Sticker shock: Why are glasses so expensive?

(CBS News) If you’ve ever wondered why a pair of glasses cost so much money, Lesley Stahl’s report on the world’s largest eyewear company, Luxottica, will open your eyes. The Italian firm that began making eyeglass frames from goat horns now dominates the world market.

The following is a script from “Sticker Shock” which aired on Oct. 7, 2012. Lesley Stahl is the correspondent. Shachar Bar-On, producer.

Have you bought a pair of glasses lately? Bet your eyes popped when you saw the price tag. If you don’t go to places like Walmart or Costco, you could easily be spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a pair that cost $30 10 years ago. Talk about sticker shock.

And it’s not as though things have changed that much: they’re still made of a couple of pieces of plastic or wire, some screws and glass. Why should a pair of glasses cost more than an iPad? Well one answer is because one company controls a big chunk of the business.

Never has there been so much choice: Ray-Bans, Oakleys, glasses for running, and skiing, and even reading. A staggering variety of colors and designers. You’d think the competition would force the Plastic Extrusion prices down.

One reason it hasn’t is a little known but very big Italian company called Luxottica. If you own a nice pair of specs or shades, they’re probably theirs. Luxottica is the biggest eyewear company on earth. It shuns publicity, but CEO Andrea Guerra invited us in for a look. And it was eye-opening.

Lesley Stahl: Do you have any idea how many people in the world are wearing your glasses right now?

Andrea Guerra: At least half a billion are wearing our glasses now.

Luxottica started here as a small tool shop in Agordo, a dot of a town in the Italian Alps, when frames were still made of mountain goat horns. This was the factory in 1961. This is what it looks like today.

Last year, Luxottica made some 65 million pairs of sunglasses and optical frames. They don’t make prescription lenses. We saw mountains and mountains of glasses in boxes headed to China, India, Brazil, and, above all, to the U.S.

Lesley Stahl: But they’re very expensive. They can be very expensive.

Andrea Guerra: They can. This is one of the very few things that are 100 percent functional, 100 percent aesthetical, and they need to be on your face for 15 hours a day. Not easy, and there’s a lot of work behind them.

Luxottica’s product manager Isabella Sola explained that the company revolutionized how we see glasses.

Lesley Stahl, wearing sunglasses: You think I look cool?

Isabella Sola: Yes. I think so.

Lesley Stahl: I think I look cool too.

It wasn’t that long ago that glasses were uncool. You only wore them if you absolutely had to.

Lesley Stahl: I can remember, not that many years ago, my mother telling me that men will never ask me out if I wear my glasses. I was to go blind if I wanted dates.

But Luxottica took this medical device and turned it into high fashion, by making deals to conceive and create high quality, stylish specs for nearly every brand and label you can think of.

Isabella Sola: We have Prada. We have Chanel. We have Dolce Gabbana. We have Versace. We have Burberry. We have Ralph Lauren. We have Tiffany. We have Bulgari…

They’re not even called “glasses” anymore. They’re “eyewear!”

Lesley Stahl: Do people really wear this?

Isabella Sola: Yes!

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sticker-shock-why-are-glasses-so-expensive-07-10-2012/

Tech Plas Plastic Extrusion

Lakeland Plastics consists of a staff of trade veterans and specialists in custom plastic extrusion – this gifted group of extremely skilled and experienced professionals is what sets our firm other than all others. To meet the higher demands many manufacturers have been upgrading services in recent months which permits for quicker and bigger volumes of plastic extrusions but also extra accuracy when chopping the plastic objects. As the plastic is extruded from the die, it is fed onto a conveyor belt for cooling. When a panel at the backside of the hopper is removed or retracts, gravity directs the plastic into the channel.

In developed nations, a couple of third of plastic is used in packaging and one other third in buildings comparable to piping utilized in plumbing or vinyl siding three Other uses embody cars (as much as 20% plastic 3 ), furniture, and toys.

