We are one of the first companies to support Silmo Istanbul and we can easily say that the success of the fair is increasing year by year with the increasing excitement of foreign visitors. 

Hello Mr. Ercan… Could you share the establishment story of Uğur Optik Makina with us? How is your journey that started in Antalya in 1993 progressing?

Our company, which was established in 1993 based in Antalya, operated in various business areas. We opened our retail stores in 1999. After doing successful business, we switched to the wholesale section in 2005 with the guidance of our foreign friends abroad, where we still do business. In those times when the internet was still difficult to access, we came to the forefront through our web site by creating the absence in Turkey. We became indispensable for all opticians by selling very high material and machine prices at half the prices. In addition, we brought together the products that our country’s opticians have not seen until that day with our colleagues. As a person in the profession, knowing how our optician friends think and what they need has been our most important advantage.

What are the main service areas your company focuses on? Could you elaborate on your activities in these service areas?

Uğur Optik Makina operates in the field of materials and optical lens. For the last 15 years, we have concentrated our focus on the production and import of machinery. Intense competition in other fields has led us to the field of machinery, which is more difficult to do. In this field, we have become a globally recognized company with our Centervision brand. The secret of success in machinery is customer satisfaction. For this reason, our company has survived for more than 30 years. As Uğur Optik family, this is the issue we care about the most. Since the average working time of the company employees is over 10 years, everyone is used to it and has made it a company tradition.

What are the brands and products in your company and could you tell us about the distinctive features of your products?

The most well-known brand of our company in Turkey and in the world is Centervision. The brand of this product, which is a focusing device, has caused all focusing devices to be called center or centervision. So our brand has become the name of this product. For 15 years, we have been doing R&D continuously. We have been ahead of our competitors in the world in a continuous innovation. Our other brands, Chalk and Tuscany, are used in 80% of optical stores and are brands that we import, sell and service. There is hardly any colleague who has not used these brands. We provide service with these 2 brands in our products such as glass cutting machine, focometer, hand stone, nylor, heater pupilameter etc. Huvitz is a world-renowned South Korean company that produces ophthalmic and opticianry products with the least error. We have been the distributor of this company for opticians in Turkey for 14 years. Sales and technical service of glass cutting machines and fokometers are carried out by us.

You registered your Centervision branded focus measurement device in 2010. What are the features of this device and the convenience it offers to opticians?

These devices, which used to be used only for focusing, have become a little more compulsory with the introduction of free form lenses. A progressive lens without PD, Pantascopic angle, vertex distance, frame curvature, close focus distance cannot be free form. But it is a standard progressive lens. Our colleagues who take care of their work inform these measurements to the lens company and ensure that the lens is personalized. In addition, the Centervision device is not only for taking measurements but also offers other features and conveniences to our colleagues. Its success in adding a stylish atmosphere to our store, being a useful table, and convincing customers with animations is indisputable. There is a noticeable increase in the lens sales of the companies that buy this device and the money they pay for the machine returns to them within an average of 8 months.

You provide service to universities by supplying optical machines and materials to opticianry departments in Turkey. How did this project start and what are the advantages it offers?

We have been very sensitive about education from the very beginning. In 2004, I became an optician by taking a course with the law enacted in 2004. The lack of education I saw here pushed me to look for ways to solve it. First, I established connections with the 5 universities that existed at that time and started to shoulder the work when I was invited to the first meeting. Then, in 2011, I helped the establishment of Okan and Aydın Universities. During this period, the lack of knowledge of the professors of the new universities on optics emerged.

In order to solve this problem, I organized the Optik 2012 meeting, which brought together the sector, universities and the public sector, in a hotel. However, these efforts were not enough. There is an inflation of new universities every year and new professors needed to be informed. For this reason, I continued these meetings for 3 years. Finally, we succeeded. Now we have very good professors in all of the opticianry departments and they train good students. In the meantime, while providing education opportunities to new universities, we also helped them with their laboratories and we became a school in this field. With the experience we have gained, today we are establishing opticianry laboratories even abroad.

What are the future goals of Uğur Optik Makina? How do you plan to improve your brand awareness in Turkey and abroad?

Our company has reached the required position in the country. However, this is not our goal. We continue our efforts to make the optical profession in our country among the best, and one of the most important factors for this is the machine line. We strive to make the latest technologies available to our colleagues through import or manufacturing. In addition, by selling these products in the world, we continue to aim to bring both foreign currency and prestige to our country. Our support for education continues. We promote our products by participating in several fairs around the world every year and through social media. We exported to 36 countries and we are trying to increase the number of our dealers by developing our dealer network.

As an exhibitor, how would you evaluate the 10th Silmo Istanbul Optical Fair, which is being held for the 10th time with its new and larger service area?

I am one of the first companies to support Silmo Istanbul. When Mrs. Banu said we want to organize a fair, no one was as happy as me. Fairs are more important as a sector meeting before product promotion. Sharing information and meeting members of the sector has taken the sector to the next level. I think we have become the number two fair in Europe. We have surpassed Paris, I can understand this from the excitement of international customers. I hope this festive Silmo Istanbul atmosphere will continue for many more 10 years.

Thank you so much for this valuable interview. Finally, could we learn your views on the evolution of our magazine 4 your eyes into digital publishing?

It is of great importance in accessing information in the sector. I think it is the biggest advantage that your magazine is accessible by every sector professional and every optical store employee. I would like to thank you for your efforts on behalf of our sector. Congratulations to your entire team.

August 2024