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10 Best Cleanroom Practices

April 28, 2017 By meiadmin

10 Best Cleanroom Practices

Many products manufactured today are extremely sensitive to dust, vapors and other airborne particles. The production of these products requires a clean environment and clean manufacturing operations. This is especially true for products produced by semi-conductor and bio-pharmaceutical companies. A cleanroom is a controlled environment that is specially designed to reduce contamination.

Avoiding Contamination in Cleanrooms

Cleanrooms must be kept clean and free from all types of contamination. Increasing cleanliness, minimizing contamination and keeping equipment running smoothly requires the use of materials, tools and processes that will not affect the cleanliness of the finished product.

Cleanrooms and clean manufacturing requires a solid commitment from staff. Cleanrooms that are properly maintained allow for cleaner products and manufacturing facilities, increased potential for new markets and the opportunity to present the production facility as a selling point to customers.

Top 10 Cleanroom Maintenance Practices

Keep tools and test equipment inside the cleanroom. Having to clean tools before bringing them inside the cleanroom not only wastes time, it also increases the likelihood of contamination.
Staff should be fully trained on cleanroom protocol. Staff should understand how even a quick visit to the cleanroom without the proper attire can release millions of particles, requiring immediate cleaning and potentially downgrading cleanroom classification.
Keep a supply of vinyl gloves inside the cleanroom. Over time, workers can develop latex allergies. If worker’s hands become red or develop a rash after removing latex gloves, they will need to use vinyl gloves instead.
Adjust practices to allow for seasonal changes. During the spring and fall, filters should be changed more frequently to offset increased outdoor particle counts.
Enforce routine preventative maintenance. Every few hours, workers should check their workstation with a surface particle counter. If particle counts are high, all surface areas should be wiped down and the particulate source located.
Changes to the facility or equipment should not affect the finished product.
Clean manufacturing must be a plant-wide commitment.
Vendors should always follow proper cleanroom procedures.
All equipment used in cleanrooms should require little to no maintenance.
Cleanroom maintenance should be everyone’s responsibility. Every worker should know how to properly clean work areas.

Means Engineering, Inc. offers cleanroom facilities for a variety of industries. Please contact us for more information.

Reducing the Costs of PCB Design

April 21, 2017 By meiadmin

Reducing the Costs of PCB Design

The quality of your Printed Circuit Board matters to the overall success of your project. However, high quality design can be costly. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to keep costs low without sacrificing the quality of your PCB design.

Use Premade Design Specifications

When designing PC Boards, it’s important to think through the entire process to determine how much time, effort and money your design will take to manufacture. If you find a problem with your PCB design, you can look to see if anyone else has come across the same issue and figure out how they solved it. This can save a considerable amount of time and money over having to start again from scratch. Another benefit of using premade design specifications is that they can be automated in assembly instead of being placed and soldered by hand, which can cost quite a bit more.

Panelize

Panelization places multiple PCBs on a single panel, allowing for bulk manufacturing and quicker processing. Panelization also ensures that boards are secured throughout manufacturing, shipping and assembly. Since PCBs are generally priced per panel, you can save a lot of money by fabricating multiples on a single panel.

Get an Outside Opinion

Having someone else take a look at your project can help you catch errors that you might have missed. There’s nothing more costly or time-consuming than discovering a problem too late. Get an outside opinion from someone that you trust that isn’t part of your team.

Use the Same Company for Prototyping and Production

It’s a smart idea to use the same assembly house for both your prototyping and production of your PC Boards. Doing so makes it possible to begin mass production as soon as possible.

The material costs for PCBs are fairly low. Most of the assembly costs come from the time it takes to figure out how to assemble a brand new PCB. If your assembly house has already put together your prototype, they will be comfortable with its assembly, saving you time and money.

Get Your Manufacturer Involved in the Design Process

Your manufacturer can provide you with valuable insight for your PCB design. When involved in the process, they can make suggestions for solving issues and point out problems that you might have missed.

Means Engineering, Inc. can help you with PCB design, prototyping and assembly. We work directly with our clients, from concept to completion. Please contact us for details.

