Medium size lab workflow

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Lindsay Patterson

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I need workflow ideas from technicians who have worked in medium size dental labs with about 8+ crown and bridge technicians...in my case: 3 designers, 2 scanners, 1 milling and nesting, 1 doing implants and 1 waxer/metal finisher. I'd love to know how your lab successfully ran as far as the workflow is concerned. How were the cases divided among you?
 
Jason D

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What about prep, finishing and porcelain/glazing?

To answer properly I’d also need your experience levels and product distribution.

Are all non technical functions (phones, scheduling, supply orders etc) handled by admin personnel or are the technicians handling these as well?
 
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Lindsay Patterson

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The front office is seperate, there is a girl who pours and pins the models but then everyone pitches in and helps saw out, die trim and mount....then this is where things get a little bassackwards....2 designers are equal in experience and both have had experience working in different kinds of labs through the years and the 3 designer is about 2 years experienced and never worked in a "non production" lab.
 
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Another tech does the milling, pre-stain, and post stain/glaze along with some porcelain.
 
Jason D

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Ok, as far as the digital workflow goes:

1 scan tech using two 3 shape scanners should create and scan about 20 units an hour which should feed 2 designers.who design 8-10 units per hour.
One milling tech should Easily run 2 mills including green stating, producing 100-120 units per day., with a little downtime between batches to help in other areas.

Not sure what your water does in today’s world, out lab is up to about 75 people and we don’t get enough wax units to keep even one person busy, he usually helps the finishers and hops in to help scan from time to time.

It would be easier to start with your number of units and product mix and reverse design a workflow. I’m not sure i have a clear picture of the responsibilities and production time available if everyone spends time in prep as well as other jobs.

How many units of what products are you trying to get out each day?
 
Jenners

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I work in a 5 person lab, a sixth is an independent guy that does work for his own clients here and then works on our cases that involve treatment planning, hybrids, fiddly stuff in general. I do all of crown and bridge from models to scanning, nesting,casting, finishing, capteks, implants... you name it. I pitch in the denture dept and porcelain when needed. We have one denture person in the denture dept, two (one being the owner) in porcelain. The owner fills in where needed in other depts. The person in porcelain is also the office person. It's a bit of a jumble, but we're not busy so we manage. All this info probably doesn't help as we're not the ideal picture of a smoothly running lab, but with enough cross-training and communication, we get by.
 
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