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What To Do When Your Customer (Or Boss) Mandates Ultrasonic Cleaning

business hierarchy

Change is the only constant, and a fresh batch of change arrived on your desk today. Someone higher up in the org chart (or downstream in the supply chain) has made the decision to require ultrasonic cleaning for your aerospace operation. So, now what? Now that the mandate is there, the question is how to make the transition in the most effective way. Fortunately, we have some tips on how to make the change to ultrasonic cleaning a smooth and profitable one. In fact, you may find that this decision gives you a number of advantages.

  1. Establish a cleaning validation program

A mandate for ultrasonic cleaning will usually include a cleanliness standard for the finished product you move on to the customer. In aerospace, the required cleanliness usually falls between 0.01 grams and 0.001 grams per cm2. If you don't yet have a cleaning validation program, now is the time to put one in place. The right validation method(s) can vary widely and depend on the nature of the products you're validating and of the soils that contaminate them. The good news: It's not rocket science, if you'll excuse the phrase. We've done two recent blogs posts here and here that can serve as a resource to start from.

  1. Examine your workflow for new efficiencies

Ultrasonic cleaning will mean less time assembling and disassembling items, less rework and re-cleaning. That's because ultrasonic cavitation will reach anywhere on a component that water will reach, and it scrubs grime of any type from the surface of the part. In addition, ultrasonic cleaning takes less time and no one will need to manually clean the items. That means you have an opportunity to use both time and personnel in a more efficient manner. Take as an example a station where an employee is assigned to manually remove grime from batches of components before they are recoated. Such a station would no longer need to be constantly manned, and the ultrasonic cleaning process would most likely involve a typical five to seven minute immersion for each batch instead of thirty minutes or so of scrubbing. What could that worker be doing now instead of scrubbing parts? How much of their time is currently spent re-cleaning parts which failed the coating stage because of incomplete cleaning? This is time you'll now have available, so why not begin planning how you'll make use of it?

  1. Consider automation

Depending on your specific cleaning needs, you may need to take the items to be cleaned through multiple baths and rinses. Rather than have a worker oversee this process, consider our custom automation installations, which can move batches of items through a predetermined process without any worker intervention other than placing the batch in a start zone monitored by a smart sensor.

  1. Get in touch

At Ultrasonic Power Corporation, we believe that customer satisfaction isn't just about building them high-quality cleaning units. It's also about helping them make the transition to ultrasonic cleaning successfully. We also offer free parts testing so you can get more information on the best cleaning options for the unique challenges you face. Contact us today and we'll see how we can help move you forward.