CAREERS AT CHADWICK
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
I’m Charlie, and I was born into Chadwick Optical. My parents founded Chadwick in 1980 (I was born in 1982) and even though they’re gone, I am proud to continue to lead this company into the future.
We work in an incredibly exciting industry that has accidentally commoditized itself because nobody understands HOW FREAKING COOL IT IS! I love sharing my excitement for eyeglasses and ophthalmic optics with anyone who will listen.
I’ve lectured all over the country and world about what we do, and we have weekly training sessions to help our team really understand what happens outside of our little Chadwick world.
When I took over Chadwick in 2013, we had 4 staff members. Now we have over 30, and we’re still growing. Finding people that already know the type of stuff we do here is nearly impossible, so much of the training and development comes on the job.
We’ve had folks come into the company after years of working in the industry, and they’re often surprised at how different things are at Chadwick. My favorite quote from one of our experienced lab techs was “it feels like before, I was working at the Fisher Price ‘My Little Optical Lab.’ This is the real deal!”
Chadwick is seeking people who are curious, share our disillusionment with the healthcare system, and are eager to make the world a better place by helping practitioners exceed the standard of care.
Chadwick Optical doesn’t want people who want jobs. We want people who want to work for Chadwick Optical - people who are passionate about their work and find meaning in it.
OUR MISSION: LET'S EXCEED THE STANDARD OF CARE™
First and foremost, Chadwick is about helping patients who are left behind by the system. And quite a system it is. Unless a patient with a challenging vision condition is lucky enough to come across a rare chain of practitioners that exceeds the standard of care (that is also in their healthcare network), they often are gaslit into submission and left to believe they must suffer their impairments and disabilities in silence.
Because we primarily work with practitioners, we help those patients by inspiring and educating their practitioners to exceed the standard of care; then advising on and providing what they need to do so. We are also currently working on ways to directly educate and empower the patients to wring what they need out of the broken system.
That sounds pretty ambitious for a company that’s officially categorized as an optical lab, doesn’t it? Don’t tell us that. We’re going for it.
WHAT IT'S LIKE WORKING AT CHADWICK
CAREER PATHS
At Chadwick, we have a clear path where we’re going. Every single day, we wake up and it inspires the hell out of us. We want you to have the same. Just being a part of something bigger isn’t enough. We want to make sure that you have a clear path for you. There’s nothing worse than wondering where you stand in your job and how things are going. At Chadwick, you drive the bus of your career, and if you show us you want it, we’re going to find a way to get you the resources to make it work. We have in-house training weekly on a variety of topics, and are also willing to help support you in your company-aligned endeavors.
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP
The industry is facing many interesting challenges. One of the biggest challenges is retaining independence and continuing our mission in the face of industry consolidation and vertical integration. We are committed to building a company that will last the next 100 years and beyond. Part of this plan involves transitioning ownership to the team that makes us what we are. Our goal is to be employee-owned by 2030.
Training
While we offer formal training in the foundational information you’ll need for your job here at Chadwick, much of the knowledge you’ll attain will come from your curiosity and your courage to ask “why?”
Our job in training is to make information as easy to digest as possible. From there, the recipient must turn that information into knowledge, and that knowledge into wisdom. Unfortunately, it is impossible to train knowledge or wisdom. That transformation happens once the information is inside you. The beautiful thing is that you are surrounded by experts, and we create a fertile ground for the knowledge and wisdom to grow.
Culture
Most Human Resources departments are about forms and paperwork. Think about it…how gross of a name is “human resources?” It’s treating humans like they’re oil or gold or cash or equipment.
Our “HR” is about culture. It’s about fostering an environment where we can help talented people become their best selves.
This is a bit more complex than it sounds. The term “common sense” means entirely different things to someone who grew up on a farm versus someone who grew up in an urban neighborhood. We have dozens of people from different backgrounds and different walks of life on the same team, contributing to a common mission. In addition to our career paths and training, we also put a lot of effort into getting everyone on the same page. The behaviors we outline in the “Chadwick Way” are discussed every day, and help us address misunderstandings before they start.
Facilities
Chadwick Optical operates out of two separate facilities occupying roughly 35,000 square feet.