We get pleasure from working carefully with our prospects and have devoted technical teams to construct long lasting friendly relationships and exceptional customer service and are proud to provide knowledgeable cost effective service and experience to develop exceptionally good plastic extrusions that add worth to a wide variety of product functions.

The screw and barrel is much like a standard meat grinder which melts the fabric and conveys it to the front where the die sits. Our long history of offering plastic extrusions has included prospects in a various number of industries, together with agricultural, chemical, electronic, fiber optic, roadway, sanitation, and utilities. Plastic granules are fed into the hopper of the extruder and are drawn down into the screw.

Down to the smallest of plastic components, we take the time to show and check your design idea. Greiner Packaging is one in every of Europe’s main plastic packaging manufacturers within the Food and Non-Food sector. We are well-known for our functionality to design and manufacture plastic blow moulding and plastic injection moulding merchandise. At Genplex we manufacture custom plastic tubing to satisfy our prospects’ particular necessities, together with material sort, form, coloration, and hardness, in addition to any applicable regulatory necessities such as FDA or UL. In addition most profiles can also be taped, drilled or punched to swimsuit most requirements. Greiner Packaging opens new websites in Austria, Germany, Romania, Serbia, France, Mexico, the USA and Turkey. Some unique applications name for an extrusion that options the qualities of a couple of materials.

Do-It-Yourself: Plastic Molding

Setting up my own system?

First you have to put together your mold. There are several ways this can be achieved. Many people use RTV in either poly or silicon based units to create their two part molds, by making a negative of the part you are going to copy. Take for instance the question in my comments: broken lawn darts. This casting set should likely be in three pieces to allow for easy separation of each Fletch vane. I would use the best of the darts. Oil them with WD-40 or other slippery substance that silicone would not stick to. Next smear a very liberal amount of RTV on six small pieces of quarter inch paneling board. Make sure there will not be any bubbles.

Then carefully place each wet silicone piece onto the fletch vanes, making sure that all areas of the lawn dart are covered. It would be good to mark the individual pieces now with a marker. Wait a day or so for the RTV to cure. Using a utility knife, carefully separate the individual pieces. Hindsight in my own mistakes says to make sure you have also bonded the six pieces into three with a bracing piece. This can be siliconed in place as well, but make sure that your vanes are spaced evenly. Doing this properly will help in making sure your parts align properly for the next steps.

Once you have removed the original lawn dart from the mold, use your knife to open three small weep holes on the fletching edge of each vane. Next clamp your mold pieces together in the proper order. Then using a liquified plastic solution, usually created by dissolving the proper plastic into a solution of plastic weld glue. For the thin vanes of the fletching, particulate powder can be used, but being consistent in the fletching will be next to impossible. The ideal scenario would be to use the injection method after softening the injected plastic.

With this said, metal tipped lawn darts have been banned from use in the US and Canada because of injury and death. Parts can be imported, but kits and complete units are impounded by customs. This is not something to make to sell. However, this product is like the proper handling of a handgun. Education is essential for proper use. Use common sense. Anyone participating in a lawn dart game must understand that in 1988 the Trade Commission banned them after three deaths and a seven year old boy in Indiana suffered irreparable brain damage due to the metal tipped lawn darts.

But are you going to mass produce your project? Are you going to need a quick setting system for a more rapid production?

Injection molding alone is used for many different industries. In essence, Injection Molding is using a machine to squeeze the hot or chemically melted plastic into the mold. Injection molding mated to the particulate molding process, can speed your production considerably, as well as, as mentioned before, quite possibly making a stronger product. Keeping your equipment clean helps keep the fumes at bay as well. Stray plastic material can out gas for a long time after it has melted, and every time it is heated releases even more fumes.

I had thought that by this time I would have figured out a better system but arc heating and torch/flame heating are out of the question because of keeping the fumes to a minimum. So for now I use an array of several old soldering irons that are placed strategically around the mold to help in the even heating. However, that is a very inefficient system so I have been working on a new one that uses a small chamber and direct blown heat from that chamber.

