The Most Productive O&P Lab
By Steve Hill, CO

This article is reprinted from our February 2006 O&P Almanac.

Likely, you spend more of your waking hours at work than at home. So, your work environment should be set up so you can be productive while you’re there. That’s just good business sense.

In an O&P facility, a well set-up lab is critical. If you can arrange the work area to reduce wasted time and space, you will automatically be more productive.

Consider work flow
Each work station should be located relative to the progress of the device you’re manufacturing.

For example, you might set up your lab to begin with cast filling and rectification, then include all the steps of fabrication in order and end with strapping.

In OTS’ lab, which specializes in lower-limb orthotics, the work areas were staged in this way: plaster (cast filling and modification), plastic (vacuum forming), finishing (all sanding and buffing), metal bending (from stirrups to uprights), and, finally, strapping.

Work flowed through one end and out the other, similar to an assembly line.

Not all devices require each step, so flexibility is the key. For instance, you might need to fill a cast in preparation for an all-metal device, or modify a cast, have metal uprights bent to it and then go back again through vacuum forming. In custom fabrication you can’t count on any one configuration.

In your lab, you may want every upright pulled underneath the plastic.  So, you may have metal bending in closer proximity to the plaster room.

Whatever works best for your methodology is how you should configure your lab.

The proper tool
As any mechanic can tell you, “There’s no replacing the right tool for the job.” Don’t waste time and money trying to make a junky tool suffice!  

Save yourself all the time and frustration by buying the correct—and best quality—tool the first time. We buy most of our general hand tools at Sears because of the high quality and ease of warranty fulfillment.

Dedicated tools
There is another aspect of tooling that I call “dedicated tools.” There are many examples of this, such as using one grinder for metal work and another one for plastic, keeping the dirty metal dust out of your nice, clean plastic cuffs.

An even better example might be drill presses. OTS’ shop floor was littered with drill presses, each with a specific job in mind.

There was a drill press in the strapping area set at the correct speed for drilling holes in plastic cuffs.

There were three drill presses in a row at each metal bending area, each set at a different speed. One was set at the slowest speed for countersinking metal, with a countersink tool always chucked. And there was one set at a moderately slow speed for drilling stainless steel and another one set at a higher speed for drilling aluminum.

In the finishing area, there were three more drill presses, one for countersinking plastic and two set up for tapping holes. The drills set up for tapping each had a Tapmatic® tool with either a 10-32 or 8-32 tap in place, set at the slowest speed.

OTS wasted a lot of time changing out taps, drills and speeds before we dedicated a drill press to each task. Afterward, no one waited for drill press time and no one wasted time changing out set-ups.

Another idea is to have keyless chucks instead of the standard type. Not only will this avoid having to find and fumble with a chuck key, but it will make changing drill bits fast and easy.

Or, you can keep all of your bits located right at the drill press. Some use blocks of wood with various holes and others might use a magnetic strip on the side of the press to hold bits. You can apply this method all over the shop during set-up.

Drill presses are only one example of dedicated tooling. Save yourself a lot of production time and set up with the right tools and plenty of them. It’ll pay off in the long run.

Support equipment
It makes perfect sense to have every tool you need within easy reach.  It also makes sense to put equipment where it’ll do the most good.

You wouldn’t install an air filter in the metal bending area, right? Having a dedicated lamination and materials grinding area allows you to use air filtration equipment to the fullest capacity by placing it where it’s needed most.

The same principle applies to first-aid stations and fire extinguishers. First-aid kits and fire extinguishers should be well marked so they can be accessed quickly and easily. Adding an extra fire extinguisher near the fire-resistant cabinet where you store your flammable materials is also a good idea.

Facilities without a lab
Or you may not set up the lab at all. Many patient care facilities don’t have a lab. You might only keep a grinder and drill press, along with a few basic tools for minor adjustments and fitting.

A lot of practitioners would rather focus on patient care and outsource the fabrication to central fabrication facilities that do nothing but make O&P devices.

The patient can benefit from such an arrangement because the practitioner is free to devote his time and attention where it does the most good, while all fabrication is left to expert technicians. You reduce the amount of space you use and the amount of money tied up in equipment, and you avoid the trouble of running a full-time lab as well as a full-time clinic.

No one can do everything perfectly, so feel free to specialize.

Production, safety and comfort—keep these key factors in mind and you should be able to set up your lab to meet your needs.

Steve Hill, CO, is secretary of OPTA and CEO of Delphi Ortho, located in Asheville, N.C. and on the Web at www.delphiortho.com.