Displaying 7 items of Voices from The Bench with the tag "dental lab".
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423: Kent Kohli is Always in Pursuit of a More Excellent Way
May 4th, 2026 | 1 hr 9 mins
100-hour weeks, aacd, accreditation, accuracy, all-ceramics, analog to digital, anatomy, anterior aesthetics, artistry, boutique lab, bunsen burner, burnout, cad/cam, career growth, case planning, casting, ceramics, chairside experience, clinical education, coaching, communication, continuing education, contour, craftsmanship, creation porcelain, crown and bridge, crown council, dedication, dental ceramics, dental community, dental conventions, dental lab, dental school, dental technician, dental technology, dentist-technician relationship, digital dentistry, e.max, efficiency, efficiency vs artistry, electric waxer, empress 2, entrepreneurship, european technique, excellence, feldspathic veneers, finishing, full contour, giving back, global dentistry, hands-on training, high-end dentistry, hornbrook group, impressions, in-house lab, incisal edge, indirect bonding, industry giants, industry leaders, innovation, inspiration, ips empress, ivoclar, jensen, key opinion leader, kol, lab business, lab culture, lab day chicago, lab education, lab evolution, lab ownership, lab workflow, lab-to-clinic collaboration, layering, lifelong learning, liquid ceramics, materials science, mentorship, mentorship impact, metal frameworks, micro-layering, microscopes, microstar, milling, models, morphology, networking, next generation, noritake, occlusion, ortho lab, orthodontics, partnerships, passion, perseverance, pfms, plaster, platinum foil, polishing, posterior restorations, precision, pricing strategy, productivity, pursuit of excellence, quality over quantity, race to the bottom, refractory technique, servant leadership, shade matching, smile design, social media, startup lab, surface texture, symposiums, teaching, time management, trade school, vita, waxing, work ethic, workflow optimization, youtube learning, zubler
Kent Kohli shares how an unexpected path—from pre-dental student to passionate lab technician—led him to fall in love with ceramics and the artistry of dental technology. Guided by mentors and fueled by relentless self-education, he chose quality and growth over high-volume burnout, shaping a long, rewarding career. Now with Ivoclar, Kent is focused on giving back by helping bring hands-on education and foundational techniques to the next generation of technicians.
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421: Katherine Steinbock-Dyke: From Girl Scout Cookies to CEO of Whip Mix
April 20th, 2026 | 1 hr 3 mins
3d printing, analog dentistry, analog vs digital, articulators, asiga, australia, bench culture, bench work, business evolution, cad cam, career growth, ceo, collaboration, continuous improvement, corporate culture, customer relationships, dealer network, dental, dental community, dental education, dental equipment, dental industry, dental lab, dental labs, dental manufacturing, dental materials, dental resins, dental schools, dental technician, dental technicians, dental technology, digital dentistry, employee benefits, entrepreneurship, europe, family business, furnaces, future of dentistry, global markets, gypsum, heritage, hr, human resources, hybrid workflow, ids, industry insights, industry trends, innovation, innovation strategy, international business, katherine steinbock-dyke, lab day, lab life, lab owners, lab workflow, laboratory, large labs, latin america, leadership, legacy, management, materials science, mentorship, mixers, model trimmers, networking, next generation, operations, partnerships, podcasts, polymers, product development, production, relevance, small business, storytelling, succession planning, team building, technician, technicians life, trade shows, voices from the bench, whip mix, win program, workflow efficiency
This week we chat with Katherine Steinbock-Dyke of Whip Mix about growing up in a family-run dental company and unexpectedly working her way to CEO. She shares her path from HR and corporate roles into operations, product development, and ultimately leadership—highlighting the balance between tradition and innovation in today’s evolving lab landscape. The episode mixes stories of continuous improvement, digital transitions, and industry travel, all wrapped in the perspective of someone focused on keeping a legacy company relevant for the future.
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420: Seth Potter: Insight Into exocad Without Borders
April 13th, 2026 | 1 hr 12 mins
3d printing, analog workflow, automation, burnout, cad cam, cad designer, canada, clients, crown and bridge, dental, dental education, dental lab, dental mission trips, dental software, dental technician, dental technology, dentist father, digital dentistry, digital workflow, dominican republic, dropbox, efficiency optimization, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship journey, exocad, exocad insights, faith, family influence, freelancing, full arch, hustle, implants, indeed strategy, innovation, lab equipment, lab growth, laboratory, location freedom, milling, missionary dentistry, outsourcing, outsourcing design, paraguay, productivity, remote design, remote work, sailboat life, sailing, scaling, scanning, self taught, startup, systems, technician, travel, voices from the bench, wetransfer, work life balance, workflow efficiency
This week, we talk with Seth Potter, a dental technician living a truly unconventional life—splitting his time between Canada and Paraguay while running a remote design business. From growing up on a sailboat and assisting on missionary dental trips to teaching himself digital workflows, Seth shares how he built a career with exocad rooted in freedom and efficiency. He also dives into the realities of scaling, burnout, and why creating systems—not just working harder—is the key to long-term success.
