The Focused View

29/09/2026

A major industry shift began with a change in regulation.

When the US introduced new impact-resistance requirements in 1972, glass lenses faced a significant problem: meeting the standard meant making them thicker and heavier.

For companies like SOLA, this created an opportunity, but also a major technical challenge. CR-39 had the potential to replace glass, but making it work reliably as a prescription lens required solving a whole new set of manufacturing problems.

Rod Watkins was there as SOLA worked through those challenges and helped turn CR-39 from an emerging material into a practical option for prescription lenses we use today.

Listen to the full story of SOLA from Rod Watkins' perspective on the latest episode of The Focused View.

Website: https://bit.ly/4jhymOc
Spotify: https://bit.ly/4yNSMmm
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4cYNYCs
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4AlkubP

28/09/2026

Every company that achieves significant growth has people who help make that possible.

For SOLA, Noel Roscrow was one of those people, serving as CEO during a period when the company grew at an extraordinary pace.

Rod Watkins describes Noel as someone with an intense drive to build, but also as an extraordinary motivator who understands how to bring out the best in people. He remembered Noel as someone who could connect personally with people throughout the organisation, even as the company grew from 200 employees to thousands.

Rod’s firsthand experience gives us a closer look at the people, relationships, and leadership that shaped one of Australia’s most significant optical stories.

Listen to the full episode of The Focused View with Rod Watkins!

Website: https://bit.ly/4jhymOc
Spotify: https://bit.ly/4yNSMmm
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4cYNYCs
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4AlkubP

27/09/2026

What happens when strong business structure, deep technical knowledge, and relentless drive come together?

For SOLA, those qualities were represented by three very different individuals: David Pank, Don Schultz, and Noel Roscrow.

Their strengths and backgrounds were different, and their roles evolved as the company grew. But together, they helped turn an idea born inside an Adelaide optometry practice into a rapidly expanding optical business.

Rod Watkins was there during much of that journey, and he shares the story behind the people and the decisions that helped shape SOLA.

Want to hear more about SOLA? Listen to the full episode of The Focused View with Rod Watkins!

Website: https://bit.ly/4jhymOc
Spotify: https://bit.ly/4yNSMmm
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4cYNYCs
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4AlkubP

24/09/2026

What does it take to develop something that had never been produced locally before?

For Laubman & Pank, it meant working with CR-39 at a time when the material was still new, sourcing its raw material from the United States and relying on surface mail and telephone to communicate with the only manufacturer of the monomer.

Yet just two years after the first CR-39 lens was cast, the team had produced their own piece of CR-39 in Adelaide.

That early experimentation was one of the building blocks of the SOLA story, a story that would go on to reach far beyond Adelaide.

Want to hear the full episode of SOLA’s story with Rod Watkins? Listen to The Focused View!

Website: https://bit.ly/4jhymOc
Spotify: https://bit.ly/4yNSMmm
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4cYNYCs
YouTube: https://bit.ly/4AlkubP

23/09/2026

One of the fascinating parts of SOLA’s early story is how much of the innovation happened in Adelaide.

As the team worked to solve the technical challenges of producing CR-39 prescription lenses, the University of Adelaide’s chemistry department became an important source of expertise and support. The work involved detailed experimentation around polymer chemistry, mould design, and the manufacturing process.

It’s a reminder that innovation is built through collaboration, bringing together industry knowledge, scientific expertise, and plenty of persistence.

Hear the full SOLA story with Rod Watkins on The Focused View!

Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4cYNYCs

22/09/2026

200 to 4,500 people.

1 Adelaide site to operations in 14 countries.

Those numbers capture the scale of SOLA’s growth, but they don’t capture what it was like to be there while it happened.

Rod Watkins was part of that journey from 1970 to 1984, witnessing SOLA evolve from its Adelaide beginnings into an international optical company. Along the way, the team was navigating rapid growth, technical challenges, investment decisions, and the constant need to adapt as the business expanded.

Rod takes us behind that journey, from the people who shaped SOLA to the innovation that helped transform the optical lens industry.

Listen to the full episode of The Focused View!

Spotify: https://bit.ly/4yNSMmm

22/09/2026

Most people in Australian optometry have heard the name SOLA. Fewer know it started life inside a nine-person optometry practice in Adelaide.

In this first instalment of a three-part series, we are joined by Rod Watkins, who joined SOLA in 1970 and stayed until 1984, the years the company grew from 200 people in one Adelaide site to 4,500 people across 14 countries.

In this episode, Rod Watkins shares:
How a nine-person optometry practice ended up producing a lens material used worldwide
The three people who built and grew SOLA
The 1972 regulation that ended the era of glass lenses almost overnight

It's a story of the risk, grit, and improvisation behind the lenses we fit our patients with every day.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://bit.ly/4AlkubP

Most people in Australian optometry have heard the name SOLA. Fewer...

20/09/2026

Your expertise can't create opportunities if nobody knows you have it.

With so many professionals consuming content but relatively few consistently creating it, there's a clear opportunity to make your voice part of the conversation.

The hardest part is getting started. But once you do, consistency helps your ideas and your reputation compound over time.

Sarah Makris shares this personal branding opportunity and more on the latest episode of The Focused View.

Listen now!

Website: https://bit.ly/4xgh4V8
Spotify: https://bit.ly/46hktIh
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4rcQnzd

18/09/2026

Meet Rod Watkins, an optometrist, optical physicist, educator, entrepreneur, and one of the people who witnessed a pivotal chapter in the evolution of modern lenses.

Rod joined SOLA in 1970, at a time when the company was still deeply connected to its Adelaide optometry roots.

Over the next 14 years, he watched SOLA grow and expand from one Australian site to operations across 14 countries.

From lecturing at the University of Melbourne, to leading technical development at SOLA, founding Scan Optics, and later becoming an Associate Professor at Flinders University, Rod has spent decades at the intersection of optometry, optics, science and innovation.

Excited to hear Rod Watkins share the SOLA story?

The episode drops Tuesday. Stay tuned.


www.thefocusedview.com.au

17/09/2026

Your job title might change. Your practice might change. The organisation you work for might change.

But the reputation you build around your expertise can stay with you.
That’s personal branding.

It’s an investment in your professional identity that can potentially open doors long before you actually need them.

Sarah Makris shares why building that reputation early can give professionals greater flexibility, visibility, and opportunity throughout their careers.

Hear the full episode with Sarah Makris on The Focused View.

Website: https://bit.ly/4xgh4V8
Spotify: https://bit.ly/46hktIh
Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/4rcQnzd