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Technology (Schott Glass), an unrelated third-party vendor that
specialized in making glass products. B&L worked closely with
Schott Glass to ensure that it produced quality lenses for use in
Ray-Ban sunglasses.
B&L fabricated the parts for its metals in its Frame Center
in Rochester (Frame Center) and its plant in Pforzheim, Germany,
that was operated by B&L GmbH, a subsidiary of B&L Inc.15 B&L
put metal wire through a multiple-step process in order to
produce the parts known as metal temples or fronts that were used
in assembling certain of its sunglasses. Machines were used to
draw, form, bend, or cut the metal wire and to press holes into
the parts to create threaded holes. An electroplated coating was
applied to the metal temples and fronts. As part of the process
of fabricating metal sunglass parts, metal temples and fronts
were subjected to 20 to 40 specific inspection steps, some of
which involved random samples.
In the process of fabricating plastic frames, sheets of
plastic were pressed by B&L to cut out plastic temples and
fronts. Hinges were attached during the process. In the case of
the plastic temples, heated wires were inserted into the temples
in order to enable them to hold adjustments to their shape. As a
final step to B&L's fabrication of plastic frames, the plastic
15 B&L also conducted some aspects of its sunglass operations in
Oakland, Maryland.
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