ABN has introduced INTEGRA, the first off-the-shelf cleanroom solution that can reach cleanliness classifications up to ISO Class 4 and cGMP grade B.
After ABN Cleanroom Technology achieved huge success the last few years with their pre-engineered and modular Plug&Play cleanroom "ICONIC", the company has decided to launch yet another new cleanroom product to serve multiple industries.
With INTEGRA, ABN is introducing the first off-the-shelf cleanroom solution that can achieve cleanliness classifications up to ISO Class 4 and cGMP grade B. Like ICONIC, INTEGRA is also developed with a pre-engineered and modular approach, allowing ABN to reduce the delivery time of this solution to no more than 3 weeks.
Originally, ICONIC was a cleanroom product aimed at the micro-electronics and high-tech markets
ABN Cleanroom Technology, founded by Rosaline Wijnen and Jo Nelissen in 1996, specialises in designing, constructing, validating and maintaining cleanrooms for the pharmaceutical and food processing sectors, as well as for manufacturers active in microelectronics, automotive, biotechnology and operation theatres.
By integrating these core activities into one company, they hold a unique position in the cleanroom market with projects that are entirely modular and pre-engineered.
We soon noticed that the demand was not limited to these markets
"Originally, ICONIC was a cleanroom product aimed at the micro-electronics and high-tech markets, which, due to a high market demand, needed fast yet high-quality cleanroom solutions. We soon noticed that the demand was not limited to these markets, but that GMP-related industries were also interested in our off-the-shelf cleanroom solutions. This is why we started with the developments of INTEGRA: a high-end cleanroom in which the most critical processes can take place and which can be up and running in less than 3 weeks," said Jo Nelissen, CEO and founder of ABN Cleanroom Technology.
Patented Plug&Play cleanroom solution
While ICONIC has been specifically engineered to meet the rapidly changing needs in ISO Class 8 or ISO Class 7 cleanroom facilities, ABN Cleanroom Technology currently finds itself in a market where those requirements are even more stringent, up to ISO Class 5 or even ISO Class 4 cleanliness applications.
Nelissen explained: "In order to meet the demand for a higher cleanliness classification without compromising on Plug&Play and simplicity, we have launched INTEGRA. Unlike ICONIC, INTEGRA does allow for temperature and humidity control in the cleanroom, making it a suitable solution for critical ISO or cGMP environments. INTEGRA is a patented cleanroom concept where Plug&Play is combined with Industry 4.0, smart algorithms and dynamic ventilation in order to operate as energy efficient as possible."
ABN's patented VIX-concept holds on to a pre-engineered approach of each cleanroom in order to optimize the usable space, minimise energy costs and reduce the duration of the construction work.
"Each pre-engineered cleanroom module is designed to interconnect and to create a fully integrated cleanroom," added Kamiel Philippens, Product Coordinator at ABN Cleanroom Technology. "The ICONIC, as well as the INTEGRA, reduce customer risk of production loss or escalating costs due to excessive design-build timelines. These cleanroom products allow for a much faster time-to-market and reduce the lifecyclecost of the cleanroom. Our pre-engineered approach ensures reliability, as we never have to start from scratch when building a cleanroom. Each building block has already been developed and approved before."
Integration of IIoT
Next to standard PET coating, PVC flooring, flush interior finishing and temperature & humidity control, INTEGRA comes with a GMP monitoring system, making it Industry4.0 ready.
Lise Vandeborne, IoT Integrator at ABN, clarified: "We connect our cleanrooms to the GMPconnect IIoT Cloud Platform for predictive maintenance purposes. This cloud platform is validated for cleanroom applications in a GMP environment, which makes it a whole lot more unique. We have been gathering data from our cleanrooms for many years now. This enormous pool of data allows us to gradually implement Machine Learning in our cleanrooms, enabling failure prediction of critical cleanroom assets. On a webbaseddashboard provided by Smartlog, we can monitor the status of our INTEGRA cleanroom at all times from any location and we get notified in case something appears to go wrong."