The Real Heart of the Month

The Heart of the Matter

Is it February already? Where did January go? With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it got me to thinking about roses, chocolate, love, the color red, hearts, giving your heart to the one you love, American Heart Month, heart disease and organ donation, specifically hearts.

While the first few things I mentioned are rather cliché and Valentine’s day which is sometimes referred to as the “Hallmark Holiday”, people tend to forget the more important things about the month of February; The Real Heart of the Month.  Did you know that The American Heart Association has declared February 5th, 2016 as National Wear Red Day? A day that is now dedicated to help raise awareness for heart disease and stroke in women.  This year marks the 13th anniversary of National Wear Red Day and huge strides towards awareness on heart disease have been made, here are some successes:

  • Nearly 90% of women have made at least one healthy behavior change.
  • More than one-third of women have lost weight.
  • More than 50% of women have increased their exercise.
  • 6 out of 10 women have changed their diets.
  • More than 40% of women have checked their cholesterol levels.
  • One third of women has talked with their doctors about developing heart health plans.
  • Today, nearly 300 fewer women die from heart disease and stroke each day.
  • Death in women has decreased by more than 30 percent over the past 10 years.

Don’t Miss a Beat!

Despite the progress there is still more work to be done, one in three deaths among women each year is caused either by heart disease or stroke.  Approximately every minute one of these women dies in our country alone, more than 500,000 a year.  It is the #1 killer in women, yet only 1 in 5 women believe that this is a great health risk for them.  Perhaps our lack of awareness is due to the media and how many heart problems portrayed on television, commercials, and infomercials involve a man as opposed to a woman.  With proper education – many of these deaths,  for men and women, are preventable.  That is why the entire month of February is now dedicated to raising awareness of cardiovascular health, American Heart Month.  Uncontrolled high blood pressure is the leading cause of heart disease. There are pills that will help regulate your blood pressure, but it’s very important to live an active and healthy lifestyle as well.  Educate yourself, learn the warning signs, visit www.heart.org or www.goredforwomen.org to learn more about how you can educate yourself – you might save your life or the lives of your loved ones.  Be a sweetheart & explore the real heart of the month.

In the spirit of love – consider organ donation.  Did you know that “121,514 people are waiting for an organ? 22 people will die each day waiting for an organ.  One organ donor can save up to eight lives”.

Static Clean understands the importance of American Heart Month.  We have donated to the cause and will continue to provide static and contamination control products to hospitals and medical companies that need to use clean, contamination-free equipment on you and your loved ones. We also have a number of people within the company that are organ donors. From all of us here at Static Clean to you and your loved ones – have a blessed, loved & aware month!

Resources:

Goredforwomen.org

Wikipedia

Organdonor.gov

Is It Getting Better?

The Waiting Game

One of the claims by Medical Device Manufacturers, especially start-ups, is that it takes way to long to bring a new medical device to market and that the regulator process is cumbersome. While the FDA is trying to streamline the process, the FDA takes a cautious approach to new product approval, in large part due to the litigious nature in America.   The development from devices to disposables, which are less intrusive forms of treatment, are scrutinized by the FDA’s claim that the devices have to work and they have to be safe.

According to Dr. Herbert Lerner, Deputy Director of the FDA’s Division of Reproductive, Gastro-Renal and Urological Devices, the relationship between the device manufacturers and FDA is getting better as seen in the video below.  A great term when talking about medicine and treatments, it is “getting better”.  Some of the inventions that are designed to treat us, cure us, prolong life and yes,  save lives include: transfusion disposables, infusion pumps and cardiology disposables like catheters/stents and IV sets.

Progress a Long Time Coming

For the sake of discussion, let’s focus our attention on Cardiac Catheterization, which was first performed in 1711, when a long metal tube was inserted into the right and left ventricles of a living horse. We’ve come a long way today with the use of Teflon tubes, self-expanding wall stents, balloon catheters, guide wires, the medical grade plastics and the mass assembly process. Devices are molded, extruded, machined and processed for eventual assembly in a Clean Room.   It could become a finished product at the medical device manufacturing facility or at a contract manufacturer site that follows the protocols set by the original device manufacturer.

