Leading Middle East optical retailer MAGRABi has launched a Lens Innovation Centre (LIC), which is slated to be the Middle East‘s largest and most efficient manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses, with a capacity to produce more than two million lenses per annum.
The company has stated that it will invest AED54 million to develop the LIC by 2025, and has entered into a partnership with Hoya and Seiko Optical for design of the lenses and supply of premium manufacturing materials, thereby enhancing its position as a leader in innovation and technology in the sector.
The LIC augments MAGRABi’s position as the Middle East’s leading optical retailer, and is scheduled to create 90 more jobs by the end of 2025. The LIC was launched in January 2022, and is expected to cater to the company’s premium brand, as well as its mainstream brand, Doctor M.
MAGRABi’s Advanced lab
The Lens Innovation Centre (LIC) is the most advanced optical lab in the Middle East, in partnership with Schneider Optical – a leading manufacturer of cutting-edge ophthalmic lens equipment and machinery. Currently, the facility operates 24/7, and has a manufacturing capacity of one million lens per year. The company anticipates that the production capacity will double to to two million lenses per year by the year 2025.
The Lens Innovation Centre by MAGRABi is the only manufacturing facility in the region that incorporates Schnedier’s Modulo Line technology, which permits it to run at an efficiency level hitherto unseen in the Middle East. The Modulo Production Line offers wide-ranging benefits, and aids in reducing costs and improving efficiency and capacity levels to world-standards.
The futuristic technology incorporated at the plant comprises cognitive machines, in-built quality control, and intelligent systems. The technology utilises advanced intelligent learning, and monitors the production process while recognising errors, and collates production data that the Modulo Production Line automatically responds to.
MAGRABi’s Global expansion plans
CEO of MAGRABi Group, Amin Magrabi, stated that as the leading optical retailer in the Middle East, and the only chain operating across the entire region, the next phase in MAGRABi’s growth was to expand internationally into other markets. He also said that prior to expansion, the focus of the company would be on consolidating its position in the Middle East, while ensuring full preparation for expansion.
Mr. Magrabi also said that the company aims to dominate the entire regional vertical chain in an effort to disrupt the global optical market, supported by significant investments to bolster this ambition. Magrabi mentioned that the company’s most valuable investment continued to be its staff, comprising the most talented and experienced engineers, managers, technicians and machine operators.
MAGRABi’s strategy will focus on consolidating its market-leading position in the Middle East, and thereafter exploring avenues for international expansion. The LIC constitutes a significant milestone to further the company’s ambition to control the entire optical value chain, and is vital to exploring other international markets.