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419: Katherine Wilcox Wants You To Work EviSmarter and Not Harder
April 6th, 2026 | 1 hr 7 mins
3shape, ai, cad design, case entry, covid impact, customer service, data integration, dental, dental lab, dental technician, dental technology, design center, digital dentistry, digital workflow, efficiency, evident, evismart, file management, industry trends, innovation, itero, lab growth, lab management, lab software, laboratory, manila, outsourcing, outsourcing design, philippines, process optimization, productivity, quality control, scanning, staffing shortages, technician, trios, voices from the bench, workflow automation
Elvis and Barb sit down with Katherine Wilcox to talk about her journey from avoiding small talk as a dental assistant to thriving as a lab tech and eventually moving into the world of digital workflows and software. She shares how outsourcing design services exploded during COVID and became a lifeline for labs trying to manage workload and staffing challenges. The conversation highlights how EviSmart is helping labs automate workflows, reduce manual tasks, and bring order to the chaos of digital dentistry.
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417: Lab Day Chicago 2026 Part 3 with Frederic Rapp, Casey Baldwin, & Darin Lockaby
March 23rd, 2026 | 1 hr 12 mins
3shape, 510k, abs, abutments, aesthetics, ai, ai assistant, ai in dentistry, alerts, analytics, api, australia, automation, automation tools, ballroom, barb, blanks, bob cohen, business development, calibration, cam software, canada, case tracking, casey baldwin, ceramart, chairside, characterization, collaboration, communication, consolidation, cost of acquisition, craftsmanship, cross-selling, crown ceram, custom abutments, customer behavior, customer retention, customer service, darren lockerby, dashboards, data, database, dental, dental community, dental lab, dental technician, dental wings, des, digital dentistry, digital dentures, digital workflow, dry milling, education, efficiency, elvis, emax, engineering, entrepreneurship, europe labs, exocad, fda compliance, field work, fixed, follow-up, frédéric rapp, future tech, global industry, greatlab, hyperdent, icortica, implant workflow, implants, in-house production, industry trends, innovation, insights, integration, intraoral scanner, ios, ivoclar, ivotion, lab day energy, lab efficiency, lab growth, lab life, lab management system, labday, laboratory, leadership, live podcast, lms, magic touch, manufacturing, margins, materials, mechanical engineering, milling, networking, notes, notifications, oem, onboarding, open implants, opportunity tracking, outsourcing, partnership, plug and play, pm7, pnp, price pressure, private equity, productivity, profitability, programill 7, quality control, rapid prototyping, real-time data, relationships, removable, reporting, reps, revenue growth, rob nazel, sales strategy, scalability, scaling, scheduling, software, stock abutments, tasks, team building, technician, technology, tie bases, training, turnaround time, upselling, us labs, validation, voice input, voices from the bench, wet milling, workflow, workflow control, zirconia
Live from the Ivoclar Ballroom at Lab Day 2026, Elvis and Barb talk with Frederic Rapp about his journey from a small family lab to scaling a 150-person operation and now helping labs unlock their data with icortica. Then Casey Baldwin (Ivoclar) and Darin Lockaby (DESS) join to break down their new plug-and-play workflow for milling FDA-compliant abutments in-house—giving labs more control and better margins.
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413: Jay Collins: The Art of Aggressive Calming Sales for a Dental Lab
February 23rd, 2026 | 1 hr 11 mins
1099, 2008 crash, abundance mindset, accountability, acquisitions, aggressive calm, branding, china, cold calling, commission, consistency, construction, crown and bridge, customer service, deal fatigue, decision maker, dental, dental lab, door-to-door, entrepreneurship, family business, firing clients, front desk, gatekeeper, growth, implants, irish catholic, laboratory, leadership, legacy, margins, mergers, mindset, multi-location, office dynamics, outsourcing, persistence, philadelphia, pricing, private equity, prospecting, prosthodontics, psychology, quality, recession, relationship building, removable, retention, sales, sandler system, solution selling, steamfitters, technician, thedentalab.net, turnaround time, voices from the bench
Jay Collins shares his journey from a split Philadelphia family of steamfitters and dental technicians to becoming the bold, growth-driven leader behind thedentalab.net. After the 2008 crash forced him out of construction, he dove into dental lab sales with relentless cold-calling, developing his “aggressively calm” approach that challenges traditional lab-owner mindsets. This episode is a fast-paced, hilarious deep dive into sales psychology, growth through mergers, and why labs must treat sales as seriously as production if they want to survive and scale.
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401: Seth Smith and Ryan Alexander: From Chaos to Clicks: The GreatLab.io Upgrade
December 1st, 2025 | 1 hr 6 mins
ai mapping, automation, bad scans, booking, capacity planning, case management, cloud-based, communication, crm, data migration, dental, dental lab, digital dentistry, digital workflow, doctor communication, ds core, efficiency, greatlab.io, integrations, itero, lab operations, lab software, laboratory, lms, medit, onboarding, paperless, production tracking, scan quality, scanhub, shipping integration, task management, technician, technician workflow, vitality dental arts, voices from the bench
Seth Smith from Greatlab.io joins the podcast to share how his team built a modern, automation-driven lab management system that streamlines booking, communication, scanning, and workflow for labs of all sizes. Ryan Alexander from Vitality Dental Arts explains how switching to GreatLab dramatically reduced calls, sped up case processing, improved technician efficiency, and transformed their day-to-day operations almost overnight.