Caps on baby food, communication equipment for rockets, cytostatics for hospitals. These are just a few of the products created in a remountable cleanroom at Highcare in Tilburg. This company has been installing, producing and designing remountable metal cleanrooms according to the Industrial Flexible & Demountable (IFD) system for twenty-five years. ‘As the only one in the market, Highcare delivers cleanrooms ready to use: walls, floors, HEPA filter units and technical installation.
All components are industrially prefabricated and matched. The construction pace is therefore much faster and the costs lower. Moreover, customers have only one point of contact,’ says director-owner Bas de Bruijn. ‘Everything in one hand. Highcare installs, produces and designs dust-free rooms. Unique metal cleanrooms with a
Demand increases
The demand for cleanrooms is increasing, notes De Bruijn, who serves companies in the semicon, precision mechanics, (bio)pharmaceuticals, food and aerospace industries. ‘More and more business processes require special conditions in order to assemble products reliably and reproducibly. The technology in the semicon, for example, is at such a high level that the air must be incredibly pure, in the right relative humidity and temperature to prevent a dust particle from disrupting the process.’In these higher production requirements, reliability plays an increasingly important role. ‘In view of their image, customers want to avoid mistakes at all times. So you have to be reliable not just for one hour, but if required 24/7, at any measurement time, for the long term and in large quantities.’ Highcare has specialized in this field. The system is fully remountable, with lots of glass and quickly adaptable.
Commercial appearance
The commercial appeal of a cleanroom also contributes to growth. ‘If you can say as a company that you have a cleanroom available for production, customers experience this as distinctive. It shows that you can offer a high-quality production environment that is regularly checked for a whole set of quality requirements by an objective assessor. That gives confidence,” says De Bruijn. Highcare’s cleanrooms are therefore composed of carefully selected inert materials, fully remountable, which are suitable for sterile environments and, depending on the sector, comply with international standards such as ISO, cGMP, HACCP and BRC. What standard?
Stand alone system
Another advantage of the IFD concept is that the cleanroom can be placed standalone in an industrial hall. As a box within a box. ‘That is particularly attractive for young entrepreneurs. If they move to larger premises after a few years, they can move the cleanroom with them without any problems,’ says De Bruijn.
Highcare installs, manufactures and designs cleanrooms
The cost of an average cleanroom is project-dependent and ranges from 150,000 to 1.5 million euros. Highcare’s clients include DSM, VDL, Arion, BasicPharma, Louwers Hanique, Weener Plastics and Antwerp Space. Next year, De Bruijn will set his sights abroad. ‘We are already active in Belgium, Germany, Russia and Bulgaria. We want to expand further into Brazil and the Middle East.’