Specsavers has dispatched its 60 millionth pair of glasses into the Australia/New Zealand market. The 60 millionth pair of glasses was sent to a customer at the Wonthaggi store in Victoria.
Having established its presence in January 2008, Specsavers now has in 389 stores in Australia and 60 in New Zealand.
Martin Savage, Head of Manufacturing and Distribution for ANZ, said it’s a massive achievement for his team, which currently numbers just 135, although it swells to 150 during peak periods.
Having been in the business of manufacturing for 25 years and worked with Specsavers since 2012, initially in the United Kingdom, he said he has seen some exciting changes in technology over time that have helped the company meet its exponential growth.
“We went through the 15 million milestone in January 2015. It took seven years to get there and then we did the next 45 million in nine years. On an average day in the lab now, 30,000 jobs are dispatched,” he said.
He said working in a such a fast-paced environment necessitates “staying engaged with your team, making sure you’re talking to them, and you’re talking about developments”.
CHANGING TECHNOLOGY
“We’ve only got to this point from using lean manufacturing techniques, so we’re always looking at continuous improvements… looking at what works well, what doesn’t work well, what we need to improve, how we can use new technology.
“When I first started, we were using ES4 edgers, we’re now just using MEI dry cut machines. One of the old ES4s would do around 25 jobs per hour. Our latest edging machine will do 100 jobs per hour. It’s a crazy change, and it’s a lot less maintenance, so we get better quality quicker.”
He said another major change has been the ability to scan in bulk as a part of the dispatch process, rather than scan individual jobs by hand.
“So, it’s just embracing technology really, looking at how we can take time, take movement, take waste out of the process.”
He said in the coming months, information technology (IT) will be the next focus for improvement and in the coming years, there will be increasing automation.
“We’re currently upgrading our IT, which will give us some more opportunities.”
QUALITY CONTROL
Maintaining quality control in a high-volume lab that is constantly receiving new frame styles requires regular product checks, thorough reporting, and analysing of waste trends to identify opportunities for improvement.
“I think we’ve got about 1,300 frames in the range. When we get new frame designs, we look at them with the product team before they go into production.
“Once the frame has a production history, it’s possible to finesse the process, which improves quality control, production efficiency, and reduces waste.”
Each frame is typically handled seven times during the entire production process, although Mr Savage said with the introduction of new technology, this level of manual handling is gradually being reduced.
And then there’s the quality checks (QCs) built into each point for the lens power, the frame the trace, and fit.
“And then obviously we’ve got the final QC. For a percentage of jobs, about 4,000 a month, we do a secondary audit just to make sure that the quality from all the labs is where it should be.”
In 2017, Specsavers introduced ISO 9001:2015 to the lab as an extra layer of quality assurance.
“An external auditor comes in… (and) checks that we’re actually doing what we say we do. But that means we have a focus on continuous improvement, we have a focus on training, we have a focus on quality,” Mr Savage said.
UPSKILLING STAFF
Training is a major focus in the lab, enabling the staff – 90% of whom have been there so long that they’ve earned long-service leave – to be constantly upskilled to work with the new technologies.
Two long-term employees are Evan Griffiths, who has been working in the lab for over 16 years and is currently a production manager, and Sangita Bhatia, who has just clocked up 13 years. A more recent employee is Rachna Bishnoi, who is coming up for seven years in September.
Each of them agrees that the opportunity to learn and progress has made their long tenure rewarding and professionally fulfilling.
Over six years, Ms Bishnoi, whose husband also works for the company, said she has received training on “new instruments, new machines” and is always informed of new opportunities.
“Specsavers is a second home for us… When we came, we just liked the environment… And now that 60 million jobs (have been) completed… it gives us a sense of pride and satisfaction that we have been able to contribute to changing the livelihood of people by enabling them better eye care.”
