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Thread: In-house edging

  1. #1
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    In-house edging

    I work in an ophthalmology practice with 1 full time MD, 3 part time MD's and a full time optometrist. We average approximately 25 eyeglass jobs per week. We deal in nothing but digital product. We employ 2 full time opticians. Is it profitable to purchase an edger and do in-house edging?

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    Great question, Templbndr. I'd say definitely not. The last time I crunched numbers, you really need about 7-8 SV jobs a day to justify an in-house edger. If you're Ophthalmology patient base is like mine, your SV traffic is far lower than industry averages-- you do a lot of FTs and a lot PALs. If the lenses you do order are more expensive than average, the waste is more costly than a general practice patient base would be.

    You can make the equation yourself to discover how high your waste percentage could afford to be in order to save money with an in-house edger. If you go to the trouble, I think you'll be well prepared to know how much volume you need to pull the trigger.

    Good luck!

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    Thank you so much for your valuable input

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    The main benefit I get with in house edging (and we do a bit more than you for sure) is control of the finish quality and turnaround time. If you are happy with the finishing that your lab does than it probably doesn't matter. Certainly sv stock lenses and edging fees add up to more profit, but we also have to eat breakages. That being said I am a control freak about bevel curves, lens stress, pin bevels and polish/edge finish - and with digital lenses keeping the POW accurate after edging - it makes it worth it for us. Also being able to reglaze in a patient's frame while they wait. Also I think people get a kick out of seeing the lab in action.

    Do you have someone that has been involved with finishing frames for a long time in house already? There is a learning curve and a lot of mistakes to make before you get it going in the right direction.

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    Optical Thingymajig OptiBoard Gold Supporter PartTimer's Avatar
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    We edge a ton of jobs. We run three edgers at two offices. It is EXTREMELY worth it if you do really any amount of conventional single vision.

    If you are getting generated digital product every single time, however, I wouldn't bother. You would have to change your practice model, and even though you might save enough money to cover a payment in edging fees in 3-5 years, the increased payroll and headaches will not be worth it.

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    This is an interesting question. It really depends on your volume and your commitment to edging in house. 3 years ago when I started at my current job, I was asked to evaluate our in house lab. It was out dated with a very old poorly maintained Nidex 9000 series edger. We were edging less than 25 jobs a week. Now this is a big practice with 4 locations and 6 Optometrists, only one office has the in house lab. I did a thorough evaluation, looked through lab invoices, compared costs etc. My recommendation to my practice OD owners was, either shut it down, or ramp it up. We were sending out jobs that we could easily have been edging in house. I retrained our lab tech, calibrated our edger and we ramped it up. We started edging much more in house, we signed up for both eyemed and vsp's in house edging options, currently we have been averaging 25 to 30 jobs a day through our in house lab. We edge everything from Single vision to digital progressives, with less than 1% spoilage. The OD's that owned the practice upgraded our edger last year to a Santinelli le 1200 with the drill.
    So my long answer is it is very worth it if you have the volume and the commitment. It is not worth it if you don't have the volume, or don't have the commitment to edging everything you can. Remember adding an edger likely will add the need for person to run it, so figure in you cost of payroll too when you are calculating your costs and benefits.

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    For 25 jobs per week and mostly freeform, your ROI will not be good. I would stick with having your lab partner do the work for you.

    However, as everyone else mentioned, if you are considering conventional finished SV, then your breakeven point will come much sooner. Your COGs will be reduced dramatically if you start stocking FSV, especially in AR. But only if you are willing to sell traditional FSV. You will need to account for supplies and breakage costs when working up your business plan and target ROI.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TEMPLBNDER View Post
    I work in an ophthalmology practice with 1 full time MD, 3 part time MD's and a full time optometrist. We average approximately 25 eyeglass jobs per week. We deal in nothing but digital product. We employ 2 full time opticians. Is it profitable to purchase an edger and do in-house edging?
    Hayde is correct, heck no don't waste your money. And whatever you do, don't ask an equipment sales rep...they will naturally justify the cost with only 2-3 jobs per day which is absolute rubbish.

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    Edging is about the finished product and service levels that can't be done remotely.

    I am the founder of LenSync software and we can help you either way but finishing in-house is the only way to be great at our craft. I understand edging from a lab level and from the retail point of view; there is no way to differentiate your practice if you send the work out.
    75% of the industry sends out the work and 25% have the opportunity to do it correct but many still choose not to invest in the final process for some reason.
    The only difference between you and the internet is what you can control. Think about that when you are looking at investing in an edger that can make your office unique. It does cost money to be unique and it is not as easy as buying a machine that drills.

    Buy and edger that drills or start with the baby Santinelli and grow into a drilling machine. I work with all edger companies but am familiar with the new entry machine and it is a bargain for what you get.

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    Don't forget there will be days like mine today when your solenoid goes and you are stuck with a stack of jobs that are being edged wearing a surgical exam mask and pouring water on the wheels out of a milk jug.

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    Master OptiBoarder OptiBoard Silver Supporter lensmanmd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tallboy View Post
    Don't forget there will be days like mine today when your solenoid goes and you are stuck with a stack of jobs that are being edged wearing a surgical exam mask and pouring water on the wheels out of a milk jug.
    Dude, I feel your pain. My condolences.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TEMPLBNDER View Post
    I work in an ophthalmology practice with 1 full time MD, 3 part time MD's and a full time optometrist. We average approximately 25 eyeglass jobs per week. We deal in nothing but digital product. We employ 2 full time opticians. Is it profitable to purchase an edger and do in-house edging?
    I would fist look at why with all the Docs you only do 25 pair per week. You must have a lot of the Rx's going elsewhere.... Maybe because your patients have to wait too long and or using all digital your prices are too high??

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    Quote Originally Posted by Don Gilman View Post
    I would fist look at why with all the Docs you only do 25 pair per week. You must have a lot of the Rx's going elsewhere.... Maybe because your patients have to wait too long and or using all digital your prices are too high??

    Bam!

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    Ouch!

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    Thought I'd stop back in here and say thanks to TheFinishingLab for getting me a pair of solenoids at a VERY reasonable price very quickly.

    Truly helpful to have flowing water again, and he made it as painless as possible to get them to me.

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