See how one O.D. brought both in-office lens finishing AND his father under his roof at once...and found double-edged success
next time you hear someone say they’re afraid to invest in in-house finishing because it’s too hard or they don’t have the staff, tell them the story of Mick and Rex Kling.
Michael (Mick) Kling, O.D., opened a new office last year and figured the time was right to invest in an edging lab. His practice, Invision Optometry in San Diego, is an 8,000-square-foot, five-doctor, full-service optometric center with an optical.
At the same time, his retired parents were moving from the Midwest to San Diego to be closer to his family. But one question was looming large: How would his father, Rex Kling, handle the extra time on his hands?
“My father was closing out a couple of businesses, and is the kind of guy who always likes to be tinkering and doing something,” Dr. Kling explained. “We wanted him and my mother here to be close to our kids and family, but I was concerned that he’d be bored.”
The answer?
Rex Kling, at 70-something years old, works three half-days a week running Invision Optometry’s in-house lab and its edging equipment.
“He had no optical experience, and didn’t know the difference between a plus lens and minus lens,” Dr. Kling says, adding that to be able to train someone like him to edge lenses is a testament to ease-of-use functions of contemporary finishing equipment. “O.D.s can’t really afford to have complicated lab equipment because of staff turnover and new employees that may not have any experience.”
As for working with family? Dr. Kling says though he’s thrilled to be able to have his dad in his business, it works best when (and because) they aren’t under each other’s feet.
“I have 8,000 square feet here, and our clinic is upstairs while the lab is downstairs,” he explains with a laugh. “There are days I don’t even see him.”
And as for the septuagenarian?
“The staff has been very accepting and helpful to teach me the process of lens edging,” Rex Kling told EB. “It is especially pleasing to be a part of our son’s business and, hopefully, help it to continue to grow and provide excellent care for our clients.”
So how efficient is the equipment, and Rex?
Dr. Kling says the lab—which handles mostly the simple, single-vision jobs for now—outputs about 150 jobs a month. That means Rex Kling is cutting between 20 and 30 jobs during the three half-days that he works a week.
Tell that to the next ECP who tells you they don’t edge because they can’t invest in highly trained technical staff.
Business A-B-Cs
Michael Kling, O.D., of Invision Optometry in San Diego says that while his decision to create an in-house finishing lab in his practice may not have been a quick or easy one, it started reaping benefits early.
A. COST SAVINGS: Right now, the practice edges mostly simple single-vision jobs. It can stock the common lens blanks “for a fraction of what we’d have to pay the lab to do the job,” he says.
B. QUALITY: “Even good (wholesale) labs are going to have issues from time to time, with things that just aren’t right,” he says. But if the job is done in-house, imperfections are found right away and redone without a long wait.
C. SERVICE: A quick turnaround time on single-vision jobs is like gold, as it sets a business apart from competitors. “There’s a huge value in being able to tell the patient, ‘Go have a cup of coffee and when you come back we’ll have your glasses for you,’” says Dr. Kling.
—Susan Tarrant
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