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Eyeglass Workers May Soon Learn Fate

Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

Jul. 26--Employees of the Spectacle Lens Group in Roanoke may learn this week about the fate of their jobs and, in some cases, lengthy careers with health and consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson.

In June, Johnson & Johnson announced it had signed an agreement with Essilor, a former eyeglass-lens competitor, to sell Essilor its Roanoke-based Spectacle Lens Group.

The Spectacle Lens Group division has manufactured the Definity brand of progressive addition lenses, also known as "no-line" bifocals, in its building off Hershberger Road near Interstate 581.

Essilor manufactures a similarly sophisticated and customized eyeglass lens, the Varilux Ipseo, made at a lab in Dallas.

Since June, executives have refused to comment about whether Essilor, based in France but with extensive operations in the United States, would buy Johnson & Johnson's building or continue to manufacture the Definity lens in Roanoke.

Late last week, a news release from Essilor about the company's second-quarter earnings reported it had received approval from anti-trust authorities at the Federal Trade Commission to complete the acquisition of the Spectacle Lens Group. Essilor said it anticipated completing the deal "in the next few days."

In an e-mail Monday, Heather Allen, a spokeswoman for Essilor, wrote, "We expect to have our plans finalized by the middle of this week."

In June, Marc Monseau, a spokesman for Johnson & Johnson, said the Spectacle Lens Group had about 215 employees, a total that included salespeople and other staff who were not in Roanoke. More recently, the company said it had 179 workers in Roanoke.

Because Johnson & Johnson did not deliver the 600 jobs promised in a 1999 performance agreement, it recently paid back $1.4 million in development incentives -- money that will be returned to the state.

On Monday, John Hogan, president of the Spectacle Lens Group, could not be reached for comment. Richard Clompus, the division's vice president of professional affairs, said he could not talk about the deal with Essilor or its possible ramifications in Roanoke.

In many ways, the Spectacle Lens Group is a homegrown company. Development of the Definity lens built on technologies developed by Roanoke inventor and optometrist Ron Blum. In 1997, Johnson & Johnson purchased Blum's Innotech company for $135 million.

In March 1999, when Johnson & Johnson announced plans to build a new, $125 million plant in Roanoke, state and local officials said the facility would be a vital addition to efforts to build a base of technology-related jobs in the region.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Roanoke Times, Va.

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EF, JNJ,

Source: The Roanoke Times

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