“Within Duncan and Todd there is a huge amount of expertise”

Mat Norris, group CEO, sat down with OT at 100% Optical to share his reflections on the sector, the growth of the business, and the goals on the horizon.  

A fresh pair of eyes

Norris took on the role of group CEO for the Scottish optical and hearing care group in autumn 2023.

“I am completely new to optical and still feel like I’m scratching at the surface,” he said.

Previous roles have seen Norris as head of Aqualisa, in leadership posititions at Titon, and director positions at Jim Lawrence Lighting, Johnson Matthey, and Philips.

“Everything I have always done has been all about customer focus and the products and services that are tailored around the customer,” he shared, and this is an angle he has brought with him to his new role.

He told OT: “Within Duncan and Todd there is a huge amount of expertise. As the business has grown quite rapidly, there is an opportunity for us to get the synergies and best practice, and share them within the group so we get the full value of that for the business and for our customers.”

Sharing his perspective on the optical sector, he commented: “It has been really enjoyable. The industry is fascinating – a mix between retail, clinical, manufacturing and supply. It is a diverse industry.”

Growth in manufacturing

Norris first came on board in 2023 to support Caledonian Optical, the lens manufacturing arm of Duncan and Todd Group, as it relocated to new, expanded facilities.

“The journey that part of the business has been on is really exciting to see,” he said.

Norris explained the next area of focus for the manufacturing business: “One of our brand phrases is that we are ‘the best of big and small.’ Historically, we have been the best of small – we offer a very personal service. If you want to speak to our technical manager, you can pick up the phone and speak with him directly.”

He added: “So for us, the question is how do we keep that personal relationship with people, but on a scale where we can bring that to more people?”

Caledonian Optical now operates from a purpose-built 1500 square foot laboratory based in Dyce, Aberdeen.

The site features more automation and equipment, an increased anti-reflection coating department, and has triple the capacity than its previous location – where the manufacturer was based since 1976.

Norris shared: “We’re constantly improving our quality and production management. We’ve gone from producing maybe 100 jobs a day to up to 500, and we have capacity to produce well above 800 jobs a day. Being able to do that consistently well is what we have been focusing on.”

The investment has enabled the business to make progress in sustainable improvements.

Norris said: “Sustainability is one of our core brand values across the whole group.”

Investment in equipment, such as the MEI lens edging system, has helped to reduce waste and water usage during manufacturing.

A closed-circuit system of recycling water and separating plastic waste is in place on the site, while plastic waste is compacted in a dry powder format to reduce the size of waste sent to landfill.

As of August 2024, the company received the Powered by Renewables certification from the Practice Building Net Zero Optics programme.

Consistency of customer service

Duncan and Todd Group has three central values: Customer service (being ‘the best of big and small’), sustainability, and clinical excellence ‘on your doorstep.’

As part of the commitment to ensuring clinical excellence is available to everybody, the group has committed to rolling out optical coherence tomography (OCT) across all its practices.

Norris explained: “That comes with challenges, such as in small one-room practices. We’ve also been trialling other equipment and looking at how we can make it a more effective and efficient journey for customers.”

Consistency across the group is a focus as the business has expanded quickly. This is a common story across the industry, Norris acknowledged, as there is a great deal of consolidation in the sector.

He shared: “The success of our branches is down to the people and the care they give. So [it is about] how we make sure we support them and get that consistency of best practice.”

Duncan and Todd Group has 42 branches across Scotland, with broad coverage including remote areas of the country.

He told OT: “Our aim is to become the leader, if we’re not already, in getting that accessible care to people across Scotland. We have some areas with huge demand, so for us it is how we can service that by expanding and growing our capacity. This is not just more branches, but also increasing the scale of some of our branches.”

Before more growth, the primary focus of the group is “optimising what we have,” Norris added.

As care increasingly moves into community settings, what is Norris’ view on the role Duncan and Todd practices can play in this dynamic?

“We want to make sure that customers get the care they need. I think, in a lot of cases, if the community is the best place for them to receive that, then I’m fully supportive of us doing that,” he said.

Acknowledging that are practical challenges, he added: “But ultimately, if it’s providing people with care in the most successful way, and in the right way, it has to be a good thing.”

He continued: “It is also interesting for the optometrists as well, giving them new skills to develop and challenges, the more responsibilities they take on.”

Educating the public

Norris sees education and communication with patients as a major opportunity for the group and the sector.

As a spectacle wearer of three years himself, Norris acknowledged: “I’m new to the industry from a consumer standpoint. I think the level of knowledge outside of the industry is low.”

The range of lenses, and the different applications for these, can be “bewildering” for an outsider, he shared.

There is a challenge in bringing together the clinical expertise of practitioners “giving an informed choice about what is best clinically for a patient,” with the lifestyle and application focus that the patient brings, Norris suggested.

He shared: “How do we have the most efficient and effective merge of those two bits of information to get the optimum clinical and practical lifestyle-based solution?”

“One of the things I’m keen to do is look at how we help the clinical people get more of a customer focus, and give the customer a clearer understanding of the clinical applications,” he said.

He added: “I don’t expect a customer is ever going to pick out their own lenses without a dispenser to guide them, but people don’t know that there are solutions out there – that have been around for a while – and are suffering without them because they think that is what wearing glasses is like.”

When it comes to the eye examination itself, Norris pointed to the use of OCT, sharing: “It is interesting because it is customer-facing, and really complex.”

As a patient, he suggested: “It gives me an immediate impression of clinical excellence, but I couldn’t tell you what it is doing. How do we make that more useful, interesting and informative?”

“Anything we can do to be more customer-focused helps us to be more successful as an industry, and hopefully as a business as well,” he said.