Our Schwenksville facility has a rich history dating back 100+ years, and has been a grocery store, a courthouse, a doctor’s office, and an electrical supply business. Chadwick Optical purchased the building in 2021, completely rehabbed the building, and moved into it in September 2023.
Our Red Hill facility was a machine shop for its first 75 years of existence, and was purchased by Chadwick Optical in early 2022. It houses our lens casting, mold-making, fabrication and R&D operations.
OUR DEPARTMENTS
Manufacturing
While our lab equipment is state of the art, what really makes it work is the people who understand how to leverage the capabilities of state of the art lab equipment. Our equipment vendors often comment that they didn’t know their machines could do that. That’s what we’re about. We find a way to make it happen.
Many of our entry level folks start in the lab, and depending on their curiosity, they evolve into the more complex things that we do. If you’re mechanically inclined, there are many opportunities to get into the guts of these complex pieces of equipment to replace parts and keep the machines maintained. If you’re more software inclined, you can learn to leverage the interactions between the equipment and our lab management software to help challenging jobs run more smoothly through the lab.
Order Fulfillment/Built-to-Order
As a manufacturer, Chadwick Optical has a unique marketplace position that many of our competitors do not. We make stuff. Most places import products by the shipping container, and then sell it. We manufacture a lot of the simpler products we sell. Order fulfillment involves maintaining inventory, picking orders and shipping, but can also evolve into light manufacturing and assembly.
Thin Film Coating
Thin-film coating is a bit of chemistry, a hefty pinch of physics, a whole lot of cleanliness, and a side of synthetic lightning. Thin film coating involves depositing chemicals onto a lens surface to reduce or increase the amount of reflections in a lens. Mechanically inclined people enjoy the rebuilding of the various components of the process.
Lens Casting
Lens casting is a relatively new department and business that we entered in the beginning of 2024 after purchasing Aire-O-Lite Optical. Lens casting combines many facets of manufacturing. We have injection molding processes, curing and cleaning processes, and visual inspection processes. In addition to casting the lenses, we also process glass to make the molds in our mold shop.
Customer Service/Data Entry
Our customer service department serves many functions. Customer support is where the friendly folks live. Order entry is where our slightly more introverted people hang out. Evolving in your technical expertise regarding how glasses are made and what products are available to help patients are critical elements of this department.
Engineering/R&D
Our engineering department is tasked with making sure that Chadwick Optical is constantly at the forefront of the industry. This involves taking on some pretty wild projects. They develop custom software, build plug-ins and connectors for our existing software, 3D print prototypes, and develop new manufacturing processes. They are also tasked with creating some solutions for the patients with the most extreme challenges. We have a full machine shop including a CNC lathe, a 3-axis mill, and a 5-axis mill.
Marketing
We live in a world where it seems most marketing departments specialize in making companies seem like they care. Which makes marketing a company that actually cares…a bit difficult.
There’s a fundamental flaw in our industry. For the most part, eye doctors think they’re eye doctors. Patients think eye doctors are vision doctors. So when a patient has a vision problem, the doctor sets about trying to solve their eye problems.
What a patient sees as “everything looks blurry,” the doctor sees as “excess drusen in the macula leading to reduced visual acuity.” To help doctors help patients, we need to assist in getting everyone on the same page as to what “help” actually looks like to each party.
For us, marketing isn’t about selling more stuff to make more money. It’s about the creation and communication of resources that help doctors and patients navigate this challenging landscape.
Finance
Many accounting professionals treat their jobs as separate from the rest of the business. We once joked that our controller thought we were an accounting company that happens to make glasses. We’re not. The mission comes first, and finance is the report card of how well we all work toward fulfilling that mission. Money is the fuel that powers the mission. Our finance department is expected to be inextricably connected to the rest of our business, and help everyone in the company understand the financial implications of various decisions we make. Unless you can help us connect it to how it helps visually impaired people, terms like contra revenue and accelerated depreciation are unwelcome jargon here.
JOIN OUR TEAM
We don’t want people who just want jobs. We want people who want to work for Chadwick Optical. If you want to work with us to make this world a better place, send us your resume, and let us know where you think you could fit in.
If you’re willing to do anything just to be a part of this wonderful team, let us know. As part of our career development planning, we’ll help you get from where you’ll start to where you want to be.