Dental Lab Products - December 2008 - (Page 28) PURCHASINGTRENDS may be the perfect time to make the risky investment in growth through business expansion. Jim Glidewell, CDT, President and CEO of Glidewell Laboratories (www.glidewelllab.com), recommends, “ e best advice that I could give to those concerned with survival is to add new products to their o erings,” he said, suggesting such areas as thermoforming and zirconia as well as implants. “ e implant market continues to grow and will become a behemoth over the next 10 years.” purchases to take advantage of the Section 179 tax break. In a nutshell, this program allows for the tax deduction of business equipment purchases up to $250,000 (up from $125,000 in 2007) in the year of the purchase rather than over time, until the full purchase price has been deducted. Plus, extra deductions can be written o , thanks to recent economic stimulus legislation for an additional 50% of the equipment purchase, all adding to some serious savings (additional information servative approach to big-ticket items, with less than half (43.6%) anticipating any major equipment purchases next year. Across the board, the economic slump felt at the end of this year has in uenced overall purchases. When asked how recent economic conditions have a ected their laboratory purchases, half of the lab owners responded that they had decreased all purchases, high-ticket purchases, and consumables; another 43.9% said there was no change to their purchasing pro le. BUY FOR GROWTH Year-end savings, tax incentives, and negotiated nancing terms also present the opportunity for laboratories to bene t through bulk purchases on supply staples or to move into new areas. According to Bryen, dental suppliers often are open to bargaining with laboratory owners to negotiate on payment terms for a larger-than-normal purchase with an agreed-upon payment schedule that may not start for months after the actual purchase. For example, a laboratory owner who typically buys an average $10,000 per month in consumable materials and supplies could cut a deal for the purchase of $40,000 worth of supplies at the end of one year to be paid over the rst three months of the coming year at a discounted payment of $12,500 a month. “ e suppliers don’t typically volunteer that they’re going to do something like this,” said Bryen. He added that laboratories and suppliers can—and should—strike up this type of nancial arrangement at any time during the year. “It just opens up a dialogue between the supplier and the lab,” he said. Acquafredda said she has seen many laboratories making big-ticket equipment “THE SMALL LABS ARE STRUGGLING. THEY NEED EVERY COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THEY CAN GET.” —BRUCE BRYEN, CPA, THE SNYDER GROUP on the tax incentive is available online at dentalproductsreport.com/articles/show/ dlp_1208_tax-breaks). However, Bryen warns that laboratory owners should not be swayed by the potential tax savings as the primary or sole reason for equipment purchases, but to be sure that it factors into their business plan as a whole. According to the results of the 2008 DLP Buyers Guide survey, the majority of laboratory owners made a major equipment purchase in 2008, with 53.1% reporting the capital investment during the previous 12 months. is corresponds to a growth in the purchase rate by laboratory owners over the past three years, with 51.5% in January 2008 reporting a major equipment during the past year and 50.9% in February 2007. Looking forward, though, participants in the latest survey may be taking a more con- Whether bracing for the nancial storm by trimming sails (while trying to increase sales) and moving full-speed ahead or by searching out a calm port and trying to weather the crisis as best as possible, the small business owner is in for a wild ride, but no one can say for how long. e best advice is to rely on your supplier partners as well as to recruit an industry-knowledgable nancial advisor into your crew to help ride it out to calmer waters. lab References 1. The November 2008 DLP Buyers Guide survey was made available online to a random sample of 642 U.S. lab owners/managers; 98 surveys were completed for a response rate of 15.3%. 2. The January 2008 DLP CAD/CAM & Technology Survey was made available online to 2,027 U.S. lab owners/managers; 134 surveys were completed for a response rate of 6.6%. 3. The February 2007 DLP CAD/CAM & Technology Survey was made available online to 1,233 U.S. lab owners/managers; 159 surveys were completed for a response rate of 12.9%. 28 BUYERSGUIDE2009 dentallabproducts http://www.glidewelllab.com http://www.glidewelllab.com http://www.dentalproductsreport.com/articles/show/dlp_1208_tax-breaks http://www.dentalproductsreport.com/articles/show/dlp_1208_tax-breaks
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.