In The News

Precision Optical Group's Mike Tamerius

August 18, 2011 - Lab Talk's Lab Advisor

How does an optical lab help independent retailers compete with the "big box" optical stores?

Provide a quality product, quickly and at a great price.

That's the mission of P.O.G. Labs and it's simplified every decision the company makes.

The business becomes very simple when you make every decision based on how it's going to improve one of those three areas," said P.O.G. co-founder Mike Tamerius.

The Creston, Iowa lab has concentrated on improving work flow and material handing. A complete conveyor system, track free tray carts and automatic lens retrieval units place orders in surfacing within 10 minutes of its arrival.

P.O.G. has the same challenge as all optical labs: implementing common manufacturing processes while producing a custom product.

They've found that about three to five percent of jobs must be pulled out of the automated process for more traditional evaluation and specialized production. The challenge-within-a-challenge is correctly identifying those jobs when they come in. Tamerius noted that continuous improvement is the key overall, which means working at finding the smallest of improvements daily: "We question every procedure and process to find out if it still works for us."

P.O.G.'s workforce drives the continuous improvement process with a dedication that Tamerius called "amazing".

"Our workers are very demanding on each other and enjoy the challenge of getting better daily. We have seen some incredible gains in our jobs-per-man-hour over the last 18 months," Tamerius said.

P.O.G. is thinking in broad strokes as well. The lab donates two dollars to a local cancer center for every pair of lenses coated with its scratch resistant coating called, Courage Coating and intends to expand the givings to other charites.

One P.O.G. business unit is reaching out to other optical labs, providing payroll, accounting, purchasing, sales and marketing services.

"We love to help all of our business partners grow and prosper," Tamerius said. "And when we do, they reward us with great loyalty."

K Optical Relocates To Larger Facility

August 15, 2011 - Vision Monday

K Optical, a Michigan-based independent optical lab, recently moved to a new location here to accommodate its growth. Their new office is about 6,000 square feet, which is six times the capacity of their old space.

"We are constantly striving to improve our turn time, productivity and customer service for our customers," stated Mike Kellman, who owns the lab with his sons Marc and Kevin. "This move has proven to help in all of these areas."

K Optical is a family owned laboratory that has been in business for 15 years. Its customers are mostly in the Detroit metro area but they continue to expand their customer base. The lab is part of the P.O.G. Lab network along with Precision Optical Group, Inc. (Creston, Iowa) and CRX Laboratory (Athens, Tennessee and Greenville, South Carolina).

Precision Optical Group, Inc. Expands Network

September 6, 2010 - Vision Monday

Precision Optical Group, Inc. (P.O.G.), based in Creston, Iowa, recently secured a minority interest in CRX Laboratories located in Greenville, South Carolina and Athens, Tennessee. CRX specializes in industrial safety and government contract business.

CRX will continue to be managed by Warren A. Herron, a veteran of the industrial safety eyewear business and will keep the same name and current locations. The CRX partnership now consists of Warren A. Herron, Southern Eye Associates, which is a group of ophthalmologists in Greenvile, South Carolina and P.O.G. "Our unique partnership will provide the tools for all of us to continue to grow our business. We are thrilled to have Warren and his staff as partners", said Mike Tamerius, Co-Founder of Precision Optical Group, Inc.

According to P.O.G., the partnership allows CRX to offer a full product line to their current and potential customers, while enabling P.O.G. to expand it's industrial business.

CRX joins K Optical (Detroit, Michigan), JMR Wholesale (Denver, Colorado) and Precision Optical Group, Inc. (Creston, Iowa) in P.O.G.'s lab network.

P.O.G. expands their Creston, Iowa Location

May 10, 2010 - Creston News Advertiser

P.O.G. Labs recently purchased a neighboring commercial property just east of their current building to accommodate their growing laboratory. The new building holds all the finishing lab area and some of the final inspection staff. The Accounting department also calls this building "home". The extra space in the building will be used for storage and for a workshop area. It allows all the departments to spread out a bit and have some extra room to work.

To connect the two buildings, P.O.G. built a walk way. One of the more interesting features of the expansion is a robotic shelving unit called a Packmobile. This runs on an invisible track throughout the buildings to help the work flow. The new building adds an additional 3,200 square feet to the production facility. The total square footage of the entire lab is now 18,200!

"I remember when we first bought the building that we currently occupy. We thought we would never fill the space. Infact, we rented some of the space out to local businesses in Creston. But as time passed and the lab grew we added on to the building and have since more than doubled our space." stated Mike Tamerius (Co-Founder). "And we still plan to expand!"

P.O.G. has been in a total of 3 buildings since the beginning in 1987. They plan to continue to expand to meet the growing needs of their customers nationwide.

P.O.G. fights cancer with "Courage Coating®"

January 18, 2010 - Vision Monday

P.O.G. Labs is launching a new marketing initiative aimed at fighting cancer. The Creston, Iowa-based lab is contributing $2* to the American Cancer Society® for each pair of lenese made with "Courage Coating®".

"Unfortunately everyone is affected by cancer in some way", said P.O.G. Labs co-founder Matt Somers. "That is why when we launched our new hard coating we decided to do something about it."

"Courage Coating®" is available with or with out anti-reflective coating (AR). Each order of "Courage Coating®" is delivered with a cleaning cloth, authenticity card and a "Courage to Fight Cancer" bracelet.

This program runs from September 29, 2009 to August 30th, 2010. The American Cancer® Society does not endorse any product or service.