Patients who order glass or polycarbonate lenses don't want to be told that their jobs are "special" and will require extra time to process. They want their glasses now.

Equipment manufacturers are aware that dispensers need to provide high quality, instant service to stay competitive. Their response has been to introduce to the market multifunction machinery that allows one unit to perform several tasks. For example, many new machines will process glass as well as CR 39, high-index plastics and polycarbonate.

One result, says Joe Santinelli, CEO of Santinelli International, is that dispensers "have complete control of the finished job because they don't have to send work to outside labs."

"It is more efficient to use one edger that will process lenses of all four materials," agrees Stuart Watson, National Optronics' director of training. "These edgers streamline the finishing process."

Watson points out that a four-material edger also saves space -- a big concern to many independent or urban dispensaries with limited room in the lab.

Faster, Too

Multi-function equipment is faster, too. Says Bill Galindo, president of ODI/Topcon, "Now polycarbonate, for example, can be processed as quickly as CR 39. Cutting poly used to be much slower, especially high-Rx minus lenses, which usually had to be run twice on the machine."

Kim Moffitt, marketing director at LOH Optical, says that all-in-one units are also cost-effective in more than one way.

To begin with, "dispensers don't have to buy separate pieces of equipment to edge different materials," she says. "And they don't have down time while they're waiting to prepare the equipment to process the next material."

In addition, optical retailers avoid having to pay for outside labor, and, adds Santinelli, "Buying materials wholesale is less costly than paying for them through a lab."

Plus, labs often charge more to run a polycarbonate job than a CR 39 lens. "So it's more profitable to have the ability to finish poly in-house," says Nancy Safran of Briot Edgers Inc. "Poly is one of the hardest materials to edge, so a lot of dispensers have sent it out in the past. The new technology has changed that," she adds.

Versatility Counts

"All-in-one equipment allows independent opticals to be more versatile," agrees Jay Little of WECO International. "Now they can do everything."

But Little points out that there may be a down-side to this combination equipment, depending upon the features of the individual machine. "Glass lenses are a very small part of the market share," he says. "But the trade-off for a machine that will process glass as well as plastics is that the wheel that cuts all materials is slower than the one that works just on plastic lenses."

Although some equipment employs a separate wheel just for glass, there is frequently a difference in usage between the glass wheel and the plastic polishing wheel because fewer glass jobs are cut. This disparity can cause the two wheels to wear at different rates.

But the question of how cutting glass lenses will affect the equipment will depend upon the particular machine's attributes, cautions Briot's Safran.

Options for Expansion

Pros and cons aside, the new, all-material edgers "give dispensers an option," says Laura Bassett of Gerber Coburn, which also manufactures versatile processing equipment. "They can edge CR 39, which is the most popular material in the United States, and they also have the capability to finish glass or polycarbonate when they need to."

Keeping your options open is a very important part of the equipment purchasing decision, stresses Matt Vulich, vice president of sales at A.I.T. Industries.

"Remember that with the capital price of equipment, you're not just buying it for this year," he says. "The equipment will have to last for several years into the future.

And with the increasing popularity of polycarbonate, for example, dispensers with a four-material edger will be able to handle the changes in marketplace demand -- whatever direction they might go in." EB

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