Static Clean & Fraser Anti-Static Techniques of England announce Strategic Alliance / Partnership

Posted on by Julianne Ouellet

Jim Patterson, President of Static Clean & Bob Fraser, Managing Director of Fraser Anti-Static shook hands on a deal that gives each company broader coverage and depth of products in static neutralization, static generating and particulate control in their respective markets.

Both companies have a long history of manufacturing its own products for the static industry. Static Clean has also been manufacturing one of the Fraser 24vdc static bars in the US for more than a year and the plan is to expand into manufacturing other Fraser products in the first quarter of 2019. The plan also includes Static Clean becoming Fraser’s major distributor in the Americas for its 24vdc ionizers. The Fraser products helps Static Clean gain a strong position in the Plastics and Converting markets.

Over the past 15 years, Static Clean has developed a unique line of static eliminating, particle source-capturing systems for the Medical Device sector. With medical device manufacturing growing in Europe and beyond, Fraser Anti-Static Techniques looks to include Static Clean products to serve these emerging market opp

Where do the particles go?

Posted on by Julianne Ouellet

Did you ever rub a balloon on your hair and stick it to the ceiling? The balloon sticks because you’ve created static electricity on the surface of the balloon. This energy is non-moving static charge. Every material is made up of atoms and they are the basic building blocks of ordinary matter and they can join to form molecules, which is a basic ingredient of most of the objects around us. An atom can hold a positive charge that is called a proton or a negative charge that is called an electron. Atoms with the same charge or polarity repel each other, while those with the opposite charge are attracted to each other. Just like the balloon scenario, static is created by the contact and separation of two materials. The same is true of when you walk across a carpet and touch the metal door knob and get a shock. We call these electrostatic forces, tribo-charging, which renders a plastic material in a state where it can attract dust and other particulates.

Let’s face it, we are using more plastic in our every day lives, from cars to single use medical devices that may end up inside of the human body. Plastic, being highly insulative, can store huge amounts of static electricity. If we just look at the medical device sector, one of the biggest reasons for rejects, rework and potential device failure, is from foreign particles that end up in the finished device. These particles could be in the form of airborne contaminants, plastic flash, skin flake, human hair and other debris that is found in the manufacturing process. Static eliminators in the form of ionizing air guns, nozzles and ionizing blowers are used to negate the ill effects of electrostatic forces that pull particles right out of the air and hold them to a device or components. The use of ionized air is absolutely a good practice, but the problem is “where do the particle go”? Typically, they hang around and end up on the work surface to be a source of re-contamination or the particles end up downstream on already cleaned products.

Enter the Particle Trap® 6000. The Particle Trap® 6000 (PT6000) is the solution to getting rid of particles in the assembly and packaging areas of the medical device manufacturing process. The PT6000 is a source capturing system with a HEPA filter on the exhaust. You can still use the conventional ionizing air blow-off devices, but when working in front of the opening of the PT6000, dislodged particles now are delivered through a pre-filter and then through the HEPA filter, ensuring only clean air is let back into the room. The PT6000 is used not only to clean medical components, but it is especially helpful when used at the packaging level, just prior to the heat sealing of a lid stock to the thermoformed tray. The same would be true for pouching of products such as a catheter on a die cut card being slid into a long plastic bag and then sealed at the end. Normally, most medical device manufacturers do a 100% inspection for foreign matter/particles inside of the seal trays. If a particle is discovered, the lid is ripped off, the product taken out, recleaned and then repackaged. This reject rate is also called the tear down rate, which translates into poor yields, time and money along with customer dissatisfaction, when a product gets through that is not totally cleaned.

Who would benefit from the Particle Trap® 6000? The Particle Trap® 6000 and its sister products, the PT Mini, Particle Trap® CUBE and Medical Cleaning Systems. While the medical device sector has endorsed these products, they also have application in the optics, food and electronics industries for the same reason why all companies are looking to lower their tear down rates, which translates to higher profits. If you want to learn more about how Particle Trap® products can help improve your process, please contact our technical sales team for more information.

Medical Cleaning Station Testing - Static Clean International, Inc.

Introducing our NEW “Clean & Pack,” Don’t Look Back!

