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How Ultrasonic Cleaning Reduces High Aerospace Labor Costs Without Eliminating Jobs

airplane

No matter how advanced the equipment or how involved the processes in your aerospace operation, it's likely your largest expense is your workforce. Fewer workers will obviously mean less expense, but will that compromise safety or increase turnaround times to the point that your savings are a pyrrhic victory? The better option is to find efficiencies and increase what your current workforce can accomplish in a given amount of time Ultrasonic cleaning technology is perfect for cutting the time spent on tasks, and therefore on the amount it will cost. Let's take a look at 6 ways you can reduce costs workforce-wise. You might say each of them means doing without.

Cleaning without scrubbing or spraying

Ultrasonic cleaning depends on cavitation. Sound waves cause microscopic bubbles to form and collapse on the surfaces of the items being cleaned. Every time a bubble collapses, dirt and other contaminants are scrubbed off the part. Consider how much time must be spent making sure a component with an especially complex shape is truly clean: handling, scrubbing, spraying, inspecting, scrubbing again. Instead, you can immerse the part in an ultrasonic bath and know it will be spotless in 5 to 7 minutes.

Cleaning without disassembly and reassembly

Another feature of cavitation is that it reaches anywhere liquid can reach. That means almost all items can just be immersed in the ultrasonic cleaning unit's tank without being disassembled. It also means you won't have to pay a worker to take them apart and put them back together.

Cleaning without rework, recoating or scrapping

Any time a human handles a product, damage is a risk, and the more handling there is, the higher the risk. With ultrasonic cleaning, the added risk from hand cleaning is eliminated, greatly reducing the opportunities for a worker to ding, drop or mark a component. Once you eliminate hand cleaning, you also eliminate the possibility of overlooking contaminants. With ultrasonic cavitation removing everything from the surface there will be no oils, greases or other contaminants that might interfere with a later coating application. This saves you not only the cost the of reapplying but the cost of cleaning the component a second time and all the time needed to detect, document and correct problems caused by spray or hand cleaning.

Cleaning without harsh chemicals and their associated labor costs

The microscopic bubbles handle all the work in ultrasonic cleaning, so there's no need for harsh chemicals to loosen or break down contaminants. Only a mild detergent is needed. That means you save the cost of training and safety gear (and the time spent donning and doffing it) as well as the cost of time spent on compliance and disposal. For that matter, you save the disposal costs, too!

Cleaning without high maintenance machinery

With no moving parts other than a filtration pump, an ultrasonic cleaner is much easier to maintain than an industrial spray washer, freeing your maintenance crew for other tasks.

Cleaning without paying an employee to monitor the process

Imagine the savings if a worker could just place items to be cleaned and walk away to another task. With our automation options, a basket of parts placed in the proper zone will be recognized by a smart sensor and moved through the cleaning cycle (with multiple cleaning and rinsing steps, if you require) and then placed in a retrieval area. Your most important resource is your people, and their knowledge, energy and time are virtually priceless. But like any other resource, those qualities can be wasted if you aren't proactive in managing them. Ultrasonic cleaning is a great way to ensure you accomplish more together at a lower cost.