Andrew Karp, Group Editor, Lenses & Technology
Andrew has reported on many facets of the optical industry for
Vision Monday and
20/20 Magazine since 1987. He specializes in covering the latest developments in ophthalmic dispensing, spectacle lenses and treatments, lens processing technology, optical laboratories and wearable technology. Andrew edits
VMail Technology, a weekly e-newsletter that spotlights new products, software and online applications for labs and dispensers. He helps plan and produce Vision Monday’s annual Global Leadership Summit. Contact Andrew at
akarp@jobson.com.
By Andrew Karp and Brian Dunleavy
Monday, September 16, 2019 12:30 AM
NEW YORK—The optical lab business, at its most elemental, has always been a numbers game.
Running a lab, though, is a complex undertaking that involves more than simply dollars and cents. It also about the number of prescription jobs per day it can produce, and the percentage of those jobs that are rejected because they don’t meet quality control standards. It’s about maintaining a job average that’s calculated based upon production yields and the average price per job. It’s about the cost of capital equipment, consumables, overhead, labor and dozens of other budget line items.
By Andrew Karp
Tuesday, September 10, 2019 8:00 AM
In a recent posting on
Robotics Business Review, Giles Kirkland noted that although fully autonomous cars are still only in development, “potential users are starting to think about how an artificial brain will make life and death choices in case of an accident.”
Kirkland observes that if a collision was about to occur, we only have a split second to react (and rarely make a conscious choice at all). But in case these decisions can be made, people do not have the same opinion. Based on gender, age and professional background, our views on the morality of self-driving cars differ.
By Andrew Karp
Tuesday, September 3, 2019 8:00 AM
As children across the U.S. head back to school, it’s instructive to look at the results of an annual survey released this summer by the
National Retail Federation and
Prosper Insights and Analytics, which predicted that families will spend less this year than last year on back to school expenses. Total spending for K–12 schools and college combined is projected to reach $80.7 billion, down from last year’s projected $82.8 billion, according to an analysis of the survey data by
Coresight Research. The decline in the overall number is due largely to a decreased number of households with children in elementary through high school. Those households that do have children in school, however, plan to spend more on average in 2019 than last year.
By Andrew Karp
Friday, August 30, 2019 8:00 AM
Like many of you, I’m kicking back and enjoying some downtime on this Labor Day weekend. We can thank labor unions for creating this annual three-day holiday, which pays tribute to the contributions and accomplishments of American workers and has been a federal holiday since 1894. Organized labor in the U.S. has suffered major setbacks over the past few decades, but unions still remain a powerful force in many industries, as well as in the public sector. Yet among the millions of people employed in the optical industry, relatively few are union members.
By Andrew Karp
Tuesday, August 27, 2019 8:00 AM
Asure, a company that makes workplace management software, has studied Millennials and their expectations of employers and work environments. They emphasize the importance that Millennials place in “workplace agility,” a concept that links digital solutions, physical space and company culture to employee output. They note that Millennials expect flex policies including:
• Flexible start and end times with scheduled breaks
• Part-year work & compressed work weeks (i.e. working four 10-hour days, rather than five 8-hour days)
• Part-time work & job sharing
• Phased retirement
• Telework, alternative work sites and autonomy
By Andrew Karp
Monday, August 26, 2019 8:00 AM
The Vision Impact Institute recently published an interview on its website that VII director Kristan Gross conducted with Judith Marcano Williams, VII Program Manager, The Americas. They discuss the unique challenges and opportunities that exist in the Americas pursuing the organization’s global mission: raising awareness about the importance of vision correction and making good vision a priority.
Here are excerpts from their conversation:
Williams: In a snapshot, there are 36 countries, more than one billion people, and more than 40 languages spoken. There are stigmas around vision care, especially for girls and women, and significant economic disparities. With multiple country and state governments regulating topics related to vision care, the region holds a vast opportunity to improve vision health policies.