Studio 32: Marketing Focus Helps Fuel Growth

In the past nine years, Studio 32 Dental Lab in Cedar Rapids, IA, has completely reinvented its operation, growing from a nine-person C&B lab with about $1 million in annual sales to a 25-person, full service digital lab with $3 million in annual sales. It has invested nearly $500,000 in digital technology: three 3Shape scanners, four Roland mills, one imes-icore 350i mill, 3D printers from EnvisionTEC and Stratasys, and a TRIOS intraoral scanner.

Today, the lab is reaping the benefits of that investment in terms of streamlined operations and maximized efficiency. The four-person CAD/CAM department averages 800 zirconia units per month—80% of the lab’s workload—and the in-house capabilities have helped reduce turnaround times from two weeks to one and rush jobs can be done in a day if needed. In addition, most of the lab’s non-zirconia cases also go through the scanning department, then are milled or printed in wax for pressing or casting.

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