The Right Electronics Manufacturer Could Mean the Difference Between Ordinary and Extraordinary

April 14, 2017 By meiadmin

The Right Electronics Manufacturer Could Mean the Difference Between Ordinary and Extraordinary

There are many factors to consider when choosing an electronics manufacturer. Key features can mean the difference between ordinary and extraordinary. A little knowledge can go a long way towards finding a manufacturing company that best suits your business’ individual needs.

Choosing the Right Electronics Manufacturing Company

Not all electronics manufacturers are created equal. Finding the company that best suits your business requires a practical approach. To find the right fit you will need to take a few things into consideration such as the size of the company in relation to yours, the complexity of the products they produce, the volumes they build and the types of accounts they work with.

Your chosen company should be one that has a well-managed supply chain, the proper equipment and experience to build, configure and test your products, and the capabilities to work with you to deliver what you want, exactly when and how you want it.

Quality Control

Perhaps the most important thing to consider when choosing a manufacturing company is the quality control procedures the company has in place. The company should be able to communicate issues before and during the manufacturing process. This can save your company a considerable amount of time and money.

Customer Service

Equally important to quality control is the relationship that you have with the manufacturer. This should be someone that you feel comfortable leaving your project with. You will also want to figure out who your point of contact will be at the manufacturing company. This is the person you will be expressing your company’s needs and concerns to.

Communication is extremely important during the manufacturing process. Make sure that you can freely communicate with the company that you are working with. Companies located in the U.S. are easier to communicate with than companies based overseas.

High Quality Electronics Manufacturing in Southern California

Means Engineering Inc. provides electronics manufacturing services for a variety of industries. We work directly with our clients to create solutions to a number of problems. Our team strives to provide clear communication and top quality customer service.

Please contact us to find out how we can help your business with its electronics manufacturing needs.

Key Features of Vertically Integrated Manufacturing

April 7, 2017 By meiadmin

Key Features of Vertically Integrated Manufacturing

Manufacturing processes have changed a lot over the past few years. As demand for increased quality control, efficiency and lower costs have grown, so has the need for vertically integrated manufacturing.

Controlling the Value Chain

Manufacturers are able to achieve vertical integration when they control or own the elements within a value chain.

A company’s value chain consists of all of the businesses and individuals that play a part in the manufacturing process. The value chain begins with the people that supply the raw materials and ends with the customer that buys the finished product. Vertical manufacturing refers to the vertical integration of a value chain.

The basic idea behind vertical integration is that companies are able to control the beginning as well as the end of the supply chain.

Benefits of Vertical Integration

Vertically integrated manufacturing provides significant benefits when it comes to product manufacturing, assembly and supply. Vertical integration can reduce lead times, control quality requirements and help to keep costs low.

The most obvious benefit of a well-executed vertically integrated strategy is the ability to increase profit margins and reduce prices for customers, without negatively affecting the quality of a product. There are also numerous customer service benefits to vertical integration. When a company handles the manufacturing, transporting, marketing and retail of its products, they have the unique opportunity to improve their customer’s experience.

Increasing Efficiency in the Manufacturing Process

Vertical integration allows manufacturers to extend their reach as well as their process. When done properly, vertical integration improves process flow and expands the manufacturer’s offerings and capabilities.

Vertical integration increases efficiency and allows for beginning to end quality and engineering support that is compliant with international regulatory requirements. This can significantly decrease the time and money spent on bringing products to market.

Vertically Integrated Manufacturer in Carlsbad, California

From the design and engineering of complex devices through high-volume manufacturing, service and repair, Mean Engineering Inc. offers unparalleled vertical integration capabilities. Even when buying from our customer’s Approved Vendor List, we exercise our vast integration knowledge base to ensure that suppliers are performing to expectations. This helps our customers reach their vision in the most effective and economical way possible.

Means Engineering Inc. offers high quality, comprehensive product development and manufacturing services. We work directly with our clients from concept to completion. For information about our vertically integrated manufacturing services, please contact us today.

MEI Receives AS9100 Aerospace Certification

June 29, 2016 By meiadmin

After an extensive two phase audit, MEI has received certification of its Quality Management System to AS9100 standard adding to our long standing certification to the ISO 9001 standard.