Since its inception, COLA has been the voice of the wholesale optical labs in the Western United States.  As the optical industry continues to change, COLA has kept up with the times. COLA membership is comprised of corporate-owned, independently-owned, family owned and operated laboratories.  We share a fellowship and friendship which is genuine and difficult to duplicate.  COLA provides an opportunity for us to voice our ideas of how to overcome the tough obstacles that we must face on a daily basis within our industry. Our vendors and suppliers alike are also considered to be a big part of the COLA family.  We share special relationships with many companies that have been forged at our COLA meetings.  Through your continued support and generous contributions, COLA has been providing scholarships to the Schools of Optometry throughout our great state for many years and will continue to do so.

Our Annual Meeting at the Temecula Creek Inn this year had an agenda designed to address some very important topics in the areas of marketing and social media, AR Coating processes, and everything a lab should know regarding Free-Form technology and digital installation.  As you can see from our schedule, we were honored to hear from the leading experts in these areas of interest and discussed and debated the potential challenges associated with each of them. COLA’s goal is to provide clarity to these many difficult and complicated issues as well as to help strengthen our laboratories in these difficult economic times.