Jason D
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Since what you are talking about is productivity, and that’s something prople come to us to learn, Let me share our methods and take a slightly different approach here:
in our industry it’s impossible to have a “apples to apples“ comparison, because there are no standards of quality and there are no standards of pay. There are people on these forums selling dentures for nearly $500 an arch. There are also people on these forums that would struggle to get more than 150 an arch from their clientele.
Common sense would suggest that the higher-priced denture requires more time and effort because it is attempting to satisfy a more demanding client. On the other hand, the lower-priced denture is such a small profit margin did that person must, by necessity, produce many more of them just to keep the lights on. One of those people may develop very high standards of quality the other very high standards of production.
Unfortunately, it’s not that linear! it is entirely possible that the technician who goes very quickly simply has a better method and produces very good results it is also possible that the person who charges a lot has simply found a market niche where frustrated customers have left other labs and are willing to pay a premium to “just get it right or just get it on time“.
For these reasons I would suggest a different approach: rather than count units and try and compare unit quantities of Lexus next to unit quantities of Kia, why don’t you use a dollar value. A simple metric in a lab of any size, producing at any quality standard, Could be dollars per hour produced, or dollars per day produced. I like to see $700 per-day-per-bench technician in my lab. Now, that number goes up and down each day, and a well-managed department produces more, where as a less experienced manager may have a department that produces less. But it gives me a true “apples to apples” comparison between fixed and removable, comparing simpler tasks with more complex tasks, and making decisions about whether one Technician should do every step of the process versus breaking it down into steps that are repeated by one technician and handed to the next. I would like to see Cana music scale, better work clothes, improve training, and better standardization of quality control improve that number to $900-$1000 per day. that is going to take a lot of effort on everyone’s part to develop like that.
A more direct answer of metrics though:
Labor time per step:
Custom tray. 12 mins
Wax rim. 15 mins
Set teeth. 20 mins
Wax up of try in. 15 mins
Seal down and flask 20 mins
Divest and clean. 5 mins
Finish festoon. 20 mins
Polish. 5 mins
Total time 1 hour 52 mins
Charge for average full denture start to finish
$300
in our industry it’s impossible to have a “apples to apples“ comparison, because there are no standards of quality and there are no standards of pay. There are people on these forums selling dentures for nearly $500 an arch. There are also people on these forums that would struggle to get more than 150 an arch from their clientele.
Common sense would suggest that the higher-priced denture requires more time and effort because it is attempting to satisfy a more demanding client. On the other hand, the lower-priced denture is such a small profit margin did that person must, by necessity, produce many more of them just to keep the lights on. One of those people may develop very high standards of quality the other very high standards of production.
Unfortunately, it’s not that linear! it is entirely possible that the technician who goes very quickly simply has a better method and produces very good results it is also possible that the person who charges a lot has simply found a market niche where frustrated customers have left other labs and are willing to pay a premium to “just get it right or just get it on time“.
For these reasons I would suggest a different approach: rather than count units and try and compare unit quantities of Lexus next to unit quantities of Kia, why don’t you use a dollar value. A simple metric in a lab of any size, producing at any quality standard, Could be dollars per hour produced, or dollars per day produced. I like to see $700 per-day-per-bench technician in my lab. Now, that number goes up and down each day, and a well-managed department produces more, where as a less experienced manager may have a department that produces less. But it gives me a true “apples to apples” comparison between fixed and removable, comparing simpler tasks with more complex tasks, and making decisions about whether one Technician should do every step of the process versus breaking it down into steps that are repeated by one technician and handed to the next. I would like to see Cana music scale, better work clothes, improve training, and better standardization of quality control improve that number to $900-$1000 per day. that is going to take a lot of effort on everyone’s part to develop like that.
A more direct answer of metrics though:
Labor time per step:
Custom tray. 12 mins
Wax rim. 15 mins
Set teeth. 20 mins
Wax up of try in. 15 mins
Seal down and flask 20 mins
Divest and clean. 5 mins
Finish festoon. 20 mins
Polish. 5 mins
Total time 1 hour 52 mins
Charge for average full denture start to finish
$300
