Lab Showcase: Happy Technicians, Happy Laboratory

"I always knew I'd work for my dad," says Christian Saurman, who co-owns 28-person New England Orthodontic Laboratory and Pediatric Appliance Laboratory in Wilmington, Massachusetts, with his father, Bill Saurman.

Christian was involved in the laboratory at an early age--he remembers bagging plaster for study models with his three sisters at the age of five--but Bill encouraged him to earn his degree and work for other companies before coming on board. In 2001, after graduating college, Christian officially joined the laboratory and, since then, has used his energy to turn some of his father's ideas into reality.
One of his biggest accomplishments so far: overseeing the $450,000 renovation project for a new 7,000-sq-ft facility.

Needed Legroom

In the laboratory's former 4,000-sq-ft building, there was no logical flow between departments, parking was a "nightmare" and the lab had simply maxed out...