As mentioned, the concern of the FDA is ensuring a product works and that it is safe.   Most medical devices on the disposable side are individually packaged. This means that once the product goes into the package, it is ready for shipment to a hospital, clinic or a supply shop.   A growing concern by medical device companies and the FDA is whether the product is clean, meaning that it is free of particles that could end up inside of the human body through veins or other body cavities depending on the actual device.   The precautions set forth by the nature of the product and its application is that “it has to be kept clean and free of foreign particles.

FM the Common Denominator

The common denominator for particle attraction is the static electricity that is created by simply handling the components that go into a medical device.   The plastic materials used can easily generate the electrostatic forces that pull particles out of the air, even when the work is being performed in a clean room. Room Ionization is gaining in popularity to keep the amount of static electricity at lower levels, but room systems with slow decay rates can’t solve the problem at the assembly workstation. The medical community has to assume that the devices have debris on them and to recognize the need to treat the problem at key points in the assembly process. This is especially true before the parts go into the pouches, blister packs and rigid trays that ship to end users.

Static Clean the Equalizer

In the past year, Static Clean has launched a number of important products to address foreign matter, especially the Particle Trap® line that includes the Particle Trap® Cube, which removes particles from the balloon portion of the catheter and also from any plastic parts that are assembled in the Clean Room. Static Clean welcomes the opportunity to have a partnership approach with our clients old and new, to find the right solution for your process.

As the U2 song ONE say, “Is it getting better, or do you feel the same, will it make it easier on you, now you got someone to blame.

Don’t be the blame for failures, poor yields, rejects, rework and recalls from the field. Let us help.

Image By Matt Skoufalos: http://medicaldealer.com/the-key-to-compliance-cmstjc-guidelines-combine-to-promote-patient-safety/

 

Rethinking Your New Year’s Eve Outfit

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

“A Protest Song Becomes a Christmas Standard”

Happy Christmas (War is Over)

And so this is Christmas and what have you done. Another year over and a new one just begun. A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear.

John Lennon wrote the above lyrics to the song Happy Christmas (War is Over) as a means of elaborating the themes of social unity and peaceful change, enacted through personal accountability. Lennon spent two years protesting in peaceful activism against the Vietnam War.   The timing of its release put it in a bad spot for climbing the record charts.   DJ’s saw it as a Christmas song and after Christmas, it didn’t deserve air play, so it only reached 36 on the US charts.   However, the song did catch on and some of the earliest cover versions were performed by Andy Williams, Neil Diamond, Carly Simon, Diana Ross, Celine Dion, REO Speedwagon and Vanessa Carlton.  Now it is truly a Christmas standard.

Give Peace a Chance

Today, the song is as pertinent as it was when John Lennon penned the lyrics, especially when he said, let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear.

The world is definitely less safe today than it was towards the end of the Vietnam War.   The threat of global terrorism was not even on the radar screen back then. Since September 11th, 2001, America and the world were finally feeling good about travel and the fears seem to have subsided. With the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, France and San Bernardino, California, the world is again steeped in fear, which has affected peoples travel plans and commerce, which is the fuel for many economies.   If 200 countries can come together to develop a strategy to address global warming, then it only seems logical that these same countries can work together to solve the global threat from Isis, Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that want to destroy our way of life.

At this special time of year that is all about peace, prosperity, love and hope, the team at Static Clean International wishes and prays for the joy and happiness of what it means to be family, friends, and good citizens of the world.

Is Your Thanksgiving Stuffing Clean?

How do you know if your Thanksgiving stuffing is actually clean?

As we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday in the United States of America – it got me to thinking of how static electricity and contamination might affect my holiday food & meal preparations.  I know you probably say, “Who thinks of that and why?” but it’s the nature of my job and our company, so it’s always in the back of my mind.

When you unwrap packaged food (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams, pie crust, etc.) – how do you know that the package your food comes in is clean?  The simple answer is that the normal person doesn’t know. That question of cleanliness is just assumed by the consumer, but the normal person doesn’t really think about whether or not the package their food is in is uncontaminated.  The FDA tries to setup requirements and mandates but they are so small in comparison to regulate it that companies fall between the cracks and it’s not until you read or hear about it on the news.  By that time it’s too late.  There is an interest read on the FDA website about the requirements and steps required to package food.

