Essilor
Encyclopedia
Essilor International S.A. is a French
company that produces ophthalmic
lenses along with ophthalmic optical equipment. It is based in Paris
, France
, and quoted on the Euronext
Paris Stock Exchange. As one of the 40 largest companies traded in Paris
, it is a component of the CAC 40
share index.
Essilor is responsible for creating Varilux
, the world's first progressive lens which corrects presbyopia
and allows clear vision in the wearer's near, intermediate and far vision. The company formed from the merger of ophthalmic firms Essel and Silor in 1972. Essilor now operates in over 100 countries over five continents. Its activities are largely focused on research and development
. It is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses, dominating the market on every continent, and Europe's fourth-largest medical equipment firm.
, the first ophthalmic progressive lens.
Silor first started under the name Lissac in 1931 as a retailer of ophthalmic lenses and frames before becoming a lens manufacturer. In 1959, the same year Essel invented the progressive lens, Lissac made an important discovery of its own: the Orma 1000 lens, made from a lightweight and unbreakable material.
Essilor’s first year of existence was marked by two major events: the creation of Valoptec, a non-trading company composed of stock-holder managers which held half of the company’s capital stock, and the purchase of Benoist-Bethiot, a French lens manufacturer specializing in the production of progressive lenses.
In the mid 1970s, Essilor focused on becoming a true optical group specializing in the plastic progressive lens. Many subsidiary
activities are first sold off, but in 1974, Essilor fused Benoist-Bethiot with Guilbert-Routit, creating a subsidiary called BBGR. In 1975, the company was listed on the stock exchange. The innovations by Essel and Silor, Essilor’s predecessors, lead to the launch of the Varilux Orma in 1976 .
The late 1970s were marked by Essilor’s change in strategy of geographical expansion. By making the acquisition of manufacturing plants in the United States
, in Ireland
and in the Philippines
, Essilor began its transformation from being a mainly exporting company to being an international company.
, Puerto Rico
, Brazil
and Thailand
. In France, new instruments facilitated the automation of the manufacturing process. Many distributors were acquired or merged with Essilor in Europe (Norway
, Portugal
) and in Asia
(Burma, Indonesia
, Japan
, Malaysia, Singapore
, Taiwan
and Vietnam
).
In the United States, all subsidiaries were brought together under the Essilor of America umbrella. This global network allowed Essilor to launch a new Varilux
lens called the VMD in Europe and the United States. By the end of the 1980s, Essilor had become the world’s leader of ophthalmic optical products .
strategy, the company launched the Crizal
coating, offering lens resistance against scratches, reflections and smudges. Essilor also formed a partnership with PPG, an American company, to offer the Transitions photochromic lens, a technology that allows a lens to become darker or lighter depending on the intensity of ambient light. Through the acquisition of Gentex, Essilor was also able to launch the Airwear polycarbonate
lens, a light and unbreakable lens material. Finally, the fourth generation of the Varilux was launched under the name Varilux Comfort which remains the world’s best-selling progressive lens today.
team includes 500 researchers at four centers located in France
, Japan
, Singapore
and the United States
.
On average, Essilor’s R&D team develops 100 new patents a year, adding to its base of 2600 protected patents.
Over the years, Essilor has also built an international network of partners, particularly universities, industrial groups and medium-sized businesses, such as PPG Industries
(creators of Transitions) and Nikon
.
and physiology
, with particular recourse to virtual reality
. A simulation
tool that makes it possible to perceive and interact in 3D
in a multi-sensory way, virtual reality effectively opens up vast areas for research in the field of ophthalmic optics and makes it possible to predict the design of increasingly high-performance lenses.
Researchers today use a virtual visualization system, equipped with algorithms and modeling
developed by Essilor to explore new optical solutions that can be tested directly on wearers. This simulator makes it possible to vary the optical properties of the lenses tested, study optical effects and immediately gauge wearer satisfaction. In order to do so, a magnetic sensor records a subject's head movements and images that show the eyes' exact viewpoint 120 times per second. After testing, the results are used to fine-tune the performance of the lenses in question.
