User:Island Kayaker/Bausch & Lomb
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Bausch & Lomb from Wikipedia , the free Encyclopedia
Corporate organisation Joint stock company Founded 1853 Company Headquarters Rochester , New York Management Ronald L. Zarrella, Chairman & CEOStephen C. McCluski, CFO Employees 12.400 (as of 2005) Turnover 2.232.000.000 US-Dollars (as of 2005) Products Contact lensesEye-care products Web Page [1] The Bausch and Lomb company, founded in 1853 in the USA, is today one of the world’s leading suppliers of contact lenses. In addition to this main activity, in recent years the area of Medical technology (medicines, implants for eye diseases) has been developed. Bausch & Lomb became well known because of its famous “Ray-Ban” brand of sunglasses which was sold in 1999 to the Italian Luxottica Group. Today, the company employs about 12,000 people in 36 countries. The company headquarters is located in Rochester, New York.
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[edit] Company History
[edit] The founding years and early expansion
Bausch & Lomb was founded in 1853 by two German immigrants, Johann Jakob Bausch and Henry C. Lomb in Rochester, New York. Jacob Bausch was a trained optician and in Henry Lomb, he found the financier and partner he needed for a small but ambitious workshop producing monocles. Success came in 1861 with the production of monocles with a rubber frame, an article in great demand at that time. In the second generation, from 1875 production was expanded to include microscopes and from 1892, in cooperation with Zeiss[2] in Germany, optical lenses. In this manner, at the end of the 19th C, the product range included, as well as eyeglasses, microscopes and binoculars, and also projectors, camera lenses and diaphragms.
[edit] Expansion of production at the beginning of the last century.
At the same time as this new expansion, the significance of scientific research was realised, and a research department started to develop new products and improve old ones. A new alliance with the Zeiss company in Germany ensured competitive advantages for the three participants, Bausch and Lomb, Saegmuller and Zeiss in terms of patent use and opening new markets. In 1902 William Bausch, the son of the founder, developed a process to create the desired lens shape directly by casting molten glass. Previously, the glass parts for the lenses had to be separated, ground and polished in a complicated process, so this brought enormous savings in time and materials.
[edit] The 1st and 2nd World Wars
The further development of the firm was affected by political events. Because of the World Wars and the consequent need for optical instruments such as field glasses, target finders, camera lenses and periscopes, the product range was able to be considerably broadened. During this period, military products represented 70% of total production. One of the best-known developments in this period was the appearance in 1926 of the world-famous Ray-Ban brand sunglasses, developed for pilots.
[edit] The period after 1945
After the 2nd World War the photography and eyeglass sectors were strengthened and production thereof, at least in part, completely restructured. In addition, production facilities were opened in Canada, Brazil and Argentina. At a time when the cinema was being ousted by television, Bausch & Lomb pulled off a coup with their CinemaScope lens. For the first time, the new lens made the “wide-screen” effect possible, enabling cinemas to double screen-width and popularise the cinema once again. After 3 years of development work, 2 years for the medical approval by the FDA (Food_and_Drug_Administration) and an investment of three million USD, Bausch & Lomb put the first contact lenses made of Poly-HEMA on the market. In contrast to the contact lenses available up to that time, made of glass and Lucite (Acrylic_glass) [3], the new lenses were softer and considerably more pleasant to wear. Thereafter the name Soflens became a world-wide brand name. A massive restructuring of the company began in the mid-80s. What had been the core divisions, the production of lenses for various purposes, were sold off. The sunglasses division, as Ray-Ban glasses, by means of skilled product placement continued to make large sales. By the intelligent acquisition of other firms, such as Polymer Technology Corporation and Dr. Mann Pharma, existing business areas , for example contact lens production, were strengthened and new ones opened up. Finally in 1997, as a result of a series of company acquisitions, the division for the production of surgical products was established. Company developments in recent years Since then Bausch & Lomb has developed into a globally-operating company which is among the market leaders in contact lens production. The company headquarters is still in Rochester. From here research and process development are coordinated, as well as its production plants all over the world. Today, about 12000 employees in 36 countries work for the firm which in the first quarter of the current financial year achieved a turnover of around 554 million USD. Total turnover for the year 2005 was estimated at 2.2 billion USD. The company’s competitors in the international health-care services market are Johnson & Johnson, Alcon, Allergan, MSD-Chibret and Ciba-Vision. The development of new products is decisive and is an on-going process in which development teams for research, development and engineering work closely together. The various team members come from the manufacturing, technical, packaging, marketing, quality assurance and legal departments.
[edit] Business areas
Basically, the business areas are divided into three large divisions: · Vision Care: Contact Lenses and Eye-care products · Pharmaceuticals: medicines for various eye diseases and irritations · Surgery: aids and implants Although in the last few years several business areas in the “VisionCare” division have been developed in the framework of product diversification, the manufacture of contact lenses still accounted in 2001 for 28% of turnover and was thus its main business activity. As well as the simplest “SofLens One Day“ soft contact lens range, which have to be changed every day, the product assortment also includes higher quality lenses such as the “SofLens Comfort“ or „Seequence“ lenses which can be changed after 2 weeks. The “SofLens66 Toric“ were specially designed for people with astigmatism. Lenses from the “Boston” range have a higher oxygen permeability and thus are more suited for people with sensitive or dry eyes. The newest and most advanced lens range is called Pure Vision. These lenses are so oxygen-permeable that they can remain in the eye up to 30 days without being taken out at night. The second largest business , at 25%, is the manufacture of lens-care products. As well as simple combination cleaning and disinfectant solutions for both soft and hard lenses, pH neutral solutions are available for people with particularly sensitive eyes. The Pharmaceuticals division manufactures pharmaceutical eye products which account for 21% of turnover. This range covers prescription medicines for eye irritation, allergic reactions or high eye pressure. A further breakthrough is expected from the new Envision TD product range. This represents a new process for the precisely located dispensing of active substances to the eye. This is achieved by (?surgical?) implants behind the eye. Due to the body’s resorption process, the implant slowly decomposes and in so doing releases the desired active substance directly to the eye over a long period. Additionally, vitamins can be dosed to counteract bacterial infection and allergic reactions, thus reducing loss of vision with advancing age. The development of this division was speeded up by take-overs of other firms. The “Surgicals” division is divided into “Refractive Surgery” with 8% and “Cataract Vitreotinal Surgery“ with 18% of turnover. The latter division is concerned with products for operations on glaucoma and cataracts and on the cornea, as well as implantable, interocular lenses. The “Refractive Surgery“ division comprises mainly medical analysis devices and lasers required for eye surgery. In order to strengthen this division, the competing , market-leader companies Storz and Chiron were acquired.
[edit] Branches in Europe
· France: Montpellier · Germany: Berlin, Olching and Feldkirchen · Greece : Athens · Ireland: Waterford · Italy: Milan · Netherlands Schiphol-Rijk · Portugal: Carnaxide · Spain: Madrid · Sweden: Stockholm · Switzerland: Steinhausen · United Kingdom: Surrey =Competitors=[Edit] · CIBA Vision · CooperVision · Johnson & Johnson · Alcon · Allergan · MSD-Chibret =Weblinks =[Edit] · Bausch & Lomb Homepage
