June 13, 2018 | Greg Everett | CAD/CAM, Workflows
The tooling that you select to support your CadCam workflow should be considered carefully. Tools weigh heavily on the quality and efficiency of your production process. It's surprising that many labs don't consider their tooling options thoroughly. In this post, we're going to cover some of the things that you should be thinking about when looking at a tooling solution.
The cost of tooling accounts for a big part of your cost to produce a zirconia restoration. It's definitely worth looking at. When it comes to picking tools for your lab you have a couple of options: One is to choose inexpensive tools and save money on the purchase of the tools. Alternatively, you can spend more upfront on the tools and save money on your overall process.
The best way to quantify this is to look at your tooling cost per unit produced. Take a few minutes and calculate your milling tool cost per unit. The way you do it may vary, but usually we tell labs to figure it on a monthly basis. Take your monthly spend on tooling and divide it by your monthly unit production.
Now that you know where you sit, take a look at the example below and compare:
As you can see, the performance of your milling tools has a direct effect on your labs bottom line. It's surprising to see how much can be saved per unit by spending more upfront on your tooling. If you're still using lower yield tools it might be time to reconsider.
Not only do good tools help your per unit cost drastically, they also reduce other costs around the lab.
It's always important to look at the big picture. It can be a mistake is to focus on the micro when you should be focusing on the macro. If you consider how each buying decision affects your overall system you always come out ahead.
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