RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.—VSP is expanding its growing network of prescription optical laboratories with the purchase of Ultra Lens optical lab in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the company announced today.

The lab had been privately owned by the Singer family. The purchase price was not disclosed.

Ultra Lens is a full-service wholesale lab founded in 1975 by Bud Singer and currently operated by his son-in-law, Danny Singer. The current management will stay on to run the lab, according to VSP. The lab, which has 35 employees, produces about 450 jobs per day and services customers throughout Florida as well as in other states. It operates an in-house anti-reflective coating facility, and is an authorized distributor of Hoya, Shamir, Varilux and Zeiss products.

"Adding Ultra Lens to our VSP lab network continues our commitment to providing the highest quality products and best service to our clients, doctors and members," said Don Oakley, VSP vice president of ophthalmic supply chain and services. "This acquisition provides VSP doctors with an even broader variety of advanced optical lab technologies and services from which to choose, ultimately benefiting the 700,000 VSP members in Florida and the 55 million members nationwide."

Danny Singer said that being owned by VSP "will enhance our ability to even be better than we were." As an example, he noted that Ultra Lens would now be able to service VSP doctors. "We were not doing VSP jobs before, but it’s something we’ve always wanted to be able to provide," he told VMail.

Ultra Lens is now VSP’s fourth wholly-owned lab, along with Legends 4.0 in Dallas, Texas, and the VSP Labs in Columbus, Ohio and Sacramento, Calif. The company shares ownership in Perfect Optics in Vista, Calif. and Tri-City Optical in Clearwater, Fla. through joint venture agreements with Carl Zeiss Vision and management.

Commenting on the next steps in VSP’s strategy for growing its lab network, VSP CEO Rob Lynch told VMail, "After this we'll be looking at what we do in terms of acquisitions or partnerships to fill out our desired geographic representation." VSP currently does not own a lab in the Northeast. Asked if other lab acquisitions are currently in the works, Lynch replied, "We have a strategy that's geographically oriented. We are certainly looking at a lot of situations in different areas, many of them in terms of partnering."

Lynch added, "I want to stress that we remain very committed to our existing lab network, including our relationship with the three major lab chains and our strong independent labs. We are looking for strong diversification across all of our lab network."