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Last edited by Judy Canty; 10-01-2015 at 10:54 PM.
Added to the list from Chris... thanks Chris
Originally Posted by Chris Ryser
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Last edited by Judy Canty; 10-01-2015 at 10:54 PM.
No surprise. Lloyd Yasbeck & Bob Colucci of IDD have been "tight" since high school.
Essilor and the Y-town gang deserve each other. They are as perfect a union as a marriage can be. No loss there...
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
From Totally Optical on Facebook:
Essilor of America has recently acquired a majority interest in Central Optical Wholesale Lab. Owner of Central Optical, Lloyd Yazbek, retains a share of the wholesale optical laboratory, which achieves $11 million in annual revenue. Yazbek will remain as president of Central Optical. Yazbek and wife, Linda Yazbek, have purchased a minority interest in another wholesale lab, Optical One, of which Essilor owns a majority share.
Essilor International has acquired a majority stake in Optic Blue, a prescription laboratory based in Lubbock, Texas with annual revenue of around $3.5 million. Optic Blue was founded in 2006 by Jason Blue, who remains president of the company under the partnership arrangement with Essilor. Vision Monday ranked it 25th among U.S. independent labs in its 2011 Top Labs Report. Optic Blue's key markets are Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
I have a list that I saved...but I think it is still pretty accurate. Not certain if the formatting will come through. It does not have any labs, just optical companies.
What American Companies are you going to support?The optical lens, production equipment, software, and supply companies listed below comprise the majority of the wholesale optical industry. Here is your guide to buy American!
Optical LMS Software
Last I checked AIT sold Optical Machinery ;)
I am a little fuzzy on how you are deciding where profits go for equipment. Are you making this decision based on who owns the US distributor? If that is the case, your information for WECO needs to be updated. AIT distributes WECO here in the US and is privately owned. If you are determining this based off of where the equipment is manufactured a lot of changes need to be made.
Matt C.
Marketing Specialist
Luneau Technology USA(AIT-WECO, Briot, Visionix)
www.luneautechusa.com
Facebook | LinkedIn
Must have been one of the first...............found on Google
Search Results
- History Of A.I.T Industries - An Optical Equipment Company |
opticalvisionresources.com/history-of-a-i-t-industries-an-optical-equi...Cached
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7 Oct 2011 – 1989 Essilor purchases AIT Yordan leaves AIT to start Opti-vue. ... AIT becomes and exclusive distributor of Binocular Autorefractors from Grand ...
- AIT Industries - History of AIT in the Optical Industry
www.aitindustries.com/.../aitindustries-history-of-ait-in-t... - United StatesCached
You +1'd this publicly. Undo
A.I.T. Industries has been servicing the optical industry since 1952. Come see why we are ... 1989. Essilor purchases AIT Yordan leaves AIT to start Opti-vue.
If you click on those links you would see that in 1996 we bought AIT back from Essilor. No affiliation now =/
Matt C.
Marketing Specialist
Luneau Technology USA(AIT-WECO, Briot, Visionix)
www.luneautechusa.com
Facebook | LinkedIn
bought AIT back from Essilor..........................
Thanks Matt ..........for the clarification. That should correct the Google statement + links
Hey... I didn't know that!
Ophthalmic Optician, Society to Advance Opticianry
Essilor aquires majority interest in central optical 05/16/2012. The list is a long one if all of the names are considered. It's really a shame to see the industry controlled like this. That is why we use an Independent lab & cast our own lenses in house. Those transitions prices are sick. Ive seen lenses sold to private practice...then offered cheap @Walmart a couple miles away...exact same nikon/crizal offerings. Exclusive partners there.
There are many times where a market leader will sell at a loss or very thin margins to drive a competitor out of business. I've seen five years of spiff money paid up front with a contract that the ECP will continue to use the BIG Corporate Lab's services (or pay the money back). Another tactic is for the BIG Corporate Lab to "purchase" an ECP's lab equipment in an effort to buy the ECP's business. An example would be for a 6 figure agreement (payment) to be made in return for 3-5 years of the ECP's business. There have been situations where this has been done with equipment that was absolutely worthless. I could list more examples of where the BIG Corporate Lab is basically trying to put the smaller lab out of business....Even if the account is using the BIG Corporate Company's brand of lenses, it doesn't matter....the BIG Corporate lab wants 100% market share at any cost. Its amazing to me that the ECP that has been paying a premium for lenses and not getting the best quality can switch to a smaller lab that delivers better quality and saves the ECP money, folds when the BIG Corporate rep comes in with a "new deal" that is much less than the ECP has been paying from that same BIG Corporate lab for years. Doesn't that ECP see that they were being charged a premium for many years? Another tactic is to lower the base (to half) on the BIG Corporate lab's monthly/quarterly SPIFF BUILDER program. If the BIG Corporate Lab had to compete on quality and service alone, they wouldn't be near as BIG. Oh yeah, then there's the free voucher scenario where a LARGE quantity of vouchers show up at the ECP's office. If I were a client of the BIG Corporate lab, I think I would leave at least once a year to get the lowest prices and best spiffs. Actually, I wouldn't do this.....I don't think
......
