Looking Forward to 2021 with an Eye on Efficiency
Posted Jan 15, 2021 in Publisher's Page
2020: a year like no other, a year in which our community faced a challenge none of us ever expected. If there is any semblance of an upside to the pandemic, it is that the shutdown gave laboratory operators time to reset and refocus their strategies for their businesses.
Last month, when I reached out to LMT readers to learn more about their goals for 2021, many said the health and safety of employees, finding qualified technicians and growth are top priorities. On the technology side, many are looking to expand their digital denture services.
Another notable theme is the effort to strengthen internal operations to stay lean. For example, Utah Valley Dental Lab is performing time/task studies of every process in each department to look for inefficiencies in the workflow and modify or improve each production step as needed. The ultimate goal is to create SOPs for each task. “We’re recording everything with a 4K digital camera so we can create video SOPs in addition...