Plastic Manufacturer Insurance, Commercial Liability

For the third time inside a 12 months, Meyer Plastics Inc is expanding its line of machinery. The drawing and blowing cause the movie to be thinner than the extruded tube, and also preferentially aligns the polymer molecular chains in the course that sees essentially the most plastic pressure If the film is drawn more than it is blown (the ultimate tube diameter is close to the extruded diameter) the polymer molecules will likely be highly aligned with the draw direction, making a movie that is sturdy in that course, but weak in the transverse path.

ALLTEC Laser Markers Especially Suited for Plastic Extrusion Applications… span fiber systems for high decision functions that require footprint, Nd:YAG methods for high pace purposes and CO2 laser coders – the economic answer for less demanding and lower resolution purposes.

Being firmly established in a robust corporate group gives Division Assistec entry to all the manufacturing network and the full range of applied sciences of the plastic packaging manufacturer Greiner Packaging, allowing it to supply its prospects a variety of solutions.

The extrusion ratio is outlined as the beginning cross-sectional area divided by the cross-sectional space of the final extrusion. At American Extruded Plastics, situated in Greensboro, NC, we use revolutionary know-how to create all the things from customized plastic tubes and rods to profile shapes. The plastic packaging provider Greiner Packaging creates its personal multilayer foils for the primary time. The Template software program is open-source code for straightforward customization of the graphic interface and of machine management. There are many post extrusion processes that may be applied to the plastic extrusions comparable to cutting to length, laminating, punching holes, embossing, and printing. Lakeland can extrude profiles as much as 18” in width and nearly any shape your designer or engineers can create. A 1 inch machine is comparatively small and comprises a screw that’s 1 inch in diameter.

Impurities and defects on the surface of the billet have an effect on the floor of the extrusion. In a tube or pipe extrusion line, a sealed water bathtub is acted upon by a rigorously managed vacuum to maintain the newly fashioned and still molten tube or pipe from collapsing. Our downstream capabilities include vacuum sizing, water or air cooling, a number of cutting applied sciences and spooling to giant or small reels. The take off puller is a key part to sustaining and controlling the dimensions of the extrusion. The fantastic thing about Plastic Extruders is that the lengths may be extremely quick (much less than250″) or they can be extraordinarily long and/or spooled into lengths of 1,000 feet or extra. And, with our in-house die shop, we are able to easily create personalized shapes for merchandise to suit your precise specifications. For new custom plastic extrusions, the method usually takes just one to 2 days.

Pexco Celebrates American Manufacturing by Opening Extrusion Center of Excellence

ALPHARETTA, Ga.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pexco LLC, a leading North American specialty plastics developer and

manufacturer, today marked Manufacturing Day by opening the Extrusion

and Engineering Center of Excellence (ECOE) at its Philadelphia-area

facility. This center offers engineering consultation and design

services for companies that require custom-extruded products or

components. The center is focused on the industrial market, including

the lighting, filtration, and traffic safety sectors, as well as

customers in other fields that require specialized plastic extrusions or

custom-engineered parts.

Pexco CEO Neil Shillingford noted the Extrusion and Engineering Center

of Excellence makes a strong statement about manufacturing. “Too often

it is said that ‘we don’t make things anymore’ or ‘manufacturing jobs

have all gone overseas.’ That’s not true and the Extrusion Center of

Excellence is proof. This center exists to support the dynamic

industrial plastics market all across North America and American

manufacturing in particular,” he said.

To demonstrate its commitment to skilled American manufacturing and its

Philadelphia operation, Pexco announced a multi-year investment in the

Bucks County Technical High School in Fairless Hills, Penn., in support

of its Manufacturing Academy program. The school targets vocational

education and career readiness for students and adults in manufacturing

and other disciplines. The pairing between businesses and education not

only facilitates community relations, but also benefits American

manufacturing and the development of the next generation of skilled

workers necessary to compete in the global economy.