Contamination in the food packaging industry

In the food packaging industry – static & contamination can be a huge problem. In particular – plastic packaging. All the rage these days is for packaging to say, “BPA Free”, right? Bisphenol A (BPA) is an omnipresent compound found in plastics. It is a fundamental ingredient of plastics from polycarbonate to polyester. An article in Scientific American (*www.scientificamerican.com) says, “BPA is routinely used to line cans to prevent corrosion and food contamination; it also makes plastic cups and baby and other bottles transparent and shatterproof.” Insert your shocked face here!  No wonder why plastic and packaging companies are working so hard to provide us with “BPA Free” packaging and products.  Makes you wonder what your canned yams and cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving are packaged in, doesn’t it?  The second point regarding plastic packaging is that particulates tend to stick on plastic materials if the plastic has not been static neutralized.  If the plastic packaging has not been static neutralized – particulates – usually loose, dry contaminates (and food; i.e. your stuffing) will attract to the plastic.  Prior to packaging – you may have contaminates that stick to the plastic or bag – so that is an issue.  Also, if the plastic is sticking to itself and not opening up enough during the filling process, then the product being packaged (i.e. stuffing) will stick to the sides as well as the outside or top of the plastic PRIOR to it being heat sealed shut.  That is why static & contamination control is an integral part of the packaging industry.

This year – I am THANKFUL for static control and contamination control products manufactured and sold by Static Clean to packaging companies. Without such technology that allows us to neutralize and control static and particulates in the packaging process – I may be eating stuffing a la mystery meat.  It gives entirely new meaning to “Stuffing” doesn’t it?

When Is It Time To Hang It Up?

That’s All folks!

I was chatting with a friend/customer the other day and asking him if he was still playing hockey in a men’s no-check league. His response was that it was “time to hang it up”. It got me to thinking about all the things we do in life where we can use or connect that phrase.

The obvious meaning of hang it up is to stop doing something that you’ve done for a long time. How about hang it up as in hat, coat, phone, pictures, and decorations.   The gloomier side of the phrase can mean break-up, bring to a close-like a chapter in one’s life- and cease, which has very strong connotations, but the one that I like the most is “bag it”.   Many of us have used the phrase, “why don’t you bag it” on people we know. From watching detective TV shows involving criminal investigations and forensics, “bag it” refers to putting evidence in a sealed bag or container.

Plastic, All Wrapped Up?

There are many kinds of bags and containers that are produced every day in factories throughout the world.   They can be either converted film, blow molded containers, injection molded boxes or cast materials, but can you imagine not having a plastic storage bag or container to keep food in the refrigerator?   While we all try to be “green”, the plastics converters are working to make improvements with bio-degradable, engineered materials, but the reality is that plastic bags and containers are creature comforts that make our lives easier and will be around for a long time.

Most plastics come from petroleum based resin, that by the time it becomes a finished product on the various machines, it has been subjected to high amounts of static electricity. These unwanted static charges can cause defect in the materials, lost production because of having to run the equipment slower than possible, particle attraction which reduces quality and jamming in the process, which causes down-time and lost profits. Static Clean provides many types of ionizing air products that reduce the ill effects of static electricity. They are available in the form of static bars, blowers, nozzles, air knives and cleaning systems.

In time, the choice of materials will lean more towards environmentally friendly resins that may not cause static levels that are harmful, but until then Static Clean can help improve the process, because most of us would have to agree that it is not quite time yet to “Hang It Up” when it comes to creature comforts like plastic bags.

Where Have All the Good Times Gone?

Questions, Answers and  a Tidbit about Life and Business:

Where have all the golfers gone?

About 10 years ago the golf industry hit its peak. Golf balls, golf clubs, and related clothing products flew off the shelves. That has all changed now, with fewer players entering the sport. The decline is not really attributed to a lack of interest, but the time it takes away from family and the skyrocketing costs of a round of golf, its equipment and appropriate attire. The World Golf Foundation claims that in 2005 over 30 million participants played over 550 million rounds of golf. In 2014, the number of players shrunk to 25 million participants playing 465 million rounds. The fallout will have a financial impact on many suppliers to the game.

Speaking of suppliers to the game, with the support of Monroe Electronics, one of our long-standing suppliers, we worked on an “Early Warning” lightning-detection system for golf courses that was based on an electrostatic field meters that are commonly used to measure static in industrial applications, especially the plastics industry. Golfers running around an open course with metal sticks in their hands during a lightning strike is not a wise decision. The decline in the number of golfers is not our fault!!

