LensCrafters 2014 Annual Report Download - page 27

Luxottica invests in R&D to strengthen its
manufacturing processes on an on-going basis. As a
result, the Company continues to invest to increase its
manufacturing capacity in Italy, China, the United States,
Brazil and India, while benefiting from innovation and
information technology enhancements. This commitment
is expected to translate into increased efficiency and
improved quality of the manufacturing processes.
A global “culture of quality”
The satisfaction of wholesale clients and retail consumers
is one of Luxottica’s primary and indispensable objectives.
Achieving this objective means continually improving the
quality of every phase of the production and distribution
cycles and this has been one of the drivers prompting the
Group’s full vertical integration. By increasing production
capacity in both developed and emerging countries, the
Company is pursuing a crucial goal: delivering the same
”Made in Luxottica” quality everywhere in the world.
Wherever design and production of frames and sun
lenses take place, a single quality system applies to
every process involved, from product development
to procurement, distribution, operational analysis and
uniform and measurable performance management in
the plants.
Most of the manufacturing equipment is specially
designed and adapted for the Group’s manufacturing
processes. This facilitates a rapid response to customer
demand and an adherence to strict quality control
standards. Through on-going verification of precision
and expertise in all the phases of production, Luxottica
seeks to manufacture a product of the highest quality.
Quality and process control teams regularly inspect
semi-finished products, verifying the feasibility of
prototypes in the design phase, controlling standards in
both the product development and production phases,
subsequently checking for resistance to wear and tear
and reviewing optical properties in relation to type of
use. The manufacturing processes and materials used
by primary suppliers are also controlled and certified.
Luxottica designs products to meet or exceed
relevant industry standards for safety, performance
and durability. Throughout the development process,
eyewear products undergo extensive testing against
standards established specifically for eyewear by
ANSI (Z.80.3), ASTM, Standards Australia Limited (AS
1067) and EU (EN ISO 12312 and EN ISO 12870). These
standards relate to product safety and performance
and provide quantitative measures of optical quality,
UV protection, light transmission and impact resistance.
To assure its quality standards worldwide and the right
support for quality improvement, Luxottica has four
main labs, one in Italy, one in China, one in the United
States and one in Brazil. Each lab is responsible for
establishing and maintaining the quality standards in
the region where it is located and supports activities
in engineering, production and market feedback
management. All of these labs conduct the same tests
using the same equipment and procedures which are
developed and approved in the central Italian lab.
In 2014 Luxottica’s Italian, Chinese and US manufacturing
facilities were granted accreditation by the American
Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) for
performing ISO 8624 and ISO 12870 tests on eyewear.
The A2LA accreditation program provides formal
recognition of the technical competence and quality
management utilized in performing these specific tests.
Every year, Luxottica enhances the performance
criteria used in its standard tests and introduces new
requirements. As a result of the effectiveness of the
quality control program, the return rate for defective
merchandise manufactured by Luxottica has remained
stable at approximately 1% in 2014.
Logistics
The Group’s distribution system is globally integrated and
supplied by a centralized manufacturing programming
platform. The network linking the logistics and sales
centers to the production facilities in Italy, China, the
United States and Brazil also provides daily monitoring
of global sales performance and inventory levels so
that manufacturing resources can be programmed and
warehouse stocks re-allocated to meet local market
demand. This integrated system serves both the retail
and wholesale businesses and is one of the most
efficient and advanced logistics system in the industry
with 18 distribution centers worldwide, including 11 in
the Americas, five in the Asia-Pacific region and two
in Europe, which have allowed the Group to reduce
worldwide logistic lead time year after year.
There are four main distribution centers (hubs) in
strategic locations serving the Group’s major markets:
Sedico (Italy), Atlanta (US), Ontario (US) and Dongguan
(China). They operate as centralized facilities thanks to a
highly automated order management system, servicing
other Group distribution centers or, in some markets,
shipping products directly to customers, thereby
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