Dental Lab Fixed Manager

APEX DENTAL LABORATORY GROUP LLC • North Haven, CT

27d • $65,000 - $75,000 • Onsite

About The Position

This role involves managing and maintaining staff within the Fixed Department of a dental lab, ensuring product quality, profitable sales growth, and overall team development. The manager will provide leadership and supervision, enforce quality standards, and collaborate with other departments to meet company goals. Key responsibilities include optimizing workload, managing work systems for cost-effectiveness and quality, resolving customer issues, and staying current with industry updates. The position also requires performing technical functions such as fitting and finishing crowns, inlays, and implant abutments, as well as performing preventative maintenance on equipment.

Requirements

• Must be able to read, write, speak and understand English
• Manual dexterity, good hand-eye coordination, excellent perception skills and attention to details.
• Ability to trouble shoot and problem solve, using past experience and success to gauge best steps on future cases.
• Must be skilled in 1 or more task functions required of a Fixed Department Dental Technician
• High school diploma or GED equivalent
• Minimum of 3 yrs. experience performing the functions of a Fixed Department Dental Lab Technician

Responsibilities

• Manages and maintains staff by selecting, orienting, and training team members; maintaining a safe, secure, and legal work environment; and developing personal growth opportunities for team members.
• Determines staffing and capacity plan for department.
• Makes hiring decisions in accordance with standard operating procedure.
• Provide leadership and supervision of all aspects and functions in the Fixed Department, ensure product quality, profitable unit sales growth, and overall team development.
• Communicates job expectations; developing team member goals, planning, monitoring, and appraising team members; coaching, counseling, and disciplining team members; developing, coordinating, and enforcing systems, policies, procedures, and productivity standards.
• Maintains quality service by enforcing quality standards; analyzing and resolving quality problems; identifying trends; recommending system improvements.
• Works closely with the General Manager and collaborates with other Department Leaders to manage overall lab productivity in meeting Company goals.
• Coordinates the efforts of team members to ensure that workflow, productivity, and quality requirements are met.
• Champions continuous improvement activities to improve the performance of the department and Company.
• Reviews and updates standards for product quality ensuring consistency and predictability of final product and holds team members to those agreed upon standards.
• Champions effective communication between all departments, skill groups and team members.
• Creates a positive work environment in which team members can succeed.
• Optimizes workload balance between department and team members.
• Manage the work systems and materials that produce product at the lowest possible cost while maintaining superior product quality.
• Stays current on customer service issues with clients and relates back to managers and team members to resolve issues effectively.
• Follow up on all customer complaints to ensure the issues identified are resolved to the customer’s satisfaction and use as an opportunity to coach team members.
• Can personally perform all QC functions in the department.
• Tracks and addresses remake issues and coordinates resolution on those issues with department managers and team members.
• Makes final determinations on hard rules for doctor preferences and standards.
• Schedule and lead meetings with the team on a consistent basis.
• Actively participates in all other leadership meetings.
• Prepares and conducts team member performance appraisals, performance improvement plans and disciplinary actions of all direct reports on a timely basis.
• Enforce company policies (safety, attendance, dress code, conduct etc.)
• Oversight of attendance, and counseling team members approaching/reaching excessive levels to minimize the necessity of discipline.
• Monitor ADP timecards (on a daily basis) documenting absences and final review and approval of team member timecards in accordance with Time Off and Attendance policies and procedures.
• Ensures the appropriate use of overtime and balances out overtime hours among team members.
• Ensures work areas and equipment are well maintained in compliance with safety guidelines.
• Handles customer calls as needed.
• Proactively solves technical issues that negatively impact customer service.
• Communicate with other Apex labs or manufacturers as necessary.
• Individually responsible for continued learning, in-depth product knowledge, staying current with laboratory and industry product and technology updates.
• Participates in Company sponsored training and meetings (as required) and participates and presents at dental meetings as required.
• Be a resource for budget planning, working with General Manager to develop and maintain budgets.
• Lead and participate with special projects as required.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Read prescriptions and specifications received from dentist.
• Make sure all case contents are in the case pan according to the materials and TTPs (technical team policies) (number of impressions, second pours, bites, and any old crowns to be used for shading).
• Evaluate all model work to ensure standards are met in appearance and function.
• Inspect the model and designated die to verify it is not broken or damaged.
• Fit full cast crowns, inlays, metal copings, and metal framework to stone dies, removing bubbles and relieving tight areas until crown is fully seated
• Finish full cast crowns, adjusting occlusion and contacts as needed
• Fit and finish implant (custom or screw-retained) abutments
• Fit and finish post and cores, attachments, and crown-under-partials
• Reduce metal as needed to .3 mm on porcelain surfaces
• Fit all crowns to 2nd pours.
• Check on articulated model, verifying the bite and fit of the final product.
• Must be able to follow and understand the TTP’s to ensure that the results are consistent and accurate.
• Review final work and check completely that all quality standards have been met before passing the work to the next technician.
• Perform/Document routine scheduled Preventative Maintenance of equipment

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: High school or GED