Down is the New Up
Posted Apr 28, 2011 in Management
Automation is going to change the laboratory industry in many ways, and some of these changes are already underway.
Technicians will be paid more, considerably more, because it will take fewer technicians to accomplish the same amount of work. For example, we have two Cercon systems and our technicians working with those systems can produce three times the amount of work as technicians using conventional techniques. The higher pay scale--plus the computerized nature of the work--will make dental technology a more appealing career to younger people.
Even though salaries will be higher, our cost-of-labor percentages will be lower because of the greater production efficiencies. We're now fabricating 35% of our fixed work (about 7,300 units) with CAD/CAM and our labor percentage has dropped from 35% to 27%. We haven't raised our prices in three years--in fact we lowered our zirconia crown price by $50 per unit--and yet our profitability...
