Lab Doubles Space to Embrace Digital Growth

Lois Carle, CDA, had a vision for her lab: she wanted it to be an open, digital operation with an emphasis on customer service. She had the right equipment, the right staff and the right partner in Co-Owner Paul Mancini, CDT, but there was one problem: the lab’s small, cramped location, which was divided between two floors.

For over 29 years, Alternative Dental Lab had been housed in the same 3,000-square-foot storefront in urban New Haven, CT, but what worked in 1990 was no longer adequate in 2017. “Part of it was the increased city traffic and lack of parking, but over the years we just kept growing, growing, growing, and being part of the digital world meant we needed more space,” says Carle.

So, Carle and Mancini decided to move the laboratory to a one-level 6,000-square-foot facility in neighboring North Haven in October 2017. The two spent about six weeks planning the workflow...