Haag-Streit UK (HS-UK), the leading manufacturer and distributor of gold-standard optometry and ophthalmic equipment, is excited to report that His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent visited the HS-UK Harlow headquarters on Wednesday 28th November.
The Duke of Kent was visiting companies in the Harlow area, alongside Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Essex. HS-UK and sister company Clement Clarke International (CCI) were chosen due to their focus on product innovation and involvement in UK manufacturing.
The Duke was given a tour of both the HS-UK and CCI manufacturing facilities, including the; state-of-the-art injection moulding facility, assembly areas and quality control inspection rooms. Following this, His Royal Highness met some of the key members of the HS-UK and CCI team. The Duke was taken through the processes which are used during manufacturing and was then shown the Clement Clarke Ophthalmic (CCO) product range, including the Synoptophore and Perkins Mk 3 hand-held tonometer, both of which are manufactured on-site.
The CCO Synoptophore and Perkins Mk3 are both long-standing products within the HS-UK portfolio. The Synoptophore was first launched in the UK in 1931 and was a vital product for the ophthalmic and orthoptic profession at the time, mainly used for the assessment and treatment of ocular motility disorders. The product continues to be an important diagnostic tool and is still used regularly in eye clinics today. The Perkins Mk3 is a hand-held tonometer that is used for assessing intraocular pressure to diagnose glaucoma. The initial Perkins Mk1 model was developed during the 1970s and, at the time, won the Design Council Award, which was presented by The Duke of Edinburgh.
Dean Johnson, HS-UK Managing Director, said, “We were delighted to welcome The Duke of Kent to the HS-UK headquarters, here in Harlow. His Royal Highness is well-known for fostering the development of British technology and industry.”
Dean continued, “We were excited to be able to show His Royal Highness our UK-manufactured CCO product-range. We are very proud to be a leader in the manufacture and distribution of orthoptic, optometry and ophthalmic devices in the UK, so it was a great honour to show The Duke these devices and demonstrate how they are used in daily practice to diagnose eye disease.”
