Designing quality products with creativity
LM-Dental™ research & development team engages in versatile project work involving hand instruments and orthodontic appliances. At LM-Dental™ this top team is called LM™ R&D. The team comprises of experts from various fields of expertise: engineers, natural scientists, an industrial designer and of course a dentist.
In research and development projects the team has the support of a vast network of experts. The team collaborates with local colleges, companies and with international dental experts, so that the products meet all the customer requirements and standards in the international market. So far, the company has manufactured more than ten million hand instruments and over one million orthodontic appliances, which most of them have been exported to over ninety different countries.
From design to manufacturing
At LM-Dental™, research continues from initial product design to manufacturing of finished goods. LM™ R&D designs products and does material research with the help of different kind of computer programs and machines. As projects proceed the team members have often the opportunity to test the products together with dental experts. “We rarely just sit in front of the computer. Networking is part of product development, whose team members collaborates tightly with LM™’s marketing, quality, and production departments. Projects are also executed together with external experts, was it then about new product design or for example testing materials.” States Engineering Team Manager Jaakko Lento.
Results through expertise and networking
Head of the Department, Petri Aronkytö, says that open interactions, strong expertise of the team members, and a vast network of experts enable producing a wide array of high-quality products, which are sold around the globe. Petri shares that LM™ R&D is currently working even more closely with selected dental experts called key opinion leaders (KOL). KOL groups include dentists with different specialties, dental therapists and dental hygienists. “We must keep up with the ever-changing world as well as with the customers’ requirements. For these reasons, we focus on continuous cooperation with dental experts who use our products in their clinical work. Hearing from their practical experiences and ways of working is valuable and interesting information to us.”
The best thing about the LM™ R&D team is said to be the fact that each of them can be themselves and have open discussions about work. “Sometimes the best ideas are born during 10 o’clock coffee break, and then one must hurry back in front of the pc.” Says R&D Quality Specialist Max Johansson. Even though the workplace has a relaxed atmosphere, everyone takes responsibility for their own work and is eager to execute things forward. Creativity combined to expertise can flourish where it should be unleashed.