Munich-based spectacle lens and medtech company Rodenstock is expanding its presence Downunder with a new lens-glazing lab planned for Auckland early next year, a new lab in Melbourne opening in October and a further lab in Brisbane already up and running.
Having completed the Australian handover of Rodenstock Eyewear to De Rigo, Rodenstock Australia’s general manager Tim McCann said he and his team can now focus solely on lenses and growing the business. Although Rodenstock lenses have been available through third-party suppliers in New Zealand, lately the opportunities to buy its lenses have been diminished, particularly since Independent Lens Specialists (ILS) was bought up by Shamir, he said. “We know there are customers in New Zealand who want our product. Rodenstock was present in New Zealand in the past, is well known and it has always been our intention to go back in. We’ll start small and continue to work to make Rodenstock available directly again.”
Rodenstock’s Bangkok lab has also been undergoing significant development and is now the company’s largest Series production and second largest Rx production facility, fulfilling orders for optometry practices worldwide, McCann told MiVision. “We always knew we had a premium product at a premium price and we weren’t going to change that,” he said. “But the challenge we had was service. Most of our manufacturing was being completed in Europe, so we couldn’t get the lenses to our customers fast enough. In a competitive market, it wasn’t good enough to make practices and their patients wait two or three weeks for their lenses.”
