A Look Inside Ten Home-Based Laboratories: Rural Location, High-Tech Operation
Posted Jun 13, 2012 in Labs & Profiles
Mary Waldron, BS, MA
Westwind Dental Designs, Big Rapids, MI
Age: 57
Years in industry: 37
Lab opened: 2011
Talk about a view. Westwind Dental Designs, owned by Mary Waldron, BS, MA, is located on Waldron's 90-acre property—a former dairy farm—and is surrounded by grassy fields, ponds and wildlife such as geese, deer and even an occasional eagle.
The lab is located 100 yards from Waldron's home in a 2,400-sq-ft barn custom-built by Waldron's husband. The lab occupies about one-third of the barn; the rest of the building houses Waldron's pottery studio and her husband's equipment for his log-cutting hobby. The view inside isn't too shabby either: the barn features tall ceilings, pine beams, decorative tile and creature comforts like radiant floor heating.
But the lab's rural location doesn't mean it isn't a high-tech operation. Waldron—who opened the sole proprietorship in January 2011—uses...
