CNN’S
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT FEATURES RESOLUTION® LENSES IN ONGOING SERIES
ON EXPORTING AMERICA
The Use of American Technology and Innovation at the Company’s
Milford, CT Facility Captures National Attention as a Model for
Keeping Jobs in the U.S.
Stratford,
Conn. (May 4, 2004) – Lou Dobb’s of CNN has taken on the cause of
keeping jobs in the U.S. His in-depth series “Exporting America” has
tackled the controversial issue of outsourcing, overseas manufacturing and job
losses in the U.S. That’s why when he found out about an American company
which has gone against the tide and has built a manufacturing facility in the
U.S., hired American workers and gained market share in the U.S. while also exporting
to overseas markets like China, Russia and Brazil, he took notice. On April 1,
2004 on CNN’s Lou Dobb’s Tonight “Exporting America” series,
CNN featured RESOLUTION® lenses and it’s Habilis manufacturing facility
in Milford, CT. The feature was hosted by Peter Viles, a veteran CNN reporter,
and included a tour of the facility and interviews with an expert from the Industry
and Business Council and with the company’s president and CEO, Nick Niejelow.
The
CNN feature highlighted the fact that the America ingenuity and
technology employed in making RESOLUTION® lenses can more than
make up for the economic advantages of cheap overseas labor and
manufacturing. By developing a new process
for manufacturing polycarbonate and using a multitude of patents, Niejelow
has produced a lens that has high value and is in great demand
despite its premium
price as compared to standard polycarbonate. With that the company has
penetrated the elusive Chinese market. While other companies and
even local municipalities
outsource products and services, RESOLUTION’s Habilis is employing
American workers, revitalizing local tool and die industries, using American
raw material
and providing business to dozens of U.S. manufacturing companies as it
builds its new plants.
It’s a story of American brawn and guts taking on the $8.9 billion U.S.
eyeglass industry and the growing trend of importing lenses, now at 75% of all
lenses sold in the U.S. But it also has to do with preserving the American way
of life and giving back something to one’s country, as was made clear during
CNN’s Peter Viles interview with the company founder. “I owe something
to this country – and I think that if we have the ability to make something
from a technological advancement, where we incorporate people that live and work
here, I will do my utmost,” said Nicholas Niejelow, president and CEO of
Habilis and Optima Inc., the distributor of its RESOLUTION® lenses.
CNN
made it clear that RESOLUTION® is an American success story. Domestic
demand and distribution by major chains, along with agreements with international
distributors, are proof that American entrepreneurs, like Niejelow, can overcome
what others perceive as insurmountable obstacles to manufacturing in the U.S.
The company’s second plant in the U.S., already in the final
planning stages, will perfect the innovation and technology even
further and provide
it with an
even greater edge.
For
more about RESOLUTION® lenses, please visit the product web site at www.ResolutionLenses.com.
To request collateral materials and for any other trade inquiries, please call
Optima at (800) 621-1216 or your Optima sales rep. RESOLUTION® lenses
are available nationwide through wholesale laboratories.
