Big 50 for Essilor’s Thornbury manufacturing centre

Essilor has celebrated 50 years of optical lens manufacturing at its Thornbury site.

Established in 1974, the optical lens manufacturing centre has been a major employer in the area.

The manufacturing site produces 750,000 lenses a year for Essilor’s global brands.

Tim Precious, commercial general manager at EssilorLuxottica, reflected on “considerable changes” that have taken place in the past decade, adding: “We’ve invested heavily in new technology to help maintain the lab as a centre of excellence for lens production.”

The lab’s glazing facility has been expanded with the recent installation of a new automated line.

Further changes at the site have seen the roll-out of new initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of production.

Precious explained: “We now run a process in surfacing that cuts out the use of alloy completely, making lens production a much more sustainable process. We also recycle all the water used in surfacing, while ECO kits have been installed on our pumping systems in the vacuum chambers to reduce our carbon footprint.”

The Thornbury centre closed on 4 July for four hours to recognise the milestone anniversary, with more than 300 employees celebrating in an American-themed party.

Precious said: “We’re grateful to have such a loyal workforce here who form the backbone of our operation and we want to take this opportunity to thank them.”

“Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in our workforce, in the latest technology in terms of manufacturing processes and environmental enhancements, and look forward to seeing what the next 50 years bring,” he concluded.

Pictured: Alan Pitcher, commercial director for wholesale lenses at EssilorLuxottica, Daniel Peacey, site manager at Thornbury, Tim Precious, commercial general manager at EssilorLuxottica, and Timothée Arnaud, operations director at EssilorLuxottica.