Quest Vision Care Lab is marking its 20th anniversary this summer. Members of the lab’s management team gathered with employees on May 29 to celebrate the milestone. (L to R) Jeff Shimko, accountant; Michael Walach, founder, president/CEO; at rear is Grzegorz Boruta, VP, operations; Paul Burns, lawyer; and Ilona Ostrowski, CFO. Photo courtesy of Joanna Bodnar



When Michael Walach retired from his 30-year optical career at age 57, the last thing he expected was to start another business. Yet he followed an opportunity and his intuition—and today, countless full-service labs around the world are certainly glad he did.

In 2004, Walach started Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab, a unique and highly specialized “lab’s lab” that has earned its claim to fame for making prescriptions that are either too tough or simply out of range for other labs. Today, 20 years later, Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab deserves every ounce of pride for what they’ve accomplished as they continue serving full-service wholesale labs from more than 17 countries around the world.

How It All Began
“When I retired and was only 57, I thought to myself, ‘Now I’m all dressed up and nowhere to go,’” said Walach. “I was contemplating what I should do next.” Opportunity knocked during a conversation with David Rips at Younger Optics, who explained that they were halting the manufacture of semi-finished myodiscs and wondered if Walach could do them. “He agreed to send me all of their myodisc business, so I put together a small, 1,200-square-foot lab, hired three people and decided I would be doing myodiscs,” said Walach.

 
 Polishing inspector Tatiana Egorova uses her discerning eye to ensure quality control. Photo courtesy of Adam Bodnar
  
That initial plan evolved with the advent of freeform lenses. After attending some trade shows, Walach quickly realized that the new machines were extremely conducive for automation, but he wondered who would be doing all the work that was out of range.

“I knew there would always be the remaining 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent of prescriptions that couldn’t be made by even the most sophisticated freeform technology, so I decided I would specialize in the things that freeform labs cannot do,” he said. “That was 20 years ago.”

As predicted, automation took the industry by storm, and Quest Optical Lab’s business took off. Today, Walach is acknowledged as an optical “guru” (in the true sense of the word), a master in ophthalmic lens design, and an optical expert with vast knowledge.

“Since our inception 20 years ago, we have never refused one single prescription order, no matter how extreme, complex or unusual the requirements,” said Walach. “As long as the laws of physics allow it, Quest always finds a solution.”

A List of Milestones a Mile Long
To celebrate Optical Vision Care Specialty Lab’s 20th anniversary, we’re spotlighting a few of the many milestone achievements that have made this unique enterprise what it is today. Among this lab’s technical breakthroughs are:

 
The Beamblaster, one of Michael Walach’s newly patented inventions, is a dust-free blasting solution that cleans anti-reflective coating-contaminated stainless-steel parts by bathing them in electromagnetic waves. Photo courtesy of TRAKTHOR
 
  
World’s first device to replace sandblasting in AR applications – One of Walach’s newly patented inventions, the Beamblaster AR dust-free blasting solution, was designed and developed completely in-house. It’s the world’s first device that cleans anti-reflective coating-contaminated stainless-steel parts by bathing them in electromagnetic waves. Not only does this replace the traditional process of sandblasting (which is messy and causes a lot of contamination), it’s performed right in the AR coating clean room, which boosts efficiency and streamlines operations. See it in action on YouTube.

A totally new lens category – Another of Walach’s remarkable inventions is the Natural Accommodation Lens (NAL) concept. Not only does NAL represent a new general lens category for continuous distance-to-near viewing, it aims to replace the 65+ year-old PAL concept of a no-line trifocal with distance, intermediate and near vision correction. NAL is a true multifocal lens that provides correction from infinity to near reading in one continuous individually adjusted power curve. This eliminates costly redos due to fitting height errors, as well as non-adapt issues caused by peripheral waviness—creating a life-changing experience for multifocal wearers worldwide.

New NAL and DAL lens concepts – Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab is the only independent lab in the world that has developed its own DAL (Direct Addition Lens) and NAL lens concepts, currently protected by several U.S. and international patents. DAL is a bifocal lens where in the natural visual path between the distance and near there is no line, no blend, no image jump and no separation of image.

World’s first cloud-based digital freeform lens design software – Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab is the only independent lab in the world’s history to develop its own cloud-based digital freeform lens design system (branded under the name QLDS, Inc., the world’s exclusive licensee of NAL). This state-of-the-art platform can be integrated with any modern lab management system and offers business partners the freeform technology and support they need to manufacture the superior digital lenses worldwide.

Technological advancements protected by patents – Because of this lab’s singular technical expertise, it’s no surprise that Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab owns a number of registered trademarks, including NAL, OmniLux, DuoLux, EasyTop, LuxView and Beamblaster.

From groundbreaking design software to cutting-edge inventions, all these unique contributions to the optical industry have been achieved by one small independent lab in America.

Small But Mighty
When it comes to making an impact on the optical industry, Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab proves that size doesn’t matter. As a company doing $4 million annually, the lab only processes 120 to 150 prescription jobs per day—but the value of their unique service and technical achievements can’t be measured. The whole operation is backed by a small but very loyal group of expert employees, many of whom have been with Quest for decades.

 
 (L to R) Przemyslaw Wator, Wlodzimierz Bednarczyk and Tatiana Egorova at work in the surfacing department. Photo courtesy of Adam Bodnar
  
In terms of equipment, Quest Vision Care Specialty Lab has a wide range at its disposal—combining the latest technology with some of the oldest technology. Walach started with one Coburn generator and four cylinder machines. Today, the lab has five freeform generators, another five conventional generators, five polishers, the best edgers on the market and two AR coating machines. The lab also has some “vintage” instruments that are practically extinct. In fact, Quest is the only lab in the U.S. that still uses a hand pen (to create lens curves by hand).

Overall, Walach couldn’t be prouder of what he’s accomplished.

“It’s not easy today for a small business to survive, much less thrive,” he said. “In a world where lens production is a competitive commodity, I’m proud that in our 20 years of operation, we’ve never had to offer a discount to attract new accounts. Nobody is asking for one—labs are just happy to get their challenging lenses created on time and with high quality.

“However, we have done a large number of free prescriptions to support charitable organizations or those in economic hardship. We have customers from our first year that are still our customers today. I truly believe that ours is the best specialty lab in the world,” Walach said.

When asked what the future holds for his unique company, Walach replied like the true inventor and optical visionary he is.

“We will continue our legacy of breaking nearly century-old conventions, while improving the efficiency and profitability of the lab technological process, and most importantly, silently improving the vision and quality of life for millions,” he said.

This story originally appeared in the July-August print edition of Vision Monday.

Editor’s Note

With a keen understanding of an underserved Alaskan eyeglasses market, Robert Wiktorowicz, chief operations officer at Anchorage-based Custom Eye Lab Inc., and his business partner, optometrist Charles Vojta, set up the only full-service, independent prescription lab in the state. Click here to read the story of how they started their lab in this VM Lab Report feature titled “Custom Eye Lab Brings High Tech Service to Alaska.”