It’s time to purchase new cleaning equipment, and (lucky you), you are in charge.
Barbara and Ed KanegsbergThink of the quest as an adventure that can increase manufacturing productivity and enhance your career options. Cleaning equipment alone does not guarantee good surface prep or critical cleaning that meets the cleanliness requirements.
Equipment design is important; cleaning process design is critical. Successful purchases of cleaning equipment involve coordinating the cleaning agent (chemicals) with the cleaning equipment. This coordination involves education, including learning about cleaning. Educate yourself. Read up about cleaning. Read the Clean Source newsletters. Browse online for preliminary “equipment shopping,” Attend trade shows; Check out the Product Quality Cleaning Workshops (PQCW) in-person workshops as well as PQCW online, on-demand webinars, and YouTube clips.
Look over product literature, vendor claims, and commercial vendor-sponsored white papers. Check out the latest from our ever-evolving safety/environment regulatory requirements. Be aware of local and global politics that might impact equipment costs and the timeline for build. Become aware of local, regional, and national regulations that could restrict certain cleaning agents. A picture of the cleaning process, including wants and requirements, will form in your mind. Then, assemble the cleaning team.
Assemble the Cleaning Team
Really? Yes, really. This means you. Your first thoughts may be “I don’t wanna do it. I don’t have to do it. Fuhgeddaboudit.”
You may think that the team approach is a waste of time and money, or that you know manufacturing well enough to decide without help. Can sales reps take care of everything? While sales reps can provide valuable information, they are ultimately there to sell their chemicals or equipment. We’ve been changing and improving cleaning processes for over three decades; we find that cleaning requirements are site-specific, application-specific, and cleanliness requirement-specific.
We respectfully suggest that you may lack the necessary skill sets and knowledge to select the best cleaning equipment and the most cost-effective cleaning process. Furthermore, a cleaning process imposed using “command and control” tactics is likely to fail outright, or the process may be ignored or abandoned.
The Right Expertise
What if you were alone the ruler of the cleaning process? What skills and expertise would you need? In the extreme situation, you are the only person in the manufacturing facility. Because every team must have a person in charge, as a team of one, you are that person. Assuming the goal is reliable cleaning and financially successful, sustainable manufacturing, here are a few essential skills your team needs.
Here’s a non-inclusive list of people and skill sets you may need for smoother, coordinated cleaning equipment selection. The composition of teams may vary from company to company. We have highlighted key people and skill sets that are essential for nearly all successful cleaning equipment purchases.
- *Person in Charge, You (Herder of cats)
- *Upper Management
- *Assemblers, Technicians
- *Worker Safety/Environmental
- Product Safety (eg, Aerospace, military, medical)
- *Facilities/Maintenance experts
- Mechanical Engineers
- Chemical engineers
- Purchasing Agents
- Materials and Processes
- Process Development
- Product Quality Experts
- Technical Reps, Chemical
- Technical Reps, Equipment
- Waste management
- Government/regulatory affairs
- Regulators, Permitting agencies (EPA, FDA)
- Your customer
- Job shops (captive and outside)
Even a brilliant, multitalented manufacturer is unlikely to possess all the skills needed to change the cleaning process. Someone working alone, in an otherwise space, would have to find and assemble the right experts. This would be costly, and coordinating the efforts of outside experts could be a nightmare.
Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of “People in Charge” are part of a company. They have at least theoretical access to in-house expertise. If you are the Person in Charge (coordinator, herder of cats), the first thing to do is to obtain management buy-in on the project. What level manager do you need? The manager has to be high enough on the totem pole to help you actually effect change and access the required funds. Upper management must be sufficiently interested in process changes to ensure you have access to in-house resources. Executives (managers) are invaluable in helping you to get in-house experts interested in the project. While they may not attend every meeting, keep management informed. Managers, especially those interested in technology, love being involved in the practical aspects of manufacturing; it enriches their lives and helps the project succeed. Management interest, including written and verbal support, is essential to ensure that team members have the time to work on process change. Otherwise, potential team members are likely to give you the brush-off.