Where have all the Rich Folks gone?

Obviously, they are still playing golf, but physically they are starting to relocate. I was watching the Tonight Show about two years ago and his guest was Will Smith. They showed a clip of Will Smith from a French TV interview, where Will said that he was okay with paying higher taxes as they do in France. He was shocked when told that the President of France has advocated a 75% tax rate for those making more than one million euros. Has Will Smith changed his line of thinking? Wealthy people are no longer bound by country.

The billionaire founder of Facebook fled to Singapore and gave up his US citizenship, as did 1700 rich Americans last year who left the US, and the trend is growing.

At the same time, the new rich that are coming out of Russia and China want to come to America. There has been quite a bit in the news lately about Russia controlling an increasing amount of the world’s supply of plutonium (an element used in nuclear weaponry), but little is heard about Russia controlling Polonium-210. Polonium was discovered and isolated in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie in Poland, and was produced in the United States during World War II, as part of the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear bomb. It gets its name from the Latin word for Poland, which is Polonia. How about the fugitive Russian officer, Alexander Litvinenko, who didn’t agree with Putin. He died in the UK when someone dropped a couple of chips of P-210 into his drink and he died from radioactive poisoning. Today, common uses for safe versions of P-210 include anti-static devices, but when the US gave up production of Polonium, it left Russia as the main producer of the radioisotope. It is produced in nuclear reactors and it has the chemical symbol of Po.

 What was the Bonfire of the Vanities?

Not the book or the movie, but in real life, these were real bonfires. Throughout the 1400s some of the strict religious in Italy wanted to purge the world of sinful pursuits. They advocated for the destruction of clothing, jewelry, and priceless works of art. The largest of such fires took place in 1497 in Florence, Italy, the home of the Italian Renaissance and Leonardo Da Vinci. Citizens were required or forced to bring their valuables to the town square or piazza to be thrown into huge pile for burning. Talk about a sin!! On a related subject, static electricity discharges can cause fires and other devastation, but to intentionally destroy world class art is completely ridiculous.

Where have all the Static Companies Gone?

In an effort to tie this all together, I would say that business in many instances follows the ebb and flow of society. Businesses are born and die based on demographics, trends, movement to regions of lower labor costs, to be closer to raw materials and of course, operating in a mature market. About 25 years ago, there were close to twenty US-based manufacturers of anti-static devices. It doesn’t mean that globally there are fewer players, but in the USA you can count the number of ionizer device manufacturers on one hand. Mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, outright closures, and a migration towards the emerging markets, especially Asia, are the major reasons for the number of companies. Static Clean remains one of the last suppliers who rely on strong customer relationships for its continued survival and continued success. Please consider Static Clean for all of your static control needs, so that we don’t have to one day ask the question, “Where have all the good times gone”?

Send in the Clowns

The Double Entendre

“Send in the Clowns” was written by Stephen Sondheim in 1973 for a musical called A Little Night Music. He was asked quite often what the song was all about. He said that the clowns in the title had nothing to do with circus clowns. We all try to figure out what an artist means by particular lyrics of a song or a piece of literature. The real key to this song was “Don’t bother, they’re here”. Of course, ‘they’ refers to clowns and refers to us, and that at times we are the fools. Jan Henderson wrote the following:

“In a lifelong search for meaning, I have found the clown to be the best, all-encompassing metaphor for the human condition – an uncompromising mirror to look into for glimpses of the truth. We look at the clown and see ourselves – our hopes, dreams, fear, and virtues, our flaws and our process. Clowns show us how as a species, we get into trouble – without ever meaning or wanting to – and how we sometimes stumble into sub-line solutions to our problems”.

The Great Clown Shortage-No Laughing Matter

Wow!! Who knew that clowns were just for kids? However, the number of clowns in the US has been shrinking at an alarming rate. The World Clown Association has seen its members decline from 3500 in 2004 to 2400 clowns in 2014, with the average age over 40 years old. Even though a clown can average $200-$300 for a birthday party, younger people seem to show a lack of interest in this noble profession. For those that are left in the clown business, there are always challenges.

A recent chat forum for clowns posed this question. “I use a lot of silks in my show. In the summer I have no problems. I set my iron at the lowest setting and iron them when they are real bad. But in winter I end up with a lot of static electricity and wrinkles in my clown suit.

