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LAS VEGAS—Optical lab veteran Andy George will join a panel of wholesale experts at Jobson’s Modern Lab event next Thursday at Vision Expo West. They will discuss how their investments in technology and personnel are helping their labs grow and compete. George is the owner of LBC Optics in New Berlin, Wis. He has been in the optical lab business his entire career, beginning in 1988. At that time, his father was an investor in a small eyeglass retail chain of seven stores. George took on the leading role in the founding of LBC Optics and the development and design of a dedicated lens production facility for these stores under the tutelage and mentorship of Loren Fluegge, whose family has a long history in optics. His brother, Paul George, took on the role of sales and marketing for the retail side. Since then, the brothers have overseen the growth of the retail portion to 39 stores in three mid-western states under the names Wisconsin Vision, Eye Boutique, Heartland Vision, and COR Optical (online).

LBC services the lens work for all of these locations. The lab produces an average of 450 pair of lenses per day, with in-house AR, and continual modern automation.

Also participating in the Modern Lab panel are Paul Faibish, president and owner of Plastic Plus Limited in Toronto; Javan Diaz, co-owner of Simplify Optics in Valencia, Calif.; Bill Heffner, owner of FEA Industries in Morton, Pa.; Mike Tamerius, owner of P.O.G. Labs in Creston, Iowa.

The panel will be moderated by Andrew Karp, Vision Monday’s lenses and technology editor and Brian Dunleavy, editor of LabTalk magazine. They co-wrote VM’s Modern Lab Report, which takes an in-depth look at lab investment strategies. The Report will be published next week in the September issue of Vision Monday. In this video, Karp and Dunleavy describe their program in detail.

The Modern Lab event will be held Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Sands Convention Center/Venetian, from 5 to 6 p.m. To register, go to www.visionmonday.com/modernlab.