Fareham: Relocation 'to save company £30k a year'

Fareham-based dental laboratory UK Dentech is looking forward to making potential savings of around £30,000 per year as it relocates to a new facility after undertaking LEAN efficiency training delivered by Gosport-based LEAN business specialists Fedden USP in conjunction with MIT Skills.

UK Dentech wanted to use the tools and techniques it had acquired from a LEAN Business Improvement Techniques workshop to help design the layout of the new laboratory. The company looked at three areas in particular: the Crown and Bridge process, Denture Workflow and the Ordering process. Using workplace organisation techniques, the company created a structured way to reorganise and ‘tidy up’ the processing areas and reduce non-value-added activity.

After the training, UK Dentech’s works director, Steve McDonagh, asked all of the delegates to design the layout of the new facility and from all the designs a brainstorming session was arranged and the new layout was agreed by the whole team. Based on the new layout, annual savings are estimated to be around £30,000 - a conservative estimate as it was felt that once the team had moved into the new premises and introduced other LEAN initiatives into the organisation, savings could be considerably higher.

McDonagh commented: “I was delighted with the support we received from Fedden USP and the delegates from UK Dentech were very keen to learn and responded very well – it has made a real difference to our business.

"Any manufacturer that does not embrace LEAN working techniques is missing out on real opportunities to enhance productivity."

www.fedden-usp.co.uk