In 2008, the Varilux Ipseo New Edition was designed using Essilor's Virtual Reality system.
Xavier Fontanet; co-COO
s Philippe Alfroid and Hubert Sagnières; independent director
s Alain Aspect
, Michel Besson, Jean Burelle, Yves Chevillotte, Bridget Cosgrave, Philippe Germond, Maurice Marchand-Tonel, Olivier Pécoux and Michel Rose; and directors representing inside shareholders Aïcha Mokdahi, Alain Thomas and Serge Zins.
46.2% of its sales are based in Europe, and 42.3% in the Americas, with the remaining 11.5% based out of Asia.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
company that produces ophthalmic
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...
lenses along with ophthalmic optical equipment. It is based in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and quoted on the Euronext
Euronext
Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Amsterdam and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services...
Paris Stock Exchange. As one of the 40 largest companies traded in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, it is a component of the CAC 40
CAC 40
The CAC 40 is a benchmark French stock market index. The index represents a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40 most significant values among the 100 highest market caps on the Paris Bourse...
share index.
Essilor is responsible for creating Varilux
Varilux
Varilux is a brand name belonging to Essilor International, a producer of corrective lenses. The first version of the lens was invented by Bernard Maitenaz and released in 1959, and was the first modern progressive lens to correct presbyopia...
, the world's first progressive lens which corrects presbyopia
Presbyopia
Presbyopia is a condition where the eye exhibits a progressively diminished ability to focus on near objects with age. Presbyopia’s exact mechanisms are not known with certainty; the research evidence most strongly supports a loss of elasticity of the crystalline lens, although changes in the...
and allows clear vision in the wearer's near, intermediate and far vision. The company formed from the merger of ophthalmic firms Essel and Silor in 1972. Essilor now operates in over 100 countries over five continents. Its activities are largely focused on research and development
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
. It is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses, dominating the market on every continent, and Europe's fourth-largest medical equipment firm.
1849-1972: Essel and Silor
Essel was founded in 1849 (then-called L’Association Fraternelle des Ouvriers Lunetiers) as a small network of eyeglass assembly workshops in Paris. It quickly expanded in the late 19th and early 20th century through the acquisition of factories in nearby Parisian neighbourhoods and in Eastern France. Essel soon added frame design and trade to its activities. The firm successfully launched an innovative frame design in 1955 called Nylor which is still used today. The Nylor system introduced a thin nylon thread which embraces the lens and is fixed to the frame’s higher branch. Essel's major breakthrough came in 1959 with the revolutionary invention of VariluxVarilux
Varilux is a brand name belonging to Essilor International, a producer of corrective lenses. The first version of the lens was invented by Bernard Maitenaz and released in 1959, and was the first modern progressive lens to correct presbyopia...
, the first ophthalmic progressive lens.
Silor first started under the name Lissac in 1931 as a retailer of ophthalmic lenses and frames before becoming a lens manufacturer. In 1959, the same year Essel invented the progressive lens, Lissac made an important discovery of its own: the Orma 1000 lens, made from a lightweight and unbreakable material.
1972-1979: Beginning of Essilor
After many years as rivals, Essel and Silor merged together on 1 January 1972 to form Essilor, the then third-largest ophthalmic optical firm in the world.Essilor’s first year of existence was marked by two major events: the creation of Valoptec, a non-trading company composed of stock-holder managers which held half of the company’s capital stock, and the purchase of Benoist-Bethiot, a French lens manufacturer specializing in the production of progressive lenses.
In the mid 1970s, Essilor focused on becoming a true optical group specializing in the plastic progressive lens. Many subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
activities are first sold off, but in 1974, Essilor fused Benoist-Bethiot with Guilbert-Routit, creating a subsidiary called BBGR. In 1975, the company was listed on the stock exchange. The innovations by Essel and Silor, Essilor’s predecessors, lead to the launch of the Varilux Orma in 1976 .
The late 1970s were marked by Essilor’s change in strategy of geographical expansion. By making the acquisition of manufacturing plants in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Essilor began its transformation from being a mainly exporting company to being an international company.