Posted on by Julianne Ouellet

Let’s face it, the Medical Device Manufacturers have come under scrutiny, not only from their customers, but also from the FDA in an effort to create a manufacturing environment that has less particulate which can impact quality.  Static Clean International manufactures static control and particle source-capturing products that aid in this effort by reducing particles at critical points in the process.  Three of the most critical areas in the process are at the molding, assembly, and packaging stages of these medical devices. Packaging is the primary source of foreign particles in the process.  Remember, these packages are going to house a medical device that eventually ends up at a hospital or a clinic for use on patients where “clean” is critical.

Medical Clean Room Test Environment

Customers ask us how well our Medical Cleaning Systems work and to what level our “Clean and Pack” system helps to reduce contaminants.  In an effort to guarantee success, Static Clean International recently installed a brand new ISO Class 7 Clean Room that is fully equipped with products that are designed to reduce particles, lower rejects and improve yields.   Customers are invited to visit our facility, bring their trays or devices into our clean room, and learn first-hand the value that Static Clean and its products bring to the Medical Industry.

 

Walking for Hope, Not Hunger

Posted on by Julianne Ouellet

Know the Facts

On Sunday May 1st, 2016 one of Static Cleans’ own participated in the once 20-mile, now 10-mile Walk for Hunger put on by Project Bread. She walked alongside nearly 40,000 people at the 48th Annual Walk for Hunger in Boston, MA.  As she was walking – she said her mind was racing. Sounds crazy, right? How can you walk and race at the same time?  Seems nearly impossible, doesn’t it? As you start to walk – your minds racing so naturally you want to walk faster to reach the finish line… or at least run to keep up with your thoughts. But that’s impossible to do when as you are walking along the path you read signs that include statistics of the poverty stricken community.

Some of the thoughts that went through her head: There are 9.6% of households in Massachusetts with some level of food insecurity. Of that 9.6%, 5.5% have a low food security and 4.1% have a very low food security. All households with children make up 19.2%.  This means that half  the population of households in Massachusetts that have children are not food secure. Half of them! How is that possible? How can we stop this? What can we do to help? In 2013, 10.6% of households in Massachusetts (nearly 700,000 adults and children) were food insecure. From the years of 2003 to 2013 – the food insecurity rate has gone up by 71%… and hasn’t moved since!

Community Solutions

There are numerous outreach programs available to help the food insecure community. Some of them include CNOP (Child Nutrition Outreach Program); Community Garden – where the community helps to garden land that provides crops; Farmer’s Markets are on the rise; Food Rescue – where fresh food is collected from restaurants and super markets and delivered to community organizations where it’s cooked & distributed; and Gleaning – which is where leftover crops from farmer’s fields can be used as they are not economically profitable to harvest. There are programs in place, but it’s up to us to bring awareness.

As she was walking alongside the nearly 40,000 people – one gentleman, a dad and his son stuck out in particular. How do you explain hunger to a child that barely understands what it means to be hungry because his belly is filled with food; his family is food secure. Well, this father explained that as much as our feet hurt from walking the 10 miles – the bellies of our brothers and sisters hurt, from hunger. Our feet hurt for the 10 miles and maybe the day after, but these men, women and children have hungry (or hurting) bellies every single day. It doesn’t go away.

How to Help

Support comes in many different shapes and sizes. Consider donating to the Walk for Hunger:  Every little bit helps. $25.00 provides a hot meal for fifteen people at a community supper program! (See if your company will match your donation!) Maybe you can’t provide financial support, but you can donate your time to a local shelter to help serve or prepare the food. Or maybe, just maybe you are a large corporation in the food industry that can help donate the food to a local shelter or even to next year’s Walk for Hunger! What better way to help others, support your community and get your name out there at the same time! Let’s walk for Hope… hope that things will be different in the future.

Resources: www.projectbread.org

Spring Has Sprung And We Are On The Move

Posted on by Julianne Ouellet

Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zone

Like the flowers bloom, we have sprung into new growth, too.  Static Clean International no longer resides at 15 Adams Street Burlington, MA 01803 alongside Filter Sales & Service. We are now in a new location: 267 Boston Road Suite #8 North Billerica, MA 01862. We have grown out of our space in Burlington, but … we still work very closely with Filter Sales & Service on cleanrooms and HEPA filtration. It is an integral part of our business to provide clean space and a controlled environment to our customers, mainly medical companies.

