How to counts Units...Need help :)

[Mountain Goat]

ouch

 

[dmonwaxa]

 

[Al.]

I tell you what, my wife has been my lab partner for 19 yrs. Ive got it made for now, lab in bottom floor of the house, house on enough land I can hunt, 1/2 local and 1/2 mail accounts.

But if something happened to my wife I wouldnt have the heart to run the business anymore.

I would close up and Mark is probably the first person I would contact.

 

[Al.]

Be careful, you might be subject to being speyed or neutere, depending. And wait till you're introduced to the breeding program to make more lab babies. If you're a toy Chihuahua and he introduces you to a bullmastif watch out.

Hey I thought you were supposed to be sitting on the beach on some carribian (sp) island ?

Speaking of dogs we have 2 chihuahua sand they both get better treatment than I do.

 

[dmonwaxa]

I tell you what, my wife has been my lab partner for 19 yrs. Ive got it made for now, lab in bottom floor of the house, house on enough land I can hunt, 1/2 local and 1/2 mail accounts.

But if something happened to my wife I wouldnt have the heart to run the business anymore.

I would close up and Mark is probably the first person I would contact.

You're not planning anything are you? popcornpopcorn

 

[Al.]

You're not planning anything are you? popcornpopcorn

No not me, even though she can be a real bitch most of the time.

Did you hear Doug Jacksons story. His wife passed one day unexpectedly while he was at work at the lab.

Pretty shocking for me to hear I know him pretty well from when I was living in Orlando. He helped me out a time when I went on vacation.
I think she was a dancer at disney when they met.

But I figure one of us could drop anytime.

 

[Mountain Goat]

But I figure one of us could drop anytime.

yea, I will be found face down with an imprint of various burs and articulating paper stuck to my face, waxer burning a hole through its cord, the burnout oven blazing, phone ringing, CELL phone ringing, my emax crowns(or what is left of them after 3 days in the Invex) still jiggiling in ultrasonic, and all the neighborhood cats stewing around looking for a way into lab to feed on my dead body.

 

[araucaria]

yea, I will be found face down with an imprint of various burs and articulating paper stuck to my face, waxer burning a hole through its cord, the burnout oven blazing, phone ringing, CELL phone ringing, my emax crowns(or what is left of them after 3 days in the Invex) still jiggiling in ultrasonic, and all the neighborhood cats stewing around looking for a way into lab to feed on my dead body.

and the dr will tell everyone how inconsiderate you were !

 

[Mark Jackson]

I tell you what, my wife has been my lab partner for 19 yrs. Ive got it made for now, lab in bottom floor of the house, house on enough land I can hunt, 1/2 local and 1/2 mail accounts.

But if something happened to my wife I wouldnt have the heart to run the business anymore.

I would close up and Mark is probably the first person I would contact.

Heaven forbid anything like that would ever happen Al, but I'd fly out and drive you here myself. That's a very sweet thing to say though...

To bring this back on topic, can our original poster please share with us what your labor costs are? It could be that your technicians are already as productive as they can be, though there is always room for improvement.

What is your DIRECT labor percentage? More than 30%??

 

[Mark Jackson]

yea, I will be found face down with an imprint of various burs and articulating paper stuck to my face, waxer burning a hole through its cord, the burnout oven blazing, phone ringing, CELL phone ringing, my emax crowns(or what is left of them after 3 days in the Invex) still jiggiling in ultrasonic, and all the neighborhood cats stewing around looking for a way into lab to feed on my dead body.

I heard a story of a denture technician in Idaho who was found when smoke was pouring out of his lab, and his head was slumped over the bunsen burner. Looked a burned matchstick. TRUE story.

I'll probably go out like that but with one hand on the mouse pad, and the other on a calculator. Just put my head on the wall next to the buffalo.

 

[nekka9]

Mark,

Thanks so much, it seems that there are some process issues within the lab. For one thing they are not able to tell me what each person is doing each day. So they dont seem to have a good grasp on what their current production levels are per person per day. It doesn't make sense to increase something you dont yet have measured! We do have resources for a business consult, I was think along that line also. Its going to be very interesting!

 

[nekka9]

Why don't you get one of those big bull whips like Indianna Jones has and crack the ass meat that sticks out the back of their chairs!

I like that idea

 

[nekka9]

LOL

"I still have my first employee from 29 years ago. How about you?

Yes,I married her.

That is so cute

 

[nekka9]

One Body Build up Porcelain may help your situation. Ivoclar and GC America have one powder systems that would probably do well in the situation you are discussing. Clearly if the "powers that be" are threatening to outsource work, then a one powder system could streamline and allow the technician to concentrate on a more accurate build, which could translate to better production on the end. Also, easier to train someone to stack when there aren't a ton of other factors to learn such as layering modifiers, enamels, etc. The Ivoclar One powder system is also compatiable with their standard system, InLine, so for special shades requiring modifiers and enamel transulcencies, then you can switch it up for that one case. Good Luck

Thanks great idea to bring forward to the group, of course that may mean spending money and we know how management loves that!

 

[nekka9]

Heaven forbid anything like that would ever happen Al, but I'd fly out and drive you here myself. That's a very sweet thing to say though...

To bring this back on topic, can our original poster please share with us what your labor costs are? It could be that your technicians are already as productive as they can be, though there is always room for improvement.

What is your DIRECT labor percentage? More than 30%??

That is a great question, the only information I have is what they are paid hourly which is for a specialist appr. $26 and a tech is about $23 per hour. Then the benefit load including medical, 401 etc etc is about 56% which is really high. We work for a company that has awesome benefits including retiree medical. So labor is a huge cost for the company, this lab is not for profit but of course they need to be cost effective. After many meeting and all the great information you guys gave me I think the road blocks are they way they schedule the cases. And people are not being held to any standard of production. If Management starts tracking what people are doing I think the numbers will magically go up on their own. But again as their advocate I wanted to make sure that what was being asked was reasonable. I cant thank you guys enough!

 

[Mark Jackson]

Mark,

Thanks so much, it seems that there are some process issues within the lab. For one thing they are not able to tell me what each person is doing each day. So they dont seem to have a good grasp on what their current production levels are per person per day. It doesn't make sense to increase something you dont yet have measured! We do have resources for a business consult, I was think along that line also. Its going to be very interesting!

As I said in an earlier post, you cannot manage what you cannot measure, so even if nothing else changes, you must develop some kind of tracking mechanism to understand exactly who is doing what, and it is an important part of your regulatory requirements.

I'd be happy to help you review your numbers if you'd like, but a quick analysis of the direct labor costs should tell you much of what you really need to know for a starting point.