What’s
in your cleaning bath?
Barbara Kanegsberg
BFK Solutions LLC
It’s a continual source of amazement, or at least amusement. A manufacturer
expends considerable time, engineering effort, and expense in designing a
product. The marketing folks tout the product’s advanced superiority
in trade publications, conferences, and web sites. Then, the assemblers
have to actually build the product. Yield problems arise. We are asked
to troubleshoot
the problem. We ask: how are you cleaning the product? What cleaning chemistries
and systems do you use to remove the metalworking fluids, polishing compounds,
whatever? Given the sophistication of many of the products, the answers
are surprising.
Typical responses run along the following lines:
“
I have no idea what’s in the cleaning tank.”
“ Our cleaning agent supplier takes care of all of that. They change out
the tank regularly; we use whatever they say is best.”
“ I used to know; the MSDS is around here someplace.”
“
Oh, I don’t worry about that; I’m management.”
“ The reps who sell us the cleaning agents make sure what we use conforms
to all the safety and environmental regs.”
These are at best shortsighted attitudes. The incorrect cleaning process
can result in high failure rates, lost profits, loss of competitive
advantage, injuries to workers (or, unfortunately, worse), and environmental
regulatory
woes. If you want to build it right, coat it right, plate it right,
or rebuild it right, you have to clean it right. To get good cleaning,
you have
to understand
the process.
In our presentations we suggest that attendees ask the cleaning agent
supplier something along the lines of the following pointed question:
I know you have told me that your cleaning product is safe, that
it has no harmful ingredients, that it is environmental, biodegradable,
that
no regulators
will come after me, that it remove all kinds of soils, from all
sorts of products, but what exactly is in this cleaning agent?
First, ask for a new MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) and a Technical
Data Sheet.
If all you ascertain is that the product is a proprietary blend
with no hazardous ingredients, more benign than chicken soup,
and able
to remove
even the heaviest
soils within nanoseconds, dig a bit further. It’s time to play the
old game of animal, vegetable, or mineral.
Ask:
Is it aqueous (or water-based)?
Is it a solvent?
Is it a blend of solvents?
Is it bio-based?
Is it a semi-aqueous (water rinseable) product?
What’s the flashpoint?
Will it meet my current environmental regulations?
Have you changed the cleaning agent you supply me? Has there
been a formulation change from when I first chose it? Are you
supplying
me
with a different
product from the one we first decided on?
What’s the percent VOC’s in the concentrate? How do you calculate
it?
Are there any HAP’s?
Our facility is located in ______ (your company location).
Will your cleaning agent meet the environmental regulations?
Mom and Dad were right. Knowledge is power. You can trust,
but you have to verify. You don’t have to become a formulator; but asking a few pointed
questions about the cleaning agent yields benefits in terms of high quality,
profitable manufacturing – a better product with a lower failure rate.
