SOLA Visit – 4/20/06

The Nike Sunglass frame then moves to the SOLA factory for compensated Rx lens production.

On Thursday, 4/20, I had the opportunity to visit SOLA Technologies laboratory just outside of Cincinnati in Hebron, KY. On this date, the lab had ~3000 sets of glasses in production. ~700 of these sets of glasses are what they call Sun Rx (i.e. 2300 are normal ophthalmic glasses), which is the production line that we were focused on. This work in progress can swell to ~1500 during summer months -- this is only ~35% of their capacity accourding to factory representatives. Representatives also state that ~150-200 orders / sunglasses enter / leave the factory per day. SOLA produces Sun Rx glasses for the following brands: Bolle, The Rudy Project, LensCrafters (by far the biggest portion of their business), and of course NIKE!

SOLA Technologies, opened in 2001, is a state-of-the-art laboratory which offers proprietary products unavailable through other SOLA laboratories. Specifically, it has the special capability of producing highly curved prescription lenses used in 8-base wrap sunglass frames. They call these compensated Rx sunglasses. The process of creating these compensated Rx sunglasses is captured below.

Collecting Area / Factory Entry

After the glasses are received by the sales staff and entered into the computer system for tracking purposes, they are brought to the staging area captured above. Each order is assigned a specific bin where the order (frame, lenses, and associated paperwork) will reside for its duration through the production line. All Sun Rx glasses are assigned to a purple bin (some of these are located in the background of the photo). Each order, and thus bin, is assigned a bar code. This bar code is registered at each stage of production, which makes it extremely efficient to track an order throughout the development process. In fact, they were able to locate my personal order that I had placed at a doctor’s office a couple of days earlier within a couple of minutes.

Lens inventory

While in the collecting area, the appropriate lens for the order is selected from a wide selection of lenses. The lens inventory, which actually extends for ~40 yards, is captured above. The Nike Max Rx program specifically uses the Spazio lens, developed especially for the Nike program by SOLA. Spazio lenses come in a wide variety of styles including the popular Golf Tint. The Spazio lens, which are initially quite thick, are more oval-shaped than a normal lens used for glasses. This allows the lens to be shaped into an 8-base wrap fit suitable for the various sunglass brands mentioned above.
SOLA Spazio lenses are the only prescription wrap lenses to provide clear, comfortable vision for every prescription, regardless of the degree of frame wrap.
Wider Field of Vision -- Spazio lenses incorporate three different atoric designs to minimise peripheral blur in all powers, to offer wide, clear vision all the way to the periphery.
Superior Rx Cosmetics -- Spazio lenses feature a tapered edge for prescriptions of between +1.5 to -6.0 by using a peripheral secondary curve that's flatter than the Rx back surface of the lens. The result is a product with thinner edges that looks better and is more comfortable to wear.

The runners

The bins are brought from the collecting area into the main manufacturing process by runners, like our trusty friend Jimmy here.

Staging area for surfacing

This captures the true beginning of the manufacturing process. Each order first arrives at the staging area for surfacing. At this point the normal glasses and Sun Rx glasses proceed down different production lines as they each require slightly different steps through their development.

Sun Rx surfacing

Here we see Donna initiating the extensive shaping operation that the order will undergo for the next several days. The surfacing machine captured above takes the initial frame, which is quite thick, and performs the initial surfacing, or shaving operation, according to the prescription order.

Fining and Polishing

The initial surfacing process leaves the lens with some rough grooves on the surface. To smooth the surface, the compensated Rx lens passes through the Fining and Polishing machines captured above.

Prescription Cutter inventory

Here is our trusty tour guide, Dave Remnant, standing in front of the wide selection of ‘cutters’ used in the surfacing, fining, and polishing processes above. I will mention here that Dave was a fantastic guide throughout the process, and was incredibly patient with all my questions. Thanks Dave!
The surfacing, fining, and polishing processes shape the lens from a standard thick oval sun Rx lens to a prescription lens specific for any customer’s needs. Each of the ‘cutters’ shown above are used throughout these three processes to shape out a specific prescription within the lens order.

