A laboratory in a circa-1900 brick building in downtown Mankato, Minnesota may conjure up images of old-fashioned cozy charm but, for the 34 employees of Wornson-Polzin Dental Lab, the space felt anything but cozy.

“We were on the third floor and, in a Minnesota winter when the winds were whipping, you could stand by the window and feel cold air coming in,” recalls William Homer, the lab’s removables manager.

And the problems didn’t end there.

The layout and workflow of the 4,000-sq-ft operation was abysmal. “Shipping and receiving was crammed into a narrow, closet-like room; case pans were piled everywhere; and people were constantly running into each other,” says Ernie Pettengill, president of the National Dentex-member laboratory. The building’s electrical capacity was also maxed out, so the lab couldn’t install one more piece of equipment without blowing circuits. And, since on-street parking was scarce, employees had to pay almost $300 per year to park in a city-owned lot behind the building.

So, in 2007, the laboratory began looking for a new home. It settled on building a 13,000-sq-ft facility in an industrial development in North Mankato, just four miles from its existing location. Working with a design that National Dentex labs have used before, the laboratory was able to customize certain aspects of the floor plan such as where offices would be located and bench arrangements for the various departments.

Eighteen months later—after spending nearly half a century in the downtown location—the laboratory moved into its new state-of-the-art home. Soon after, the laboratory held a catered grand opening party where 50 clients were treated to laboratory tours, door prizes and a catered reception. “It was a wonderful opportunity to show off the lab and the work we do,” says Pettengill. “We have the ‘wow’ factor now, and our clients just keep commenting about how impressed they are—the look on their faces when they see our building is priceless.”

The management team held an “Ooh/Ahh” party for staff members to welcome them into the new building. Staff members were brought in one at a time, and directed to their new benches while one of the managers went along to snap a picture of their reactions. “It was like Christmas morning for them,” says Pettengill. “They all said ‘I can’t believe this is where I’m going to work’ and that attitude is still prevalent today.”

The laboratory features Nevin benches with color-corrected lighting and centralized, on-demand Zubler suction units that have dramatically reduced the noise level in the laboratory. The much larger building has also allowed the laboratory to improve efficiency and effectiveness. For instance, it installed a dry model trimmer, more pressable furnaces and two large burnout ovens for cast partials—including a much-needed backup unit the lab wasn’t able to accommodate previously. “All of these improvements make it so much easier to operate the laboratory,” says Homer.

The laboratory’s new shipping and receiving room—described as an “extended closet” in its old location—is now spacious and well organized.

The laboratory now boasts a custom shade room off the main lobby (shown here) and ample space to hold on-site CE programs for dentists—which the lab now does about once a month.

A new training/education room features the PTC system and a fully functional laboratory for up to five technicians. The room includes microscopes, waxing stations, AV equipment, anatomical models/skulls, PC with internet access for webinars and a resource library. At Wornson-Polzin, even the administrative staff is required to be PTC-certified in smile design, simplified posterior/anterior anatomy, and oral anatomy and physiology. “The better trained our administrative staff, the better they can communicate with our clients, screen and route calls, enter cases and handle billing,” says Pettengill.