Adds Shillingford, “We are more than happy to make this investment and

sponsor skilled development of manufacturing talent that will benefit

both our business and the local community.”

The Center of Excellence, located within an existing 65,000 square-foot

facility in Morrisville, Penn., is home to many of Pexco’s 100

engineering and production specialists. The space also houses 12

extrusion lines, including three that are devoted to product

development. In addition, there are collaboration areas and a gallery

that displays Pexco’s extrusion capabilities. The ECOE investment

follows the 2014 expansion of the Philadelphia operation, when Pexco

added approximately 20,000 square feet of manufacturing and development

engineering production space to the plant.

“With new assets and an expanded engineering team, the Extrusion Center

of Excellence brings it all together in one place. In this space our

customer and the Pexco team will align our minds and efforts around the

customer’s particular engineering challenges and product needs,” said

Shillingford.

About Pexco

Part of Odyssey Investment Partners, LLC and based in Alpharetta,

Georgia with multiple plants in the United States and Mexico, Pexco is a

North American leader in the design and fabrication of custom and

specialty plastics products focusing on niche, high value-added end

markets. It provides standard and specialty parts and components to

manufacturers and end-users for a broad range of specialty applications,

including medical, defense, lighting, filtration, and industrial

markets. Pexco offers a full range of custom design, engineering and

fabrication services. Pexco meets the requirements of ISO 9001, ISO

13485, and operates multiple Class 7 & Class 8 clean rooms. For more

information, visit http://www.pexco.com

or contact 404-564-8560.

Plastic Containers

Welcome to TP Extrusions, the plastic extrusion (including PVC extrusions) specialists supplying a variety of plastic extrusions to the UK and worldwide including custom plastic extrusions. To meet the upper demands many producers have been upgrading facilities in recent months which permits for sooner and bigger volumes of plastic extrusions but additionally more accuracy when slicing the plastic items. As the plastic is extruded from the die, it is fed onto a conveyor belt for cooling. When a panel on the backside of the hopper is removed or retracts, gravity directs the plastic into the channel.

The die is what gives the final product its profile and have to be designed in order that the molten plastic evenly flows from a cylindrical profile, to the product’s profile shape. Greg Wade Reloaded Extruder 3D Printer Plastic J-Head PLA 1.75mm or 3mm RepRap. Plastic extrusion size are only limited to the manufacturing course of machines functionality.

Universal Plastics manufactures flexible and rigid plastic extruded tubing products and plastic profiles for diverse industries Our sources include a big number of thermo plastic compounds that meet Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) requirements.

Co-Extrusion and Tri-Extrusion are the processes of extruding two or more supplies by a single die with two or extra orifices arranged in order that the extrudates merge collectively into a fused single half. Our technique of plastic rotational molding, allows us to fabricate at a really giant scale comparable quantities to blow molding or other plastic processes however with fewer design constraints.

As a vertically built-in firm with design amenities, our own instrument-room, plastic extrusion manufacturer and our personal transport, we provide a complete package deal from design to supply. Extruded plastic netting is produced in a continuous course of leading to a stable net construction in which the hole dimension is held fixed, not like a woven or knitted product. Our secret to premium plastic extrusions lies within the supplies that we use, because we know that an end product is simply as good as its starting. In conjunction with our in-house CAD supported software and die store, Climatech has years of expertise to fulfill present and future plastic design requests. The good factories there have the experience, the experience, and the aggressive pricing that makes China plastic manufacturers the go to choice.

Guide To Plastic Coding System: What’s Behind The Number?

#3 – POLYVINYL CHLORIDE (PVC)

This can manufactured to be either rigid or flexible. Flexible PVC is used for medical bags and showers curtains while the rigid ones used to make construction materials.

These can be found on food packaging, plastic wrap, cosmetics, curtains, toys, containers for toiletries, water pipes and garden hoes.