1980-1989: International growth
The 1980s began with intensified competition. To cut costs and improve service, Essilor purchased four new plants in four years, in MexicoMexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. In France, new instruments facilitated the automation of the manufacturing process. Many distributors were acquired or merged with Essilor in Europe (Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
) and in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(Burma, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
).
In the United States, all subsidiaries were brought together under the Essilor of America umbrella. This global network allowed Essilor to launch a new Varilux
Varilux
Varilux is a brand name belonging to Essilor International, a producer of corrective lenses. The first version of the lens was invented by Bernard Maitenaz and released in 1959, and was the first modern progressive lens to correct presbyopia...
lens called the VMD in Europe and the United States. By the end of the 1980s, Essilor had become the world’s leader of ophthalmic optical products .
1990-1999: Partnerships and Varilux Comfort
To maintain its position as a world leader, Essilor gradually withdrew its frames operations to concentrate on corrective lenses. Employing a value addedValue added
In economics, the difference between the sale price and the production cost of a product is the value added per unit. Summing value added per unit over all units sold is total value added. Total value added is equivalent to Revenue less Outside Purchases...
strategy, the company launched the Crizal
Crizal
Crizal is the brand name of a Canadian range of optical lens coatings manufactured by French Essilor. Its products were created to allow greater transparency in lenses by repelling rain and being anti-reflective, smudge-resistant, dust-resistant and scratch-resistant .-Technology:The Crizal...
coating, offering lens resistance against scratches, reflections and smudges. Essilor also formed a partnership with PPG, an American company, to offer the Transitions photochromic lens, a technology that allows a lens to become darker or lighter depending on the intensity of ambient light. Through the acquisition of Gentex, Essilor was also able to launch the Airwear polycarbonate
Polycarbonate
PolycarbonatePhysical PropertiesDensity 1.20–1.22 g/cm3Abbe number 34.0Refractive index 1.584–1.586FlammabilityV0-V2Limiting oxygen index25–27%Water absorption – Equilibrium0.16–0.35%Water absorption – over 24 hours0.1%...
lens, a light and unbreakable lens material. Finally, the fourth generation of the Varilux was launched under the name Varilux Comfort which remains the world’s best-selling progressive lens today.
2000 - present
The beginning of the 21st century was highlighted by technological advances for Essilor, with the launch of the Varilux Physio, a lens that derives its performance from the Twin RX Technology which combines the wavefront management system to calculate lens optics, along with a high-precision production technique called advanced digital surfacing. Finally, in 2005, Essilor entered the French CAC 40 stock market.Research and development
Essilor’s research and developmentResearch and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
team includes 500 researchers at four centers located in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
On average, Essilor’s R&D team develops 100 new patents a year, adding to its base of 2600 protected patents.
Over the years, Essilor has also built an international network of partners, particularly universities, industrial groups and medium-sized businesses, such as PPG Industries
PPG Industries
PPG Industries is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiber glass. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 60 countries around the globe. Sales in 2010 were $13.4 billion...
(creators of Transitions) and Nikon
Nikon
, also known as just Nikon, is a multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging. Its products include cameras, binoculars, microscopes, measurement instruments, and the steppers used in the photolithography steps of semiconductor fabrication, of which...
.
Dioptric loop method
With the launch of Varilux Comfort in 1993, Essilor developed the dioptic loop method, making it possible to gauge wearer satisfaction. It involves using repetition until an effective result is achieved for the wearer. It comprises five stages:- Collection of the wearer’s physiological data
- Optical design
- Creation of prototype lenses
- Measurement control
- Clinical tests
Virtual reality
Essilor's research department particularly concentrates on the combined progress of two complementary disciplines: opticsOptics
Optics is the branch of physics which involves the behavior and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behavior of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light...
and physiology
Physiology
Physiology is the science of the function of living systems. This includes how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and bio-molecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. The highest honor awarded in physiology is the Nobel Prize in Physiology or...
