The Expansion Process
Our team at Edmonds Dental Prosthetics has been hard at work since the beginning of the year under the guidance and assistance of our visionary leader, Steve Edmonds. We have balanced preparing our new building with keeping operations and production running seamlessly in our current building. Attention to our clients and their needs has remained top priority, while our team has worked on the expansion. Our dedication to efficiency and customer service has remained our ultimate focus, even as we were preparing to work in two separate buildings.
At the start of April we began moving members of our sales, marketing, and accounting departments into the new building. Day by day, team members have been transitioning into the new building. Orthodontics moved in first, followed by Implants, Digital, Flexible Partials, Artisan, and Implant Dentures (in the future we will also be adding Printed Dentures). On Monday, April 16th these departments had officially moved into the new building, and work has continued smoothly since.
The process of moving each employee was purposefully slow and deliberate, starting with only a handful of people, one department at a time. This careful planning guaranteed that work would continue successfully throughout all the changes.
Curiosity of the Masses
Our expansion process has drawn a lot of curiosity and excitement from other dental labs, doctors, and dental associates. Since the beginning of the year our company has taken multiple groups on tours through our new building. These groups included Jeff Huff and Mark Hayde (Dentsply), as well as Ted Ford and Jody Griggs (Nobel Biocare). Corey Knight (Straumann), Kayla Diefenbach and Alejandra Montes, DDSS Midwest (Zimmer-Biomet) also came by for a tour. Mid-March we held a Master Denture Course for the Missouri Academy of General Dentistry for 24 doctors in our new building prior to the move.
Fresh Air and Exercise
These tours have given us the opportunity to show our spacious new area. We’ve also shared our plan for operating successfully between two buildings. We are finding there is always room for improvement: like one golf cart may not be enough.
The short walk between buildings has given new life and energy to our company. Team members are stretching their legs and breathing fresh air while transferring cases from one building to the other. Driving our company golf cart across the street is always an option to ensure a quicker transfer. Eventually, we will acquire a second golf cart; stationing one cart at each building for easy access and quick travel between buildings. Our next phase will be to update the main laboratory with a much needed “face lift.”
This expansion has been a long and thorough planning process and has taken months of labor to ensure its success. Our company is passionate about what we do; this transition, along with the improvements it has allowed us to make, will enable us to pursue that passion and offer the best service possible for our clients, both now and in the future.
North and South
Our new building is located just across the street from our original building in Springfield, at 2060 West Woodland Street. The new building displays a wall of full length windows which showcases a beautiful view of our original building. This is a great reminder of how far Edmonds Dental Prosthetics has come. Although we may be working in two separate buildings now, the sense of family and unity is still strong within our company. We have started terming the old building “EDP North” and the new building “EDP South.” We may be “North” and South” but we still are one company, dedicated to serving our doctors and their patients as we have continued to do for over 35 years.