Leave Your Comfort Zone
As engineers or scientists, many of us are not comfortable recruiting team members, and we may be reluctant to continuously deal with their thoughts and concerns. This discomfort is fear, and it can be debilitating. We feel your pain. If you avoid including the key people with the appropriate expertise, including the key nay-sayers, they will still inevitably weigh in on equipment selection.
In attempting to change the process without involving other employees, it is tempting to follow the path of least resistance by communicating only with one’s immediate supervisor. This is a recipe for failure. Others send out a group email or text informing others that you will be purchasing new cleaning equipment. Better – but not likely to get a response. Instead, get way outside your comfort zone. The Cleaning Lady has been leaving her comfort zone since the 1980s, when she was tasked with replacing ozone-depleting chemicals in her spare time. She can tell you that it’s always a little scary. If you are in charge, take a deep breath. Mix, mingle, and assemble the team. Get the key people involved right away. Don’t just send a text or an email. Talk to them.
Set up an in-person or virtual meeting with key members of the team to converse and see each other’s faces. Keep in mind that not all team members are likely to attend every meeting. Get the options on the table, and go over these options with your cleaning team. Let everyone express their phobias, prejudices (as they regard cleaning), deeply-held beliefs about cleaning, and about regulatory constraints right away. Get those concerns on the table. Then, ever so gently and as tactfully as possible, guide the team toward discussing the options.
Options On the Table
Broadly stated, cleaning processes can be classified as aqueous, solvent, mixed (using both aqueous and solvent in the same cleaning machine), and “non-chemical” cleaning. Examples of non-chemical cleaning are steam, laser, and plasma. Non-chemical cleaning usually involves some sort of chemical.
One option is to eliminate cleaning in-house. This means only work with as-received clean parts or do contract cleaning. While as-received parts that don’t need cleaning may not be an option, it can be good technical and economic practice to work with incoming parts that are at least reasonably clean. Working with quality suppliers can save money. Contract cleaning can be a valid option. There may be a project of relatively short duration. Your company may have the design skills but not the manufacturing capabilities. That said, using contract cleaning has some similarities with ordering take-out food. The consequences of ordering from the wrong takeout place are usually not as dire as using the wrong contract cleaning facility. Assurances of cleanliness and even certifications that cleanliness standards are met may not be enough. The responsibility lies with you and your company.
Get Help and Get Moving
If you are in charge, ask for help and insist on it. Stop looking at brochures and cost estimates. Put the team together, even if it’s painful. You don’t have to agree with their views on work or life. You are not asking them to your senior prom; it’s not a proposal of marriage. You’re engaging their expertise.
We heartily recommend bringing the cleaning options and all concerns to the table right at the beginning of the cleaning equipment search. This means brainstorming. As the person in charge of new cleaning equipment, you get to lead the brainstorming session and move the equipment search forward. This means being more than a facilitator or a mediator. It means listening, mutual discourse, and education.
Given the overwhelming interest in new cleaning equipment, upcoming issues of Clean Source will feature more ideas about cleaning equipment and cleaning processes. For example, we plan to look at cleaning from the product's perspective. We will also explore the recurrent argument between proponents of complex, state-of-the-art cleaning equipment versus those who want inexpensive parts washers. Circling back to the August 2025 feature, we will provide more ideas that utilize current cleaning equipment. If there’s a particular topic you would like to see featured, let us know. We take requests.
Barbara and Ed Kanegsberg founded BFK Solutions in 1994 as a critical cleaning consulting service and the go-to resource to eliminate cleaning, surface quality, and contamination problems, or — even better — to prevent them altogether. Barbara, widely known as “The Cleaning Lady,” is an expert and trusted adviser in critical cleaning. Ed is known as “The Rocket Scientist.” They write Clean Source, an approximately monthly e-newsletter that provides practical ideas to improve cleaning, contamination control, and product quality. They are co-editors and contributors to the acclaimed two-volume “Handbook for Critical Cleaning,” CRC/Taylor & Francis, 2011. Visit https://bfksolutions.com
