Last week, together with a group of Dutch and Belgian opticians, I visited Sauflon at Budapest. The English contactlens manufacturer has production facilities only 20 minutes away from the city and recently opened a state of art Centre of Innovation here. The production is located in an immense distribution hall. This hall has enough space for some “clean rooms” and every time the increase of sales demands it, the company simply builds another “clean room” and increases production. Even while we visited the location, one new “clean room” was “under construction” showing Sauflon is doing well. In the “clean rooms” and outside it people and robots work together on the production and distribution of a large amount of lenses every single day. In addition the Centre of Innovation offers a perfectly equipped auditorium with all facilities to welcome a group like ours. Although I was impressed by the quality and high standards of the facilities, this was not what surprised me most. Sauflon appeared to be a modern, fresh and marketing-driven organization with an open eye for the market developments. It sees a whole lot of opportunities and is ready to go for it in close cooperation with opticians who share the same vision. This time we did not spend our time there with long lectures about rare complications but with interesting discussions about how to increase sales. We paid attention to topics such as consumer satisfaction, target groups, training and service, which, to my opinion, illustrates the way Sauflon thinks and likes to contribute to the development of its clients. The company offers a great combination of high-tech product quality, innovation and a modern marketing-approach. Good to be there and experience it and certainly an important motivation to work harder on this part of the market and profit from its opportunities.
