REDOS & REMAKES

This Vision Council Optical Lab Division article tells you ways to rein in these practice problems

By Alex Yoho, ABOM

When it comes to redos and remakes, ECPs' relationships with their labs can have a remarkable effect on profitability and patient satisfaction.

Says Jeff Szymanski, vice president of Toledo Optical in Toledo, Ohio, “Unfortunately, for many ECPs, remakes today act as one of the most severe and often unnoticed drains on bottom-line profits. The national average for eyecare professionals hovers near the 12 percent range for warranties and remakes.”

In this article, sponsored by The Vision Council Optical Lab Division, we'll look at paths to walk together that can make all three parties involved—ECPs, labs, and consumers—more satisfied with product outcomes. First let's consider some of the things that cause eyewear redos and remakes.

THE PROCESS

ECPs, labs, and consumers come into play in the lens creation process, and all three can help control problems. When placing the order, the ECP will provide the patient a prescription, often handwritten, ideally containing additional recommendations regarding their visual needs to give the dispenser as much information as possible.

As the dispenser takes on the responsibility of designing the best solutions for those needs, he or she will provide the lab with the necessary measurements and best lens options to meet those visual needs.

When the order progresses to the laboratory, it is interpreted to produce eyewear considering all the available options as well as product limitations.

Considering that there are sometimes hundreds of steps for both the ECP and the lab, it's pretty amazing that we can complete this task, considering all the potential for problems at any given point.

LENS SPOILAGE

What types of profit-robbing spoilage do we encounter in our industry? Jeff Wittern, vice president of operations, Dakota Sciences, Sioux Falls, S.D., details some of the reasons that eyewear is returned to the lab. “Measurement errors by dispensers,” says Wittern, “frame re-style, as well as scratch coat and AR coating warranties are the majors.” Some of those are within our control, but some are not.

Steve Sutherlin, president of Sutherlin Optical in Kansas City, Mo., adds more lab-side problems. “You name it and it happens: scratches, slippage in the edger, operator error, and more.”

According to the experts we consulted, it seems to be a toss-up for the single biggest cause of spoilage and remakes. Sutherlin and Szymanski agree, however, that scratches get top billing. “On the warranty side,” explains Szymanski, “scratched lenses remain the most common reason cited for warranty submission…though the proverbial ‘eaten by the dog' type of issues always remain present, too.”

ADVANCING EDUCATION

Fortunately for all concerned, labs have made progress in educating all concerned about what causes scratching. For example, lenses returned for manufacturing scratches have been found to be caused by something as simple to fix as the ECP's lensmeter used for checking in new jobs. Often, just a regular cleaning schedule can eliminate the problem.

Another issue is measurement errors. “As a laboratory, we have spent so much time instructing accounts on the minimum fitting heights of progressives,” explains Wittern, “that dispensers go to great lengths to make sure to hit the minimum fitting height, but then they may forget to check the minimum ‘B' measurement. This has resulted in redos because the distance portion of the progressive has been compromised.”

An associated problem, explains Wittern, “is that this is then listed as a redo for non-adapt.”

The issue? “Many dispensers do not know that they must use the cut-out chart for the brand of lenses they are selecting to see if it will ‘cut out' and give distance, intermediate, and near coverage,” explains Wittern.

BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

From a business standpoint, labs and ECPs can't just accept that redos happen, but must remain cognizant of the costs involved with every redo.

Here's how Szymanski handles it: “We take a directed approach to this problem by running monthly remake and warranty reports which identify precisely what issues are being experienced and the costs associated with these Rx's. By doing so, we strongly believe that we are acting in our customers' best interest and are truly being the partner to their business that we claim to be.

“Furthermore, by honing in on problematic areas within a practice, we continually help customers to be the most efficient and profitable businesses they can be,” adds Szymanski, “Together…this level of support acts as a benefit that our laboratory can provide, and it supports our core goal of ensuring the success of our customers.”

FREE REMAKES?

“The fact is that ‘free' remakes are not really free, because labs have to figure the redo percentages into the cost of the Rx,” says Wittern. “And that raises the cost to everyone. But what is even more important is that each time a patient comes back to have an Rx remade, the cost of having the staff service that patient is often overlooked. Another cost? The price of a patient being dissatisfied for having to come back to the office.”

PRACTICAL POINTERS

To help minimize those problems, here are some practical tips as well as topics to address in your practice.

■ TENSILE STRENGTH: “Be careful about using low tensile strength lenses on high-risk Rx's such as grooved rimless and frames with flat metal in front of the eye-wire,” stresses Sutherlin. The result, he says, can be chipped lenses or ones that are poorly retained.
■ SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP: With more than 63,000 individual outlets across the country where consumers can buy their eyewear, an ECP/lab symbiotic partnership is absolutely necessary in order for a practice to outperform the competition.
■ EXCEED EXPECTATIONS. “Providing this level of customer satisfaction,” says Szymanski, “requires a total commitment to training. In addition to the cost savings associated with keeping warranties and remakes in check, it's also vitally important from a service standpoint.” The result? “We can endear ourselves to our patient base and drive additional revenue.”
■ TRAINING, TRAINING, TRAINING. Training staff on everything from basic optics to new lens products and procedures can make a huge difference, explains Wittern.

“That's one reason we offer free seminars to our accounts' staffs as often as we can,” he says. “At the seminars, we stress lifestyle dispensing because it is important to find out what the patients do for a living, their hobbies, and so on. This not only helps the dispenser pick the right lens and frame for the patients, but also gives the office a chance to make second-pair sales by recommending task-specific lenses and frames for work and hobbies.”

BOTTOM LINE

“The largest check that an ECP will write every month is [the one] to their lab,” says Szymanski. “This relationship should be built upon mutual trust and respect. That said, ECPs should work diligently with their labs to better understand this part of their business in order to start controlling [redos] rather than having it control them.”

What effect do problems like remakes have on the end user? “Breakage means delays,” explains Sutherlin. “Anything that reduces breakages gets eyewear delivered more promptly.”

Wittern adds that satisfied patients are also “more likely to recommend the office to friends and acquaintances.”

The goal? “At the end of every day, we exist to work hand in hand with our ECP partners, providing sophisticated eyewear to help the world to see,” says Szymanski.

As styles change, so do the challenges. For example, when larger eyewear becomes the norm, cut-out problems will reemerge. And, as lenses evolve, new and more accurate measurements will be required.

Regardless of trends and resulting challenges, the industry should never lose sight of the value that delivering technologically advanced visual systems both efficiently and cost effectively adds value to patients' lives.

Ultimately, this is why controlling redos and remakes needs to remain such a vital part of our overall commitment. EB

For more information on The Vision Council's Optical Lab Division, visit visionsite.org.