Bausch & Lomb in Waterford is to be the production site for a revolutionary new soft contact lens which can be worn continuously for 30 days. and It will be marketed by the company in Europe from April.
A large section of the £43 million (€54.59 million) expansion at the contact lens manufacturing facility in Waterford has been set aside for the production of the break-through product, which has been given CE mark approval from the National Standards Authority of Ireland, giving the company clearance to begin marketing evaluations within the EU.
PureVision lenses are made of a Balasilcon A, a new form of soft contact lens silicone hydrogel material and are manufactured utilising AerGel technology.
Waterford has also been chosen as the location for the manufacture of its SofLens 66 and Toric, a two-week disposable lens for astigmatism.
The new development for the company was announced yesterday when the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, visited the plant to officially open the new 90,000 sq ft. extension. More than 400 new jobs have already been created.
The original plant has been extended to accommodate the new processes, as well as new laboratory and office facilities.
Mr James Kennedy, Bausch & Lomb vice-president of European operations for vision care, said that in order to keep up with expanding world-wide markets the company needed to increase the capacity of its Waterford plant. When the new extension was being planned a 20,000 sq ft space was reserved for the possibility that Waterford would successfully bid for extra business.
"I am happy to say that even before we officially opened the new facilities, we have had to commission this floor space for extra production capacity of a new SofLens 66 Toric product," said Mr Kennedy.
"Waterford is now producing Bausch & Lomb's newest and most state-of-the-art product which will be launched in various markets throughout the world this year".
A new research and development facility has also been established in Waterford as part of the current expansion, where Bausch & Lomb will work on the development of improved manufacturing processes. Techniques developed in Waterford will be applied to manufacturing processes in Bausch & Lomb lens plants in other parts of the world.
Speaking at the official opening of the £73 million expansion yesterday, the Taoiseach said that the company had grown at an incredible rate in its 18 year existence, starting in 1980 with 100 employees and growing to its present workforce of 1,400.
