How can we reduce production times in the dental laboratory, but without sacrificing quality?
Every dental laboratory manager knows that the lead time for a dental product can be crucial to the success of the business. If the products are made too slowly, the customer loses patience. If the products are made too quickly, the quality suffers. It turns out that here the rule of the golden mean is 100% applicable. A balance must be found between how long it takes to make the product and how high its quality is. Every customer would like it as quickly and as high as possible and as the saying goes: “The customer is always right”. But what can we change to speed up the process but maintain quality? Let’s look together at how we can optimize time even more.
What affects the time it takes to make a product?
Despite expectations that most delays come from the milling machine or the furnace during the manufacture of the product, this turns out not to be the case. The most common problems are the lack of information. For example, details about the product itself, who is working on it, when it is expected to be ready, as well as poor coordination – the most obvious example is the distribution of tasks in the laboratory, especially during busy periods. Manual tracking of cases also proves to be time-consuming, especially in the era of digitalization. In the list shown below, we can clearly see the main reasons in detail from real practice.
Main reasons:
- Missing or unclear details on the dentist’s order
- Waiting for design or color approval
- Rework due to miscommunication
- Manual case tracking (sheets, notes, Excel)
- Lack of clear priorities between urgent and regular orders
How can we shorten the time required?
To shorten the manufacturing time, the factors that cause delays must be reduced and eliminated. As already mentioned, the most common causes are poor communication and coordination in the work, and not the nature of the work itself. These problems can be solved with a digital tool such as the AMOSYS software, which can unify all these tasks and significantly ease the work in the laboratory.
How can AMOSYS help you?
First of all, the software improves visibility. Every stage of the case can be tracked: from Acceptance → Design → Production → Quality Control → to Delivery. In addition, at each stage of production, the date and time are automatically recorded, which gives an accurate idea of where time is being wasted. AMOSYS can also generate weekly reports, which again gives a clear picture of where there was the most delay.
Another advantage that you can benefit from when working with the software is the optimization of communication between dental technicians and dentists. One missing photo, one inaccurate instruction or a delayed confirmation can delay the entire process of making the product by a day or more. In many laboratories, communication is carried out via email, chats or on slips of paper, but this way control is lost, traceability is more difficult and not everything is in one place. With AMOSYS, communication is centralized in the laboratory management software itself. All messages, photos and documents for a given case are stored directly in the order card. There is no need to search the mail or wonder which version is current. Everything is in one place, you receive a notification when a new comment or approval of a change in the order status is made.
Prioritization and standardization
Another overlooked factor in order delays is order prioritization. Not all cases are the same. An emergency repair for tomorrow does not have the same priority as a single crown for next week.
When each dental technician decides what to do first, deadlines are easily missed, but with AMOSYS clear priorities can be set for all orders, individual tasks can be assigned to individual dental technicians with the corresponding deadlines. Cases can be filtered by urgency, date or client, the system reminds of approaching deadlines and you can distribute tasks within the team in advance.
When assigning tasks, you can also create standard workflows and clearly define who is responsible for each stage.
For example:
- Dental Technician A: Design
- Dental technician B: Milling
- Dental Technician C: Quality Control
This not only speeds up production, but also improves quality and accountability.
Monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs)
By implementing a solution like AMOSYS, you could track the improvement of the laboratory’s efficiency by monitoring key indicators. These could be indicators such as the average time for manufacturing a product by type, the percentage of late orders and the percentage of rework, as well as the productivity of dental technicians – how many cases per day they manage to work on. AMOSYS automatically collects and visualizes this data. Periods can be compared, trends can be detected and, accordingly, you can react in time to problems.
For example, if production drops on certain days or delays accumulate with specific clients, it will be noticed immediately. When registering a problem, it can be discussed and fixed, which will immediately affect the productivity of the entire laboratory.
Conclusion: Speed without stress
With properly implemented solutions, it turns out that it is possible to reduce work time without compromising quality. Reducing deadlines does not mean putting more pressure on the team, but working smarter. When it is clear where time is being wasted, information is in one place, communication is centralized and you can actually see how the work in the laboratory is progressing step by step, it is possible to complete cases faster. There are also fewer errors and both parties – dental technician and dentist – are more satisfied. When the laboratory is more organized, it is more predictable and more profitable.
Are you ready to optimize your processes with AMOSYS? Book a free demo or Try AMOSYS with 100 free orders .