Many productions are manufactured under cleanroom conditions. The exact cleanroom conditions are determined by the respective products and the process steps required for production.
To be able to produce in a cleanroom, several important requirements must be met. In clean production areas, it is essential to analyze the entire production chain in order to be able to produce efficiently under cleanroom conditions.
Very often, the specifications for the cleanliness of the delivered material and process equipment are not adjusted to the necessary requirements, questions about the type and method of delivery are not clarified, cleanliness requirements of the delivered product and its packaging are not defined.
The fact that production takes place in a cleanroom is by no means sufficient to achieve the necessary product quality.
The cleaning and packaging of single parts, assemblies and complete machines are two process steps of extraordinary importance within a clean production chain.
Cleaning and packaging have always been done. What is new is that cleaning and packaging processes for cleanroom applications no longer relate to “just” cleaning and packaging.
Small example. You give your mother a beautiful vase for her birthday. Remove any glue residue from the price tag, go over it with a cloth to remove any other dirt from the vase, wrap your gift in wrapping paper. That's it. Your gift is cleaned and packed.
Let’s take a look at the cleaning and packaging process of an optical frame. The optical frame is cleaned with cleaning media and wiping agents according to a predefined cleaning technology. The supplied optical frame is placed in a magazine, which is fixed in a sealable box that is then sealed twice into a pre-cleaned and dissipative PE foil, purged with nitrogen or evacuated and finally sent to the user.
This clearly shows the differences to conventional technologies but what justifies the extended efforts and costs for cleanroom applications? Work steps and technologies that demand a clean environment respectively a cleanroom, need it to achieve the best product quality. This would not be feasible under “normal” conditions. The operation of a clean production environment initially results in a comparatively higher cost factor, which is, however, consciously accepted (product quality) or simply necessary (realisation). External influences that could have a negative impact on the cost factor should be eliminated in advance.
Although standards and guidelines define cleanroom and cleanliness suitability, surface cleanliness, chemical contamination and cleanroom suitable materials, there are still major gaps despite all considerable progress in recent years.
With respect to high product quality and a holistic view of costs, it is increasingly becoming an indispensable requirement to include the entire process chain into the system of cleanliness and contamination control.
Find out more in our white paper “Process design in cleanroom conditions - from component cleaning until the finished product”.