In its second successful year, the Cleanroom Technology Conference Singapore hosted its 250 delegates at the Marina Bay Sands Expo Centre in 2023.
The event, which took place 5-6th December, featured attendees from 20 different countries across Asia and the globe. With 20 industry-leading exhibitors from the cleanroom sector, decision-makers from all these regions were able to meet, catch up, and create many opportunities.
The event saw attendees from across the entire cleanroom industry spectrum, from design and build to cleaning, from monitoring to personal protection. Whether it was a supplier, a contractor, or a distributor, there was something here for everyone.
The networking event for 2023 saw a new arrival for the 2023 conference, a cleanroom QUIZ! The competitive and extremely close final result saw the Pro-Pack team as the winners at the end of the day, who then walked home with 10 bottles of quality scotch whiskey to share amongst their team.
A great prize for the worthy winners, but all teams had a great time collaborating and learning from their expert team leaders!
World class topics
Chair of the first day was Tim Triggs, Consultant for ATi. Triggs starting off the day by giving everyone the lay of the land for international regulations and standards; focusing on ISO but giving a guidance on surrounding important organisations. “A lot of standards have changed, lots are new, and some are changing as we speak,” Triggs said, encouraging the delegates to ensure they keep on top of the ever-changing status quo.
Next up was Andrew Watson, CEO of CBE. Watson followed on from Triggs’ talk by busting some cleanroom myths. Watson said that cleanrooms are full of ‘rules of thumb’, and that we need to distinguish the ones that are fact from the ones that are fiction. He gave examples such as “a myth is a recommended coverage of HEPA filter to achieve an ISO Class”, and “Post COVID saw a lot of papers taken out of context saying HEPA filters take out bacteria”.
A lot of standards have changed, lots are new, and some are changing as we speak
Following Watson’s talk was one from Hasim Solmaz, General Manager of LWS, discussing the difference between classification and monitoring. In this talk, the 0.5 micron and 5 micron monitoring debate was heavily discussed to the delight of the delegates.
Cao Dang Thang from INTECH Group then gave a talk about cleanroom applications in electronics and semiconductor cleanrooms. “Semiconductor cleanrooms are easily recognisable due to their amber lighting in photolithography rooms,” Thang said.
Morgan Polen, Microbiology Consultant from Microrite, then took the mic for a talk about smoke studies for airflow visualisation. The well-known cleanroom expert said that he has seen many faked smoke studies and warned: “A leak in the building is as serious as a fire, you need to shut down production and remediate.”
A leak in the building is as serious as a fire, you need to shut down production and remediate
Malaysia-based Joel Willam, CEO of cleanroom design firm Medhini Group, then gave a fantastic talk about low CAPEX strategies for decarbonising cleanrooms. The talk gave a lot of people food for though about whether they are over-running their cleanrooms. Joel said: “Our client from China set up a plant in Malaysia. In China, they had air showers, but we told them you don’t need air showers. So they turned their off in China for a week to see if there is a difference in particle counts. There was not, so they eliminated the showers.”
In his following talks, Conor Murray, Chairman of ICCCS, said that “demand-based ventilation is the only way forward for dry cleanrooms”.
Kim Benam, Creative Director of KB Architects, then gave a great talk giving the healthcare lab perspective for those working in clean hospital labs. Benam showed some fascinating photos showing automation in labs that keep labs clean and organised. But Benam also gave the sustainability perspective, talking about reclaiming energy lost from lab equipment in the form of heat.
In the day’s penultimate talk, General Manager for Control Environments from Villeda Professional, spoke to the delegates about cleanroom cleaning. The talk covered a range of points from residues to quality risk management, with Bloch linking how they are all important to cleaning in the context of EU GMP Annex 1.
For the day’s final formal talk, Thierry Jomard, ABD from CEO of Dagard, spoke about cleanroom envelopes and their journeys from “monobloc” systems to “bi-bloc” systems. Jomard reinforced that bi-bloc can be really beneficial for many large projects as it reduces installation schedule.
The day ended with a panel of all the day’s speakers, and a free-for-all for attendees to put questions to the panel. Once again, the debate of 0.5 micron and 5 micron monitoring was heavily debated as part of a huge change in recent standards. Even the crowd got involved, in support of continuing 5 micron monitoring, creating a fantastic atmosphere of communication and collaboration.
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And then day one was over. As the quiz finished up, delegates, exhibitors, and speakers alike left the venue, all the wiser for their day at the Cleanroom Technology Conference Singapore.