“I tried static sprays but that doesn’t seem to work, so I misted them, but didn’t want to soak them. Does anyone have any other ideas?”

Others wrote, with suggestions to use a dryer sheet and to rub the silk clothing and props with the various brands of static sheets, which will take out 90% of the static. A popular response was to run the silk clothes under cold water and spread them out flat on paper towels and wait for them to dry. Do some of these suggestions sound “silly” to you? Actually, they’re not. These recommendations are based in fact and while not always sensible, they work, but there may be more practical solutions.

Static Free Solutions

Conductive and stainless steel fibers have been added to clothing to make them static-free during the manufacturing process in the textile industry. With enough of these static reducing threads, static electricity is controlled to a manageable level. In munitions plants, these conductive fibers are a total requirement in keeping operators from static electricity to the point of discharge, which can cause an explosion or a fire. Besides using these additives in clothing, flooring, and work surfaces, ionization in combinations of passive, nuclear and electrical designs are also implemented. In the electronics industry the same precautions are common in protecting sensitive devices that are susceptible to an electrostatic discharge (ESD).

When it comes to safety and reliability, there’s no time to clown around. Please contact Static Clean with the confidence in knowing that if we can’t solve your problem, we will put you in the right direction. How else can we look in the mirror and feel good about addressing something so serious?

Static Clean Now Cleaner by Working with Polymag Tek

Power in a Name

What’s in a name? Customer have always considered the name, “Static Clean” to be synonymous with producing products that clean sheets and webs in the Converting Industries. For many years, our company has been manufacturing WebVAC Systems that achieve the cleaning criteria that many customers expect. How clean is clean? The cleaning level or efficiencies that are reached with the Static Clean- WebVAC and similar systems is a 95% success rate in the 25-30 micron range.

Raising the Bar

With multi-laminations, higher cleanliness standards of materials used in notebook, laptop, television screens, finer lines of resolution in printed circuit boards, and the growing medical device packaging market, the bar has been raised. Demands have been placed on suppliers to deliver sheeted or web based paper and plastic materials that contain less debris, or what is now called Foreign Matter (FM).

PolyMag Tek LogoA Higher Standard of Clean

In an effort toward continuous improvement, Static Clean has partnered with Polymag Tek. What’s in a name? Polymag Tek’s original business model was to provide materials and equipment to clean magnetic tape. Does everyone remember magnetic tape? Back around 1928, magnetic tape was invented in Germany to record sound. In the 1950s and 1960s, magnetic tape was widely used by IBM in the storage of computer data, particularly for backups. In the 1990s, the pressure was on to store even more data on mag tape and it meant making sure that the surface of the tape was totally clean. How clean is clean now?

Polymag Tek’s Contact Cleaning rolls and equipment achieved cleaning levels down into 10 microns and below beginning in 1994. For a greater understanding of the technology, please visit their website by the following link to their “Dirt Report

For information on their full line of hand rollers, web and sheet cleaners, as well as process roll cleaners including the water wash systems, please visit their website at www.polymagtek.com.

 

Static and the Winds of War

The Opposing Force

Weaponry and the delivery systems used today are far more diverse and sophisticated than those used in World War I and World War II.  The battles of these Great Wars, especially on the Western Front during World War I, was more about trench warfare when armies of millions of men faced each other in a line of trenches extending from the Belgian coast through northeastern France to Switzerland. Both opposing sides sitting in a dirty hole in proximity to each other, but with little movement. There was no way around the trenches, and the armor and protective gear worn back then was devastatingly inferior to the equipment used today by the most modern fighting machine in the world; the US Military.

The Static Concept

Static generally refers to stationary. Wikipedia states that in a “static battle” both sides suffer heavy casualties and battle lines move so slowly that the result is “static” – a lack of change.

Who doesn’t remember hearing about the Christmas truce? It was the time of ceasefires along the Western Front at Christmas 1914, when German and British soldiers crossed the trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and chat. They even allowed time to bury their fallen, and in some cases they held joint burial services.

Remember..Reflect..Honor

On this Memorial Day, let us all remember those who have sacrificed on our behalf. For those of us at Static Clean, the word “static” has taken on a new meaning and it will always help us to remember not only our fallen soldiers who fought in the trenches of the Great Wars, but in every conflict that called our military personnel to duty.