Back-side coater machine

After the lens is shaped, a back-side coating is applied to the lens. This protects the lens from scratching, etc. For the Sun Rx production line, SOLA works exclusively with lenses made from polycarbonate; all polycarbonate lenses require this step.

1st quality check

The lens then passes through its first quality check. Here we see Ed thoroughly inspecting a Sun Rx lens currently in production. Each lens is checked for power (i.e. prescription), surface defects, etc.

Initial Cleaning & Inspection

The lens has now acquired ~98% of it final shape through the extensive processes mentioned above – it’s now time for a cleaning. Before entering the automated cleaning process shown below, each lens cleaned and inspected manually. Rebecca, in the background, is demonstrating this process in the background.

Automated washing line

Before entering the cleaning process, the existing coat of the lens is stripped off using a caustic soda in the machines shown above.
Each lens then passes through an automated cleaning process composed of ~8 different washing / drying machines. This is not shown in the photos.

Coating Room

Depending on the specifications of the order, the lens may require a mirroring on the front of backside A/R coating. This occurs in the room shown above. Both coating processes take place in a Clean Room. (The blurriness is due to the plastic doors in the foreground.)

2nd Quality Check

This represents the beginning of the finishing process. Lisa, shown above, demonstrates the 2nd quality check which checks for both cosmetic & power defects.

Original Edging Machine

All Sun Rx glasses now require a difficult edging process which, in simple terms, shapes the edge of the lens (i.e. shaves it down, positions the bevel, etc.) so that it can fit in the prescribed sunglass frame, whether it be from Bolle, The Rudy Project, or Nike.
Before last year, all Sun Rx glasses were edged using one of the machines shown above. 40% of the Sun Rx glasses are still edged by this machine. This machine is effective, but has limitations.

Multi-Access Edger (i.e. the 5-Axis Edging Machine)

Here we have the famous 5-axis edging machine – i.e. an automated lens cutting and surfacing machine that is capable running automatically and with less chance for human error. There are only a few of these in the world, and only two at Sola – one here and one in Italy. This machine has allowed Sola Technologies to make huge advances in shaping the edge of the sunglass lens to fit in a given frame. This has presented major difficulties in the past, and is the main reason that many sunglasses were once considered not Rx’able. Many of these limitations have now been overcome due to the agility / flexibility of this machine, and I have been told that the machine still has a lot more to offer.
Specifically, this machine operates a grinder or shaver on 5-axis (though some claim more) to manipulate the thickness of the edge of the lens such that it can fit in the prescribed frame. Currently, the frame shape is entered into the proprietary computer interface (partially shown in the foreground). The computer uses the selected frame shape, which has been specially programmed into the software, to dictate the eventual shape of the lens. It is important to note that each new frame, or frame variation, requires a new program to be tested / entered manually by the operator. This is no small task. Nike currently has ~10-15 frames programmed into the machine. This machine currently edges ~60% of all Sun Rx orders.

A 2nd view of the Multi-Access Edger (it is about 8 feet tall, 4 feet wide, 6 feet thick)

another angle

Inside the Multi-Access Edger

Here you can see inside the edger as it shaves down the edge of a lens that is tightly held in place. The Multi-Access Edger takes < style="BORDER-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; BORDER-TOP: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; BORDER-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0px" alt="Posted by Picasa" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" align="absMiddle" border="0">

Inside the Multi-Access Edger (2)

Once again, you can see inside the edger as it positions the bevel, the angles part of the edge of the lens, exclusive for each frame. Notice the right arm of the machine hinging on one of its many axes.

Swoosh insignia process

We have finally reached the last stage of the process. Nike has granted SOLA the rights to use the infamous Nike swoosh. You can see the glasses sitting under the middle pedestal with a laser engraving the famous Nike insignia in the compensated Rx lens.

...and here is Nikki holding the finished compensated Rx Spazio lens!