Cleaning & Disinfection, Knowledge Base

Tip #7: Non-regulated industries should practice cleaning activities like the regulated industries.

Posted on by Berkshire Corporation
What’s the difference between cleaning a printed circuit board (PCB) and cleaning a garment printer
17
Mar

What’s the difference between cleaning a printed circuit board (PCB) and cleaning a garment printer?

Printed circuit board (PCB) cleaning is regulated by a federal agency and cleaning a garment printer is non-regulated. “It is the author’s opinion…that the non-regulated industries would benefit if they conducted their contamination control activities as if their procedures were also being monitored by an outside agency.”, says Howard Siegerman, in Wiping Surfaces Clean.

In fact, these two industries have much more in common than one would think. Whether you are manually removing excess solder paste from SMT stencils in PCB manufacturing or removing excess ink from the underside of the stencil on a garment printer there are common considerations:

  1. What are the most effective cleaning supplies for the task? Are they cost effective?
  2. What is the proper cleaning protocol for each task? And is it repeatable?

One other big difference is the regulated industries are required to have written SOPs for each cleaning task throughout the manufacturing process.

 Tip #7: Non-regulated industries should practice cleaning activities like the regulated industries. Written contamination control work instructions, on-going personnel training, and appropriate cleaning supplies all add up to reduced costs and time resulting in defect free products and satisfied customers.

1 H. Siegerman, Wiping Surfaces Clean, p.83

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