What is a cleanroom in Europe is best answered by starting with the Dutch term “cleanroom. We use the word combination to describe all manifestations for an exceptionally clean room.
By clean we mean very small amounts of invisible dead and or living dust. For ASML, the term cleanroom is very different from an operating room in a hospital, a production area for cytostatics at Basic Pharma (DSM) or the preparation area for baby food at Nutricia or Mead Johnson.
In Europe
In Europe, other names are sometimes used nationally, such as Clean Room, Sale Blanche or Reinraume, but all clean rooms are subject to similar strict regulations internationally, such as ISO 14644 and GMP.
Classification
For some cleanrooms, only dead dust is important, while in operating rooms, living contaminants such as microorganisms play a crucial role. But it also applies to lesser-known cleanrooms such as in the kitchen of a Michelin three-star chef.
The term cleanroom is becoming more common in Europe as national words are replaced by the Dutch “cleanroom. Perhaps the EMA ‘s European headquarters in Amsterdam, European Medicines Agency, is an important stimulus to international understanding for this.
Rooms and features
Cleanrooms are interconnected rooms that are reliably supplied 24/7 with filtered clean air and can vary in air pressure. Safety and reliability play a main role here.
The rooms in a cleanroom are schematically divided by function. The cleanroom principle is divided into four areas. They differ from each other in terms of air pressure and dust classification. The four areas are: the flow of goods, personnel and operations. ‘Goods In’, ‘Goods Out’, ‘Personnel’ and work area, the ‘Cleanroom’. With the pressure differences, mutual contamination is prevented; contamination.
Branches and procedures
There are industries where the question, “What is a cleanroom?” is best answered with a description of the production process. A notable feature of all cleanrooms is that the features are fixed in procedures and are reproducible.
What are cleanrooms for? When does reliability and/or safety play a role: lids on baby food, communication equipment for rockets, cytostatics for hospitals, MPD nanotechnology, the daily production of thirty thousand heads of lettuce. Just a few of the products that are manufactured in clean rooms.
HIGHCARE has been installing, manufacturing and designing metal cleanrooms according to the Industrial Flexible Demountable (IFD) system for twenty-five years. High-quality low-dust spaces. All components are industrially assembled and assembled on site and are therefore of consistently high quality.
Inspecting one’s own meat is not part of HIGHCARE’s business
HIGHCARE provides internationally recognized cleanrooms that carry independent ISO certification. As the only one in the market, HIGHCARE delivers cleanrooms ready to use: walls, floors, technical installation and HEPA filter units. All components are of high quality, industrially prefabricated and coordinated with each other. 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 low dust rooms. Unique metal cleanrooms with a high classification and equipped with air conditioning.
Reliable and reproducible
What is a cleanroom in Europe could result in significant growth in the cleanroom supplier market in the Netherlands due to the EMA’s arrival in Amsterdam.
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. ‘With 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 24/7, at every measurement time, for the long term and in large quantities. ‘HIGHCARE has specialized in this field.
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 indicates 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 suitable for sterile environments and, depending on the sector, comply with international standards such as ISO, cGMP, HACCP and BRC.
History of Highcare
The company grew out of an installation company that worked mostly for Philips in the 1960s. Philips was the first purchaser of low-dust spaces. The upgrading of the assembly workshops took place at the Volt factories in Tilburg.
In the early 1970s, under the inspiring leadership of Koos Nolte, the company developed in different directions. In addition to the familiar installation technology, areas of work such as traffic infrastructure, airports, parking garages and… high-quality, low-dust areas were tapped. For the company, the 1970s were the ideal climate for these new developments. The predecessor of Highcare grew into one of the largest manufacturers at that time.
In the late 1980s, the parent company, the NIG Group, was sold to Stork. At that time Philips, the largest customer, began reorganization with the powerful name “Centurion. Stork responded by privatizing all non-core activities and stipulated from the takeover candidates that they would no longer use the old company name.
As the largest customer reorganized, the need arose to change the strategy and the company was continued in a new company under the name “HIGHCARE. With international aspirations. During this period, HIGHCARE developed an innovative building technology: IFD.
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.
There are several options for financing. Should a client choose a “sale leaseback,” it is important that this cleanroom is not nail-bound to the building, except for the flooring.
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, Pranapharm Russia, Louwers Hanique, Weener Plastics, MeadJohnson 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.
Eastern Europe
Under the safe umbrella of economic affairs, the company also supplied cleanrooms in Eastern Europe. Since 2002, Highcare has been led by director Bas de Bruijn. He graduated in 1985 as an ing. from the Department of Construction Engineering at the IHBO in Tilburg (HTS).