Clinical dental technician Jamie Stover explains how one system is revolutionising dental lab workflows – and saving businesses money at the same time.
‘We had used to have a slogan that we would say, we’re more than a printer – we’re a partner,’ says Jamie Stover, who works as the senior manager of application strategy and integration of oral health at Carbon.
‘We really, truly do believe that we partner strategically with our labs to help them overcome their challenges and understand the costs of running their lab and doing their business.’
Below, we hear about what Carbon offers and why it is building a more sustainable future:
Transformative solutions to dental lab workflows
What is Carbon? People often associate us with 3D printers, which makes sense – we do produce some of the most robust, reliable and accurate 3D printers on the market. But that’s just a piece of what we do.
At our core, Carbon is a technology company. We combine hardware, software, and materials innovation to bring transformative solutions to industries like dental. I’ve been with Carbon for six years now, and before that, I was a Carbon customer myself. That experience gave me a deep appreciation of the challenges labs face – and how technology can help.
Carbon is based in Redwood City, California. Our printers, software, and many of our materials are made there. What sets us apart is not just the equipment, but how we help labs integrate end-to-end digital workflows that enhance productivity, reduce costs, and address workforce challenges.
Overcoming challenges
The dental profession is going through a lot right now, especially in the lab space. One key issue that we hear about on an international level is labour shortages. We’re seeing an aging workforce of dental technicians, with too few newer technicians coming into the industry. Labs are inundated with work but they don’t have the experienced hands to meet demand.
This is where Carbon steps in. To address this, we’ve developed software and hardware that focuses on filling this gap. One way we’re tackling these challenges is through automation. We’ve developed our Automatic Operation Suite, or AO Suite, which integrates hardware and software. The printer can run for up to 14 hours unattended, producing up to 250 models.
We had used to have a slogan that we would say, we’re more than a printer – we’re a partner. We really, truly do believe that we partner strategically with our labs to help them overcome their challenges and understand the costs of running their lab and doing their business.
We’ve built some calculators that mean we can sit with labs, plug in their labour rates, their operational hours, their material costs, and look at what it costs them to do what they’re doing now. After this, we can show how moving hose products and processes to Carbon can actually save them money.
For more information visit www.carbon3d.com.
The article is sponsored by Carbon.
