VisionPlus India

Shashank Desai from Optilab speaks about the company's achievements, portfolio and innovations… In this issue, we speak to Shashank Desai from Optilab to understand the company focus, their extensive range and of course upcoming innovations. VisionPlus (VP): Tell us something about Optilab's origin and journey so far. Shashank Desai (SD): I would like to thank my team and dealers of Optilab across India for their continued support . Today we command more than 30% of the market share when it comes to diamond wheels and hand edgers. In 1979 photochromatic glass lenses were quite popular. That material was hard and quite difficult to grind using conventional ceramic abrasive wheel available in Indian market. One day our relative introduced us to a diamond wheel that was popular in the American markets. We used it, studied it and after a lot of effort were able to successfully develop first Indian diamond wheel machine in 1983. This was a revolution and replaced the conventional abrasive wheel grinders in India. We went on to adapt it into multiple models to meet the demands of the industry. Later, Optilab developed several tools for glass and ceramic application as well as special wheels for resin lenses too. Till today, the formulation of the raw material metal bond and diamond matrix is closely supervised by me and my son Bhavya Desai who joined the company in 2013. VP: Tell us a few details about your manufacturing facility. SD: We are based out of Anand. Our first unit , spread across 20000 sq ft is where we manufacture complete range of diamond wheels, “WECOMMAND MORETHAN30% OFTHEMARKET SHARE” N anubhai Desai started a small optical retail shop in Anand, Gujarat way back in 1954 with his brother. In 1979, his son Shashank Desai started the manufacturing unit - Optilab. As they say, the rest is history. Today, Optilab has emerged as a force to reckon with. 88 VISION PLUS INDIA EDITION INTERVIEW