“At every step of the lab’s operations, we look for opportunities to be cost-conscious while maintaining high quality – because for our customers, efficiency is important. Lab operations are a big part of how National Vision achieves that,” said Bob McKinzie, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Supply Chain at National Vision. “As socially responsible corporate citizens, we actively seek opportunities to make decisions that both affordable and environmentally conscious. Usually, it goes together.”
National Vision’s optical lab in Plano, Texas, for example, achieved the lowest operating costs of all the labs in our lab network. Despite rising costs of materials and rising wages for workers, the Plano lab still managed to keep costs down and set a new standard for lab operations. The lab features state-of-the-art technology that helped drive this success, while also improving the work experience for lab colleagues and increasing efficiency to benefit the environment.
More Efficient Equipment
The Plano lab has some of the most advanced and powerful equipment models in the industry. “For some of the equipment in this lab, National Vision is the first – and in some cases the only – optical company in the United States to have access to it,” Bob said. “This is because we have spent 30 years building good relationships with the best vendors in the optical industry, and because we have the scale to use this equipment to really help many, many people. to see better. For people in the optical industry, it doesn’t get more fun than this.”
Due to the scale of National Vision’s operations, large-scale equipment can be used to perform tasks in larger batches for greater efficiency. For example, according to Schneider Optical Machines, the EBC 1400 AR chambers used in National Vision’s Plano lab – to apply the anti-reflective coating to the lenses – use magnetically levitated turbomolecular pumps to operate at levels that are more than 50% more efficient. rather than traditional industrial rooms. Larger chambers allow more lenses to be coated per batch, thus reducing per unit energy output as well as labor.
Swarf Management
When lenses are first purchased from manufacturers, they are about the size and shape of a hockey puck. The material that is cut off by the lens as it is ground to an individual prescription is called swarf. Swarf management is a challenge throughout the optical industry, and it has historically been sent directly to landfills. This is why National Vision proudly uses machines that condense swarf waste that we cannot recycle.
Filtertech LGEN-BR machines, called briquetters, compress swarf into compact blocks one-wenty the size of loose material. This results in more efficient waste management with fewer trips to landfills, and the material we cannot recycle takes up less space in landfills. This process also helps National Vision recover coolant for recycling and reuse during lens cutting, saving more than 150 gallons of coolant per month in the lab network.
Energy Efficient Lighting
When considering the energy efficiency of labs, National Vision examines not only increasing the efficiency of the machines used inside the lab, but parts of the building itself, including its lighting. National Vision labs use energy efficient lighting, including upgrading to LEDs where possible. LEDs are more than 75% more energy efficient than incandescent lighting, and each bulb lasts up to 25 times longer before needing to be replaced.
Health and Safety
Not only do many of the efficiency upgrades in National Vision’s labs support our sustainability initiatives, they also lead to a safer and more comfortable workplace for our lab teams. Automated technologies help our labs operate faster with greater quality controls – while also helping to keep our lab partners safe and reduce their exposure to operating machines that have the potential to damage
“While automation has become essential in supporting our waste reduction and efficiency, people are still our greatest asset, and always will be.” – James Monaghan, Senior Lab Director at National Vision’s Plano optical lab.
While the facilities are designed for optimal energy efficiency, they are also designed with people efficiency in mind as well. In addition to ergonomic work-stations, the Plano facility has a large break room with food, a gourmet coffee station, and a game room with bean bags and a ping pong table. “I’m especially proud of our break room,” said James. “It’s another way we go the extra mile to treat our people well and create a safe, productive and fun place to work. All the improvements in our labs help us do that .”
Learn more about National Vision’s commitment to creating affordable, accessible, and environmentally friendly eyewear at nationalvision.com/corporate-responsibility/.