There was a lot of work and preparation in getting ready for the move. Not only was the building redesigned to fit our needs – but we had a lot of packing, unpacking, organizing, heavy lifting, many trips between locations and several weekends spent working to get the new digs up to our specifications.  One of our favorite rooms is our new conference room.  Furnished with a new Vizio flat screen television this will allow us to show our products better in a presentation as well as our vendors showcasing theirs to us. We also have a wide array of products on display. Our MCS-AS (automated medical cleaning station), Hepa Clean 3000 and Particle Trap® are now set up so that customers can bring their parts in and test out our equipment.

Slow Growth Bears the Best Fruit…

Static Clean has been steadily growing, so it was time to find our own space that includes a new 6,000 square foot manufacturing department. We now have more space for the production and development of new products. So stay tuned! As the business has grown, so has the employed staff. We needed a space that was large enough for our expanded production and to create more office space.

Chris Middleton, Manufacturing Supervisor, when asked how he felt about the move said, there is “more space, more room for growth and more efficient work space”.

Matthew Crothers, Customer Service Rep said, “This move for Static Clean brings us up to the next level of being a competitor in the field of static control and contamination control. We have a strong team that is working towards a cohesive goal of becoming a major player in this industry. Moving to this new building provides us with the space and ability for even more product development and efficiency. It is a step in the right direction”.

Jim Patterson, President said, “It is a big move for our company but with the anticipated growth we knew we had to move to a larger facility.”

The general consensus of the Static Clean team is that this move will provide us with the tools we need to bring this business to the next level.

John Maxwell once said, “If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone”..and we sure are growing. With the start of spring (minus the freak 6 inches of snow that New England got on the first day of spring), we have sprung into a new move. Our new facility is large enough that there is room for even more growth. A freak 6 inches of snow on the first day of spring is out of the realm of normal weather patterns this time of year (well, maybe not for New England), so you might need to wear warmer clothes to adapt to the changes. Just like the weather patterns change and you may need to step outside with snow boots in a month where the grass is supposed to be green, we need to continue learning and gaining knowledge so that as we do grow we remain #staticeliminator experts. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain”… or snow! (Anonymous, more recently attributed to Vivian Greene).

 

Rethinking Your New Year’s Eve Outfit

Posted on by Julianne Ouellet

What NOT to Wear NYE

What are your plans for New Year’s Eve? If you’re a Bostonian, you might be considering going into town for First Night.  For those who do not know, First Night Boston festivities include a ‘Celebrate Boston’ parade, live musical performances, intricate and detailed ice sculptures by renowned artists and a “dramatic” fireworks show at the stroke of midnight over Boston Harbor.  It’s a fun-filled day/night for the over one million attendees, both young and old alike.

 

As the clock approaches the midnight hour on December 31st; the fireworks team will be in position to put on an amazing fireworks display.  The pyrotechnic experts might need to choose their wardrobe wisely.   Did you know that static electricity in synthetic clothing can ignite fireworks?   A static discharge from the clothing in proximity to the fireworks can create the spark that causes ignition.   Most fabrics will burn, especially synthetic clothing materials such as nylon, acrylic, and polyester.  These materials in particular are good at building a static charge and holding onto that static charge – which can result in a sparking.   Think of what happens while walking across the carpet and touching the door knob in the middle of the winter.  We don’t want to start the New Year out with this kind of a bang & have people plunging into the Boston Harbor to douse the flames, do we?   We want the fireworks team to stay out of danger and the Bostonian’s to enjoy a safe and wonderful evening.   When static issues arise in Electronics, Industrial and Life Science applications, please consider Static Clean as your solutions provider.    May you all have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

 2015 New Years Fireworks Display

Enjoy the Gargill’s family video of the 2015 First Night Festivities:

Sources:

http://www.boston-discovery-guide.com/first-night-boston.html

http://www.cityofpasadena.net/Fire/Flammable_Fabrics/

http://www.physics.org/facts/toast-static.asp