I have seen a decrease in the BIG Corporate Company's lens sales within my customer base.....what a shock.
disclaimer - My name is Lee Hagwood and I work for Luzerne Optical in NC/SC and I approved this message :)
I am not one to normally bring up an older post like this.. but this is EXACTLY what is happening in our area. The small wholesale lab I now work for, has lost a few accounts because Essilor gave a HUGE check to a small chain in the area, who has use that money to purchase additional offices that now must use E. Two of those offices tell us that we are cheaper, provide a faster turnaround, and give the quality they want.. but due to the contract their new owners have with the big E.. can no longer use our operation.
There are 2 relatively large E labs in this town, and one large independent that is in bed with them big time and most likely will be acquired in the next year or two. Another smaller lab was recently purchased.
The frustrating part is that Z is not acting any better. Our sales rep partnered with some Zeiss reps to educate customers on some of the differences between Zeiss and Varilux lenses. It was very successful in the fact the lab started to receive a lot more work, and docs started to make the switch using Purecoat, GT2, GT23DS etc.. Too bad a few months later the reps from the big Z lab north of here then made it a point to visit said offices and this time got them to switch to their lab for some "added perks".
"Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate. But I believe that happiness is something we create."-Something More by Sugarland
Essilor started out with a bancrupt venture..........................
Very interesting. I have been following the developments of that corporation for the last 48 years when they set the first foot into North America. They decided to make the start in Canada by giving 5 Optometrists in Montreal the exclusive distribution for Canada in a newly formed company.
These Optometrists hired the local AO lab manager as the boss of the new venture, and stayed in the background. Some 3 years later the operation went bancrupt through mis management. Then "ESSEL" at the time had to step in and took over the bancrupt company renamed it and brought over one of their french executives, Claude Lepage who became the first Canadian president, and started to make a success out of it.
However the truth is that they were forced to start out on this continent with a bad venture.
From Jacqui Pearson via FB:
ESSILOR ACQUIRES HIRSCH OPTICAL
Essilor has acquired Hirsch Optical, an independent wholesale laboratory based in Farmindale, NY. The company, which had been owned by Roz Rothstein, Michael Rothstein and Ken Mittel was founded in 1978. The current management team, headed by CEO Michael Rothstein and senior vice president Ken Mittel, will stay on. Essilor also owns another lab in Farmingdale, Tri-Supreme Optical, which includes a stock lens distributor, The Lens Connection.
From Vision Monday:
WILKES-BARRE, Pa.—In a move that will expand its footprint in the Eastern United States, Essilor has acquired Balester Optical, a major independent wholesale laboratory based here. The purchase price was not disclosed.
An Essilor spokesperson told VMail that Essilor has purchased all of Balester Optical’s stock. The lab has been controlled by the Balester family since it was founded in 1934. Balester Optical’s management team, including Heather Balester and Dale Parmenteri, will continue to manage the lab’s day-to-day operations.
“Balester Optical has a strong management team and technology base, which is why we chose to partner with them,” the Essilor spokesperson noted.
Parmenteri, who serves as vice president of Balester Optical, commented, “We’re combining our tradition of quality and service with Essilor’s vast resources to better service our customer base.”
Balester Optical was ranked 12th in Vision Monday’s 2012 Top Labs Report. The lab, which has 75 employees and produces about 830 Rx jobs per day, will generate Rx sales of about $13.3 million in 2012, according to the report.
Gee all was quiet on the home front for a while. Perhaps E is trying to kill their profits by buying up some more labs! I haven't heard of Hirsch, but I have heard of Balester. Bigger lab. What's next?
And Chris, by the way, you are always full of good information! You know where to dig.
Thanks!
How are they killing their profits? Seems to me like the are continuing to secure distribution points for their own products. That's their way of insuring profit. No doubt they are feeling the heat of everyone's private label stuff that just about every lab rep talks about.
Thank you for the compliment, it has become so much easier to dig for information over the last few years since the search engines have become so much more complex. Just by reformatting a same question one can get so many more results.
I even have found a lab in the far east belonging to the big E overseas that employ's over 1000 people and is right now expanding.
I beg your pardon. Let me rephrase. Perhaps they are trying to reduce their tax liability by spending excess profits on buying labs. That should clear things up.
Just like buying a new edger or VF machine or OCT.
Another reason companies buy toward the end of the year is so they can roll those sales on to their books, it makes them look like they are expanding and growing.
Precisely!! Kind of like VSP adding a new lab here and there.
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