Cogent Technology has moved into a new 80,000ft² facility in Felixstowe. The new facility features state of the art production lines, including two ISO 14644-1 Class 7 Rapidbloc cleanrooms for its innovative medical and healthcare products.
Dan Tidswell
Rapidbloc Cleanrooms have been developed by Connect 2 Cleanrooms (C2C) to meet the demands of some of the world’s fastest moving industries, such as healthcare and advanced manufacturing. Clean production will enable Cogent to grow its product offering and expand services to clients with consumables and accessories that complement existing PCB assembly product ranges.
The two Rapidbloc cleanrooms were designed and built in eight weeks, including validation to ISO 14644-1 class 7. This expedited timescale was important to Cogent as the cleanrooms were able to be coordinated within its wider facility fit-out programme and so production was not interrupted.
A monobloc cleanroom project of this scale would usually have a lead time of up to four months, whereas Rapidbloc Cleanrooms generate significant productivity gains to enable a faster return on investment. Rapidbloc cleanroom layouts are fully configurable and as parts are shipped from stock from C2C’s warehouse and distribution hub, on-site assembly is fast and efficient.
Robert Stainer, commercial director at Cogent said: “As part of our relocation to a new 80,000ft² facility we are proud to be enhancing our medical device manufacturing capabilities with the commissioning of two class 7 cleanrooms validated to ISO 14644-1.
“This investment will not only enable Cogent to meet our current clients’ needs, but also position the team to facilitate the provision of associated device consumables capacity as medtech businesses rethink their supply chain strategies in light of changing attitudes to sourcing.
“The term ‘short supply chain’ is resonating throughout the business world after recent events in 2020. A more robust supply chain is needed for resilience against future events.”
Michael Wright, managing director at Connect 2 Cleanrooms said: “Whilst there are now a number of quick build cleanroom solutions on the market, including our own Rapid Room range, none offer the same level flexibility around configuration and specification as Rapidbloc. The choice of size, classification and optional extras is yours, in just four to six weeks.”
The ultra-clean environments are created using HEPA filtration that is 99.99% efficient at 0.3 micron, whilst the envelope uses UltraTech Versatile panels with QuadCore insulated cores to provide a level of airtightness that controls running costs through enhanced energy performance.
Wright added: “This modular approach delivers a precision-engineered cleanroom with ISO-compliant performance, within an expedited time frame. Thanks to the use of standard parts and pre-determined design calculations, even the quotation and design stages are expedited, so clients benefit from a rapid response through the entire project.”
Connect 2 Cleanrooms also provided consumables, furniture, monitoring equipment and cleanroom training services.
