Telesales
Jobs are entered trough phone, fax, e-mail, courier service, and Hoyalog, general order enquiries are also done here.

Receiving
Jobs are unpacked and placed into job trays that are color coded according to the day they are received. The uncut stock order are sent directly to the bulk store for picking. The jobs are entered into a computer and at the stage a bar coded tray number is allocated to the order, this forms the starting point of our tracking system. We also record the frame details if applicable so mix up can be prevented and if the frame should be removed from the tray for any reason.

Supplying
The stock room has a area of 500 square meters, we carry a vast range of semi-finished, and finished lenses with or without coatings, from extra high refractive indexes to normal indexes in both glass and plastic, in all sort of designs like progressive, flat top, fused, executive, lenticular, single vision and occupational. Stock lenses are supplied if the required prescription falls into the stock finished power range, this reduced the turnaround time considerably. In cases where the order requires bifocal, progressive, occupational/office or single vision falling outside the stock finished range, these need to be surfaced. The blanks are supplied according to the script, so that the correct base curve is chosen.

Overseas Orders
When lenses are not available locally we source them from overseas suppliers, in this process we use Hoyalog system to ensure the minimum thickness and absolute accuracy.

Invoicing
The jobs are invoiced here and channeled to surfacing or fitting. The uncut or bulk orders are directly sent to the dispatch department. The stock finished lenses that require fitting are sent to marking up, and the semi-finished jobs are sent to either glass or plastic surfacing departments. At each point the tracking system monitors the time the job enters and leaves each department.

Surfacing Computing
The lens prescription, curvature details, thickness, prism, diameter and refractive index parameters are entered for calculation and a job card is printed. The information computed is transferred to the blocker and generator.

Blocking
We must have a way of holding and controlling the lens, at this stage the universal fitting called the button is attached to the lens of way of alloy, the lens is blocked according to the geometric center, which is not necessarily the optical center. For plastic the required prism is introduced by the generator, and in the case of glass prism rings are used to offset the optical center. The block is then cooled on a cold tray, and is now ready for surface generating.

Plastic Surfacing
The unique job number is entered, and the computer data is transferred directly to the generator, a sensor probes the lens for thickness and diameter, then cuts the curvature as needed, this machine is also used to cut lens surfacing tools, knows as laps.

Plastic Smoothing
Surfacing laps are drawn or made according to required radius curvature of the surface. This curvatures perfectly match that of the lens and an adhesive backed gripper pad is attached to the lap and compress to produce a even surface, into which a diamond impregnated pad is placed for the smoothing procedure, the lens are agitated in a W motion as they cannot be rotated because the curvatures and the principal meridians often differ. During this process the lens is chilled with cool water and it takes approximately two minutes.

Plastic Polishing
This process is the same as the smoothing, except that the smoothing pad is removed, and a velvet polishing pad is attached to the lap. The polishing emery is mixed into the coolant and the lenses agitated in the same way. Polishing is completed in six to eight minutes. Surface is inspected for any imperfections prior to de-blocking.

Glass Surfacing
The unique job number is entered, and the computer data is transferred directly to the generator, the surface is cut by a cup shaped diamond tool, the lens is then passed on to the smoothing process. Unlike plastic generating, glass needs a very efficient cooling and lubrication during this procedure.

Glass Smoothing
The process here is the same as plastic, except that a very fine one thousand grit diamond impregnated foil pad is placed between the lens and the lap. A chilled lubricant keeps the lens at a constant temperature. This process takes approximately two minutes and reduces the thickness by three tenths of a millimeter; the lens is inspected and passed on to polishing.

Glass Polishing
The same process as plastic is applied to glass.

De-Blocking
The alloy block is removed by immersing the lenses in boiling water, the alloy is recovered and reused and the button cleaned.

Cleaning
For cleaning the lenses we use a ultrasonic machine operated by a robotic arm, after this process the lenses go for checking.

Checking and Marking
After the lens are finished and cleaned, all parameters are checked to ensure that the lens come forward to the required prescription and dimensions. Uncut lenses are sent directly to dispatching. All fitting jobs are marked up and the lenses are checked if the correct thickness and diameters are correct according to the specific frame that the lenses should be fitted in. The coating jobs are sent to the coating plant without any markings after being checked.

Hard Coating
Before any lens goes into the unit they get into a stripper solution, rinsed with clean water and thoroughly checked for dirt and imperfections. Each type of lens go trough a different program in the hardcoat unit, depending on the material and design. Inside the unit the lenses go trough four ultrasonic cleaning tanks with different solutions, and then get trough two drying tanks, the first one with 250º Celsius and the second one with 150º Celsius. After this and also depending on the lens material they finally get into the hardcoat tank, or primer and then hardcoat, and then again into a drying tank. After leaving the hardcoat unit the lenses must go into curing ovens. After three hours of curing they are quality checked. The uncut lenses are dispatched, the fitting jobs are marked up and the anti-reflective jobs are putt into a holding oven at 45º Celsius.

Anti Reflex Coating
The lens after coming out of the holding tank are loaded on calottes. The lenses are loaded with the convex side down on the first ARC run, and then with the concave side down on the second run. The anti reflective coating is applied inside a vacuum chamber, a beam is pointed to three chemical compounds (silicon dioxide, zirconium oxide and zirconium hydroxide) this produces evaporation, the by-products get then fixed to the lenses creating the anti-reflective coating. After the two runs the lenses are putt into a curing oven. The entire process of ARC is very precise, and if any error occurs, or any imperfection is detected on a lens, the entire process must be redone including the hard coating, since ARC is only possible on a hardcoated surface. The uncut jobs are dispatched and the fitting jobs are marked in the checking room.

Scanning and Blocking
At this stage the frame is traced in case of a full frame, the dummy lens in case of a nylon frame or the forma if available in case of a rimless frame, then the PD and segment height measurements are entered, the decentration is then checked to ensure that the lens will cut out according to the frame size and diameter. Once these requirements are met the lens is blocked and sent for edging. By means of a bar code or unique number, the shape and size is then retrieved, the information from the scanner is sent directly to the edging machine, and the lens is clamped and cut to the required shape and size. The size is checked and if necessary re-edged as required. The edgers add a safety bevel to the sharp edges of the lens and touch up the shape to ensure a perfect fit, the lenses are then securely fitted into the frame and symmetrically aligned. The complete job is passed on to final checking.

Final Checking
Finished jobs are checked to make sure that all order requirements have been met, jobs are then sent to the dispatch department.

Dispatching
The jobs are cleaned, packed, and sorted according to their geographical destination, we have our own delivery service in our immediate area, and courier and postal service to deliver to our distant customers.