Shamir Optical Industry

Shamir Optical Industries Ltd. is an international company that develops and manufactures lenses. Its main activities are located in Kibbutz Shamir.

The company was established in 1972 as a manufacturer of bifocal lenses, and then began producing single-vision, multi-focal lenses and glass molds.

In 2005 the company issued dual listings, on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, thus becoming the first company from the kibbutz industry to be listed on the NASDAQ. The company currently employs about 2,200 people in 23 laboratories and subsidiaries around the world. In 2011, the French company Essilor bought 50% of the company, and the company become private again.

History

The optics factory was established in Kibbutz Shamir to answer the need of involving Kibbutz members in activities that do not originate in agriculture by offering an additional manufacturing industry. To this end, the Kibbutz signed an agreement with the American company "KMS Industries" (owned by Kip Siegel), to establish a bi-focal lens factory, with production intended entirely for export outside Israel. As part of the agreement, the company, which produced optics for televisions, agreed to provide know-how to the factory and even to buy all its products for the first two years.

In 1972, about two years after signing the agreement, Shamir Industries Ltd. was established, and the optics factory for the production of bi-focal lenses in the kibbutz was inaugurated by Pinchas Sapir . 7 years later, in 1979, the company expanded its production and started manufacturing multi-focal lenses in addition to existing lenses. During that year, the factory's turnover was half a million dollars, and about 20% of the industry sector originated in the factory in Kibbutz Shamir.

Five years after production began, the company launched its first product when it introduced the first multi-focal lenses to the public in 1984, which were offered for sale to the general public.

In 1988, the company created its foothold in the United States, when it established its subsidiary, Shamir USA. In 1994, Shamir set up a distribution center to supply semi-finished lenses to laboratories across the United States, and for that purpose it set up another company called Shamir Insight Inc.

In 2001, the company inaugurated a production line together with its partner, Eyal Optical Industries, thus expanding its activities in the production of plastic lenses. A year later, the company began to strengthen its power in Europe, when in 2012 it became the owner of laboratories manufacturing optics in Portugal as part of a partnership with Altra Optic GmbH.

In 2005, Shamir Optics became a public company, issued on both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ at a value of $225.4 million. This made the company the first Kibbutz company to be issued on the NASDAQ. (6)

In 2008, Shamir strengthened its position in Europe when the German distribution company, Altra Trading, became a wholly owned subsidiary following the acquisition of 49% of the company's shares, which were added to 51% of the company's shares already held before the transaction.

In 2011, the company merged with the French optics company Essilor. The merger was carried out through the purchase of 37% of shares from the public and another 13% of shares from Shamir Optical Industries Ltd., totaling 50% of the company, for  $130 million.(7) Upon completion of the merger deal, Shamir was delisted from the Nasdaq and turned from a public to a private company.

In February 2020, the company signed a cooperation agreement with "Paris Miki", the largest optical company in Japan, under which it will provide the company's customers with customized lenses within 24 hours. The lenses will be manufactured in the "InoTime" laboratory developed in Israel and established in Tokyo with an investment of $2 million.

The company has additional "InoTime" laboratories with the same production methods in New Zealand, Singapore, Italy, France, Canada and two additional laboratories in Portugal.

In April 2020, the company launched Anti-fog technology, designed to prevent steam on the glasses of those wearing a face-mask as a means of protection during Covid-19 pandemic. The company offered the technology for free to medical teams in need.

Additional activities

Shamir Optics sponsors the Israeli athlete Hanna Knyazyeva-Minenko, who represents Israel in the long jump and triple jump and will compete in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. In October (2020), the company, together with the Israeli Embassy in Portugal, operated a mobile laboratory which provided vision tests for senior Portuguese citizens. The truck is intended for performing vision tests in nursing homes in the country, and to meet the needs of elderly citizens during the Corona epidemic who fear being exposed to the virus outside their nursing homes.