, with particular recourse to virtual reality
Virtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
. A simulation
Simulation
Simulation is the imitation of some real thing available, state of affairs, or process. The act of simulating something generally entails representing certain key characteristics or behaviours of a selected physical or abstract system....
tool that makes it possible to perceive and interact in 3D
Three-dimensional space
Three-dimensional space is a geometric 3-parameters model of the physical universe in which we live. These three dimensions are commonly called length, width, and depth , although any three directions can be chosen, provided that they do not lie in the same plane.In physics and mathematics, a...
in a multi-sensory way, virtual reality effectively opens up vast areas for research in the field of ophthalmic optics and makes it possible to predict the design of increasingly high-performance lenses.
Researchers today use a virtual visualization system, equipped with algorithms and modeling
Scientific modelling
Scientific modelling is the process of generating abstract, conceptual, graphical and/or mathematical models. Science offers a growing collection of methods, techniques and theory about all kinds of specialized scientific modelling...
developed by Essilor to explore new optical solutions that can be tested directly on wearers. This simulator makes it possible to vary the optical properties of the lenses tested, study optical effects and immediately gauge wearer satisfaction. In order to do so, a magnetic sensor records a subject's head movements and images that show the eyes' exact viewpoint 120 times per second. After testing, the results are used to fine-tune the performance of the lenses in question.
In 2008, the Varilux Ipseo New Edition was designed using Essilor's Virtual Reality system.
Board of directors
As of September 1 2008, the firm's board of directors consists of Chairman and CEOChief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
Xavier Fontanet; co-COO
Chief operating officer
A Chief Operating Officer or Director of Operations can be one of the highest-ranking executives in an organization and comprises part of the "C-Suite"...
s Philippe Alfroid and Hubert Sagnières; independent director
Non-executive director
A non-executive director or outside director is a member of the board of directors of a company who does not form part of the executive management team. He or she is not an employee of the company or affiliated with it in any other way...
s Alain Aspect
Alain Aspect
Alain Aspect is a French physicist noted for his experimental work on quantum entanglement....
, Michel Besson, Jean Burelle, Yves Chevillotte, Bridget Cosgrave, Philippe Germond, Maurice Marchand-Tonel, Olivier Pécoux and Michel Rose; and directors representing inside shareholders Aïcha Mokdahi, Alain Thomas and Serge Zins.
Executive committee
As of September 1 2010:- Xavier Fontanet - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- Philippe Alfroid - Chief Operating Officer
- Hubert Sagnières - Chief Operating Officer
- Thomas Bayer - President, Latin America
- Claude Brignon - Corporate Senior Vice-President, Worldwide Operations
- Jean Carrier-Guillomet - President, Essilor of America
- Patrick Cherrier - President, Asia Region
- Didier Lambert - Corporate Senior Vice-President, Information Systems
- Patrick Poncin - Corporate Senior Vice-President, Global Engineering
- Thierry Robin - Senior Vice-President, Central Europe
- Bertrand Roy - President, Europe Region
- Paul du Saillant - Corporate Senior Vice-President, Corporate Strategy
- Jean-Luch Schuppiser - Corporate Senior-Vice President, Research and Development
- Eric Thoreux - Corporate Senior Vice-President, Strategic Marketing
- Laurent Vacherot - Chief Financial Officer
- Henri Vidal - Corporate Senior Vice-President, Human Resources
- Carol Xueref - Corporate Senior Vice-President, Legal Affairs and Development
- Jayanth Bhuvaraghan - President South Asia, ASEAN, Middle East, South Africa
Sales
Based on its 2008 Annual Report, 95% of Essilor's turnover comes from the sale of ophtalmic lenses and 5% is driven by other activities, such as equipment sales.46.2% of its sales are based in Europe, and 42.3% in the Americas, with the remaining 11.5% based out of Asia.
| Year | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 2,203 | 2,424 | 2,690 | 2,908.1 | 3,074.4 | 3,268.0 | 3,891.6 |
| Net income | 244 | 287 | 328 | 366.7 | 382.4 | 394.0 | 462.0 |