Rotlex Optics has invested $4 million to develop a unique system for testing contact and implant lenses. The company has signed a deal to sell its first 200 systems, to Nidek of Japan for $2 million. Rotlex Optics is based in the Rotem industrial park, near the Dimona Nuclear Research facility.
Rotlex Optics chairman Meir Avital says the system is highly advanced and has great marketing and sales potential. The company is negotiating a marketing cooperation agreement with Nidek. Rotlex plans to set up a plant to manufacture and assemble the system in Dimona, employing 100 people.
Rotlex Optics specializes in the development and manufacture of electro-optical systems for use in the quality assurance of glasses and contact lenses. The company has just completed the development and manufacture of a device which provides an immediate profile of the entire lens or surface in the form of a fringe pattern, consisting of 40,000 points across the lens. The product, the first of its kind in the world, will optimize each lens to meet the patient's individual needs, the company says.
Avital says the device, called "Multi Mapper", represents a qualitative jump in the measuring of ophthalmic lenses across the entire lens surface, and was especially designed for optometrists. The company invested 18 months and over $4 million to develop the device, in cooperation with Nidek, Avital says. Nidek is the industry leader in the development of lens measuring and processing equipment, as well as ocular surgical medical equipment. Nidek's turnover is $500 million a year.
Avital told "Globes" that, according to the company's strategic plans, 97% of the devices produced will be exported. Rotlex expects to sell 500 devices in 2002 and 1,100 in 2003. The price of each Multi Mapper is $11,000.
Rotlex Optics, founded in 1994, is owned by Teuza Management and Development (40%), AGI Group (40%), and other investors. The company, which has 19 employees, mostly doctors, engineers, and programmers, has developed 12 devices to date, and is a partner in dozens of quality control and measuring device projects.
Rotlex Optics has registered 20 international patents, some of which are applicable to other fields. The company's customers include Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Polaroid (NYSE: PRD), Bausch and Lomb, Elcon, and Hoya Japan.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 21 November 2001