Carl Zeiss Vision outlines strategy for customized lenses

Key Points

San Diego-Carl Zeiss Vision announces a new strategy for the development, production, and promotion of customized lenses for 2009.

"We now have everything in place- outstanding lens designs, a unique customization approach, a patented process, and outstanding partners," said Carl Zeiss Vision President/Americas Fred Howard.

The company launched Zeiss Individual, a level of lens customization that accounts for the unique interaction between a patient's prescription, frame, and face. Also being released is Zeiss GT2 3D, a customized version of the company's GT2 progressive lens.

"Customization is more than a lens design," Howard said. "It is an entire infrastructure. To provide a real benefit to the wearer and the ECP, you first need the right customization strategy. You need a sophisticated software calculation engine that can create the ideal design for each wearer's unique circumstances and can do it in real time. You need a network of labs with free-form generators. And you need a precise, verifiable process that can deliver a highly complex design with tight tolerances consistently and on time."

He also said that the terms "free form" and "customized" should not be used interchangeably.

"Free form only means that the production process involves a free-form generator at some point," Howard said. "Customization uses the full potential of free form to create a personalized design in real time without the constraints of a semi-finished design. That is what our initiative is all about."

The company's customized lens strategy includes practice support for fitting and dispensing as well as training programs. In the coming months, Carl Zeiss Vision will announce new customized products, lab partnerships, and ECP programs.