Cleanroom Technology: Why The Right Idea is Often Found in Other Industries...

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It is clear that these instruments must be sterile when dentists use them. While there are elaborate rules for cleaning and disinfecting conventional metal drills, with disposable instruments it is most convenient when they can simply be removed from their packaging, used and then disposed of. For this to be possible, it is necessary that they be supplied in a sterile state.

The Requirements for Sterile Production

What does this require? An injection moulding machine, a high-performance robot (six-axis system), a packaging system and the certainty that when the plastic film is opened, a sterile drill comes out – and does so such that the dentist is able to remove it by the shaft. That is no simple engineering task. The solution is to integrate everything into a special cleanroom, with the robots and packaging system enclosed by a protective housing – creating an entirely encapsulated class 7 unit. This is then docked onto the injection moulding machine and connected to clean air modules.

Automotive Components from Cleanrooms

This usage example is typical of smaller manufacturers, which makes compact and cost-effective cleanroom construction essential. Small- and medium-sized automotive suppliers are increasingly finding themselves confronted with similar challenges as Daimler, VW, Bosch etc. impose the requirement that: “In future, you must produce our injection moulded parts under cleanroom conditions.”

Companies receiving such requests must suddenly install and operate facilities that are entirely new to them – not to mention the fact that the investment required for a cleanroom with an injection moulding machine can quickly run to nearly half a million euros. This drives production costs higher. In the worst case, the company will find itself no longer part of the manufacturer's supply chain because they are too expensive...

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