The FDA acknowledges that the building block of PVC is a human carcinogen. The compound DEHP (Di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate) that is found on PVC can cause endocrine disruption, decreased birth weight, linked to asthma and reproductive as well as developmental effects. If medical wastes with PVC and Phthalates are regularly incinerated, it can cause public health effects from the release of dioxins and mercury. This includes cancers, birth defects, declining sperm counts, infertility, system impairment and hormonal changes.

#4 – LOW-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE (LDPE)

This is used for its roughness, relative transparency and flexibility; that is why this is used to make bottles that requires extra flexibility. Also, this is used to produce plastic bags, grocery bags, garbage bags and squeezable bottles. It can also be found on toys, container lids, shrink wrap and packaging.

So while no known adverse health effects associated with the use of this plastic, somehow, organic pollutants are also formed during the manufacturing process.

#5 – POLYPROPYLENE (PP)

This is known for its high melting point; can also be manufactured as flexible or rigid. This is ideal for holding hot liquids that cool in the bottles. This is used for medicine bottles, bottle caps and other household items, containers for yogurt, margarine, and take-out meals. Also been used to produce disposable diapers, house wrap and outdoor carpets.

This is not easily recycled and no known health issues found.

uPVC Window Not Closing Properly

The most common problem with pvc windows is the sash won’t close properly against the seal. Which means you will lose money with heat going straight out the unsealed window.

How to identify the problem : The problem is caused ether with the lock the hinges or your sash has dropped.

Check Hinges : First thing you do is close your sash and check your hinge side. If there is a gap between the sash and the frame on the hinge side, than it is your hinges. All that is wrong is that your hinges are after wearing down and not pulling the sash in tight against the frame anymore. A new pair of hinges are needed. Most window companies will do this for you. It only takes a few minutes to change a pair of hinges and is not a big job, most people would be able to do this job.

Check Lock : Close your sash and on the inside slide a credit card between the sash and the frame. The card should be tight and not to easy to move around. If the card is not tight than you more than likely are getting a draft in your window. All that is needed here is a small adjustment to you lock and it will tighten up the seal. Almost anyone would be able to do this job all that is need is a set of allen keys

Check if sash has dropped : This problem is with windows that have a side opening. (This is the type of opening that opens like a door) Close your sash and look at the top corner above the handle. Move slightly and if you can see daylight than that means it has dropped. Plus also check that the sash is running equal with the frame. If it is down more at the handle side than you sash may be after dropping a small piece. Most sashes will drop a small piece and will not affect the overall performance of the window. But if it keeps dropping that when the problems start.

How to fix the problem : If you are want to have a go at fixing any of these problems below is a guide to help you get it sorted

Hinges : Unscrew the hinges from the frame and lift the sash out. Have a look at the sash and the way the old hinges are fixed to it. Than unscrew the old hinges and put the new ones on it the same place. Place the sash back into the frame and screw the hinges back onto the frame. Check that it is opening and closing

Lock : To adjust the lock will only take a minute and all that is needed is an allan key. Open the window and look at the cams these are the parts that move up and down when you move the handle. These can be turned with a allan key. Turn them one way and it tightens the sash against the seal. Turn them the other way and it loosens them.

Dropped Sash : Take out the glass than close your sash and make sure your sash is lined up. Now put your glass back in and pack it right around with plastic packers so that there is no movement between the glass and the sash. If you don’t have plastic packers you can get them at any window company that makes windows. They are very cheap to buy. The chances are there is not enough of them in your sash from day one and that is why your sash dropped.

Tip : To help prolong the life of your espage locks and hinges especially if you are living near the sea. Rub grease onto the locks and hinges. this will keep the air from them and stop corrosion and slow down wear and tear. As for the dropped sash there is nothing you can do about this until it happens, as this happens due to glass being fitted badly.

Feel free to ask any questions by posting them in the comment box below

http://hubpages.com/living/window-not-closing