor OD practice experience explosive growth. The doctors are considering putting in a small finishing lab. We do enough self-pay single vision lenses where it could be profitable. What are some thoughts and experiences with having a finishing lab in house?

[snowmonster]

Go for it. Buy a used/refurbed edger from VSI (OpticLabRat on Optiboard) to save the initial cost of edging. Single vision poly and CR39 lenses are pretty inexpensive and the turnaround time is fantastic when you have your own lab.

If you're just getting into it, you can get a Santinelli 7070 from VSI for a very good price now, and I hear that they do okay on slick AR lenses too.

Don't forget that you can also order uncut FT's, TF's and PAL's at reduced cost and save more money that way as well. Johns and MarcE (and others) can tell you where to order those from, we have a full service lab here so we cut everything from start to finish here.

[Jacqui]

I don't think you'll save as much as you think. Also look at quality, do you have someone that can do the job properly?? Not everyone can do it right.

[Chris Ryser]

What are some thoughts and experiences with having a finishing lab in house?

I grew up in an optical family and there was a time were there was no optical retailer that would not have his own finishing lab in the back of the store.

If you have a good stock of SV lenses and some spherical bifocals you can provide a super service and save a lot between the stock or lab lenses.

If you do your own scratch resistant treatments, UV and tinting, small repairs, which are inexpensive in material and take not much time to do you are way ahead.

You will need a good expierieced person to those jobs and you never look back.

[chip anderson]

First Question:

Would you know what to do with it if you had it?
Would you have the time (or employ someone who did) to do this?
If the above two answers are yes.
Then calulate your present costs (including time, labor, space) vs. the reduced costs based on your present and anticipated volume. Do not rely on the "estimated savings and profits" from the equipment supplier, salespeople have a tendancy to overvalue the worth of what they are selling.
Do you anticipate any increased sales from speedier service. Do you expect product quality of product to increase or decrease. Remember those rats in the lab have been doing this for a long time and do it a lot. Small timers (even "educated" ones) tend to have a few more screw-ups than experienced people. True this gets to be better with time but the cost of a learning curve can be expensive both to you and your customers reactions to amateurish product.
Can you fix the new tools when they go down? They all do go down.
Lastly who are you gonna turn to for advise, you present lab isn't gonna love you as much if the check disappears or becomes much smaller.

Chip

[Jacqui]

You will need a good expierieced person to those jobs and you never look back.

That's the problem with most Dr. office labs, they think anyone off the street can do it.

In the middle of my writing this, Chip brought up another good point, CAN YOU FIX IT ?? Don't rely on tech support, most know less than you do. And what about those jobs that just will not come out right?? Who's going to help you with them??

[snowmonster]

VSI provides pretty good over-the-phone tech support which will cover most issues. I don't work for them though. :)

[Leo Hadley Jr]

Thanks Dr. Steve.

Give me a call about your potential new finish lab. We have several low cost options for you and also provide installation, training, and lifetime phone support. Now is a great time to call with our Vegas show special running this week.

[Johns]

If you put in a lab, it's going to take more money out of circulation, and into your own pocket.

Not a good idea...

[MarcE]

There are lots of great conversations here about edgers, costs, training, quality, time away from the sales floor, large signs, etc. And you should read all of them. But my experience is maybe a little different.

We are in a small rural area that is not growing and we had to steal every client from another O.D. (nearest OMD is 30 miles away). Our competitve advantage is an edger.

Just today we had a CL abuser that needed specs today. She would have left if not for the ability to get specs today. We had one lady drive 30 miles because we could get her specs same day. She bought two pair. We also had a guy that broke his frame wanted an exam today so he could get new specs today. No dice - we are way too busy.

How much money does an edger save? $20/day? $50/day? Who cares, I never calculated.

How much money does an edger MAKE? Today, about $500. Would have been another $300 if I could have squeased just one more exam in without getting fired - or worse;).

If you use an edger correctly, you will need another O.D. to go with it.

[snowmonster]

There are lots of great conversations here about edgers, costs, training, quality, time away from the sales floor, large signs, etc. And you should read all of them. But my experience is maybe a little different.

Great callback!

[Golfnorth]

I am currently working for a 2 doctor OD practice experience explosive growth. The doctors are considering putting in a small finishing lab. We do enough self-pay single vision lenses where it could be profitable. What are some thoughts and experiences with having a finishing lab in house?

I think it would be profitable at an average of 4 or 5 jobs per day.

Regards,
Golfnorth

[coffee joe]

there are allot of good points here both for and against. and that indicates the real answer. whether or not it's a good idea depends on you.

if you do it, you must commit fully. that means you will have to learn to do it your self or hire someone who is good. there is a cost associated with both options. hiring a truly qualified person will cost you around $15/hr give or take. learning it your self will take you away from other things you could be doing and your breakage and down time will probably be pretty high for the first few months, which cost you in time, materials, and ptnt satisfaction. if you go that rout, you will have to learn fast, work hard and do allot of experimentation. i recommend hiring someone.

if you think it won't be much of a challenge, then stick with your lab, because you'll be bighting off way more than you think, and you will despair.

[JoshABOCNCLEC]

Thanks everyone. Some good points listed here. They are currently weighing options.

[evville]

If you want to go with an easy to fix edger go with the A.I.t maxima speed or the Optronics 7-e very easy maintence on these edgers .Layout you can use the old A.I.T speedy blocker