NEW YORK—Automation and consolidation continue to affect the outlook for the optical industry’s wholesale lab sector, according to Vision Monday’s newly released 2012 Top Labs Report.

The report, which is available in the September 24 issue of VM and on VisionMonday.com, examines how these powerful market forces are changing the ‘labscape’ for the industry’s largest labs, which in turn impacts the independent eyecare professionals who rely upon the labs.

It also analyzes how the lab sector, including independently-owned wholesalers and those owned by suppliers, has changed since 1992, the first year VM published the Top Labs Report.