2021 - My year in summary. By Ashley Byrne

2021MY YEAR IN SUMMARY

By Ashley Byrne I Editorial Board Member

Come the 23rd of December I’m going to sit down, have a stiff drink and then most likely sleep for two weeks solid. I think thats the best way to summarise my 2021. One minute it’s January and now in a heart beat it’s December, where did that year go?? Whilst it’s been hard, harder than any other year of my life, it’s been a remarkable one on many levels. The lab grew beyond belief, I finished an eco house I was building (thanks to the bank of Mum and Dad for loaning us that through a global pandemic!!) and I have a boxer dog that is crazier than a box of frogs that this week learnt to open door handles, the carnage just went up to a whole new level.

Work wise, the year started incredibly well, busy and a buzz at the lab of normality to a certain extent, which after 2020 was a breath of fresh air. Work was flooding in and yet I’d predicted a tough start and possibly even a year making a loss but thankfully I certainly got that prediction wrong. We had several record months and continued and reliable growth, the lab has seen more change in its quality and processes this year than any other year on record. The team at Byrnes has grown, we stand strong at 40 people now and yet as a work family we are closer than ever. We took on new employees in nearly every department and whilst I grew fearful of losing that family feeling through growth, the team seem to have embraced that more than ever. As the owner and I suppose directional leader (we don’t have a management structure at Byrnes, you are all as important as each other) I stand here proud as punch of what Team Byrnes has achieved in 2021.

It’s been a hard year for all my team, they have excelled in their quality beyond belief and despite the stress of high volume and not enough technicians, they have innovated to streamline processes so we could increase sales and yet not increase working hours. We take our work life balance seriously and the use of digital technology has allowed us to manage that growth and yet not increase the hours we work.

The challenges range this year have certainly been the lack of dental technicians available and I’m worried this is only going to get worse. We have taken trainees on this year like Aaisha who despite leaving all her family in Bolton, has risen to the challenge and clearly demonstrating the value that degree level students can bring to a modern dental manufacturing business. We also have Tia who is working part time whilst she studies for her degree at BMet and Worcester Uni. They both join the list of newly qualified technicians at Byrnes that never cease to amaze me with their skills and ability to learn as well as adapt into an ever changing dental technology business. If this is the future of dental technology in these young educated people, it is indeed in very safe hands and we need plenty more like them.

So now we look to 2022, increased growth, more digitisation and the year of the digital denture awaits us is my prediction. I hope you will join me at the ADI congress in May as my final year as the ADI technical rep comes to a close. The speakers I think will really sum up the year ahead with a technical treat of ground breaking innovation from Zirconia to digital dentures.

So as we draw 2021 to a close, my number one company core values states, ‘have fun and be curious’ and I think 2022 is certainly going to the year that dental technicians get the recognition and reward that we all deserve and we can have a lot of fun doing it. But for now, let’s all enjoy a nice break over Christmas and raise a toast to the awesome dental technicians and operations teams that make this industry the incredible profession that it is. Cheers!