Are you sure your lab isn't outsourcing the  work you're giving them to an inadequate, out-of-state or offshore facility?   The price and quality of dental laboratory products varies greatly. Procedures, materials and techniques are standardized, and one might conclude that product quality is by itself, dependent upon the skill of the technicians fabricating these products. But is this a genuine fact? Are the consumers, the dentists and their patient clients, really getting what they pay for? Technical skills and proficiency weigh in heavily, but are not the whole story. In large labs, many technicians handle each case. Master casts are often poured without vacuum and articulations set incorrectly. These tasks are usually assigned to less experienced technicians. Moving the work quickly is the main concern. When the case pans reach the waxing department, dies don’t always seat properly due to debris in the bores.  Sometimes they rotate in the cast base. I know this to be true as I've worked in many of these “production” labs. You’ve likely seen it too.   The difference is simply that we invest more time, effort and concern into the work. These are the essential details that set our work apart from the large production environments. Big labs, staffed by many technicians just haven't got time to spend on minute details of each case. And because many hands are involved, the work is never consistent. But you can always rely on the consistent excellence of our work.  We often go to extremes, but we're proud of the products we make.  Can Kraftwerk enhance my practice? The answer to this question is obvious if you have tried a case here. Look at the model and die work closely. Check the metal frameworks. Observe the anatomical beauty of the ceramic. Examine the occlusal and interproximal contacts. You'll know that you have found something very special indeed in an industry that loves to “talk” about precision and quality, yet fall short of the principals of both when the case arrives chairside at the proving ground - the mouth. You may get a lobster and a steak at a quality restaurant, or you can get a hamburger and a fish sandwich from a  fast-food joint. Extrapolate this to a dental lab and you get the latter for the price of the former. A Mercedes Benz is better engineered than a Ford, and both will get you around town, but which one would you prefer to own if the cost of each were basically the same?  Better work translates into reduced chair time. I still get a kick out of seeing a lovely smile restored to a patient who previously may have been afraid to smile openly and without forethought. Natural smiles are a special reward.    I have maintained a standard of quality unsurpassed by  other labs. I don’t nickel and dime my clients with model, die and articulation fees or hidden charges of any kind. Kraftwerk was intended for the dentist that appreciates the maximum effort on behalf of his clients in each and every phase of each and every case. Our work is routinely clean and consistent for smooth, easy insertion and long lasting beauty. A few words about CAD/CAM technologies are in order here. It is indeed a promising field, however, a machine cannot as yet layer ceramic materials to replicate natural dentition. True vitality comes from within the tooth and as such, only skillful hand-layering/sculpting of porcelain powders can achieve natural aesthetics in the oral environment. Porcelain is very strong in compression yet weak in tension..so unless the margins are carefully and properly prepared with deep chamfers or butt shoulders, the risk of fracture and crack propagation exists. In my opinion, the hand-crafted PFM unit remains a solid standard of reliability for dental restorations that imbue both beauty and longevity. And if you can cut me a prep with a  deep chamfer, I can make a PFM crown look every bit as nice as an all-ceramic unit. This requires a lab tech with expertise and skill, to be sure, but more than that - it requires dedication to excellence. This doesn't mean a case flies when it's as excellent as time permits. I work it until it's excellent. I've spent many long hours and burned barrels of the "midnight oil"  to attain this goal on every case. I don't have time to attend study groups or conventions. Time out of the lab is never easy to obtain for a solo lab owner. When I get free time, I work on the house or play guitar. I'm never bored or idle. I refuse to outsource or compromise. In those cases requiring all-ceramic crowns or ceramic  butt shoulders in the bucco-cervical or labio-gingival areas, as is the case when thin or receding gingiva, or a high lip-line requires it, Kraftwerk provides the service to meet your needs. My technique in fashioning beautiful porcelain margins is second to none. I make aluminous porcelain jackets also, but newer materials have caught my eye. In particular, the yytrium stabilized zirconia looks promising. I may be a dinosaur, but I know a "better mouthtrap" when I see one.   Skilled and gifted human hands are the best tools we have for fabricating teeth. Machines cannot compare to them. Each hand is capable of over sixty separate and individualized movements. Coupled with human eyes that no camera or scanner can equivocate, and a central processing “brain” that can instantaneously compensate for factors such as occlusal and color anomalies, this natural armamentarium is as yet, unequalled by any technology on earth.  Computer design & milling technologies may indeed be the way of the future,  but at this juncture, they cannot compare to the masterful layering and sculpting of porcelain powders by skilled human hands to replicate natural human dentition.