change by the personnel. There were also
many small and large technical problems
that were slowly resolved with subsequent
versions of the solvent dispenser, which
incorporated further modifications and
improvements.
■ important factors such as ease of use,
compactness, reduced maintenance
and operational flexibility
■ the length and/or depth of the application by means of a special insertion
bushing
■ the application inside the tubing as well
as on its external surface
■ the reduction to the smallest amount
possible of the wasteful evaporation of
solvent in the workplace
■ the aspiration and/or elimination of the
solvent not used for application, by means
of the simple over pressurisation of the
cleanroom
■ improvement of the employee’s working
conditions
■ reduction of the time necessary for
training the operators because the system
requires less subjective application
■ increased productivity from the dispenser’s improved ergonomics and a substantial
reduction in rejects.
Together with a colleague I developed
and tested the solvent dispensers and
collected the operators’ opinions and
suggestions. I observed them while they
worked with the traditional sponge system and with the first prototypes of the
solvent dispenser. At first it was not easy
trying to get them to use this new piece of
equipment; there was much resistance to
With the solvent
dispenser we achieved
results that were
surprising and in
some ways even
unexpected
Starting from the beginning of the
1990s, the solvent dispenser steadily
became more used by the companies
involved in the manual assembly of disposable plastic circuits. “Homemade”
systems based on “dipping” onto a sponge
placed on a ceramic dish have now completely disappeared. Today high-volume
production requiring a high level of labour
has moved to areas of the world where
labour costs are lower, but as an engineer
in training it was an exciting experience to
see that the solutions to a series of problems in connection with the application
of solvent were adopted over time by the
majority of the companies operating in
this field. 1
Unexpected results
With the solvent dispenser we achieved
results that were surprising and in some
ways even unexpected: we reduced the
amount of solvent used by up to 70%
under equivalent operating and production conditions; we reduced rejects
by almost 90%; and there was also a
considerable improvement in the operators’ working conditions. All of this was
achieved with a piece of equipment that
paid for itself in just a few weeks. It was a
great commercial success for the company
for which I worked.
Paolo Galavotti
is General Manager at Nexion srl,
Via 2 Giugno 111, I-41037 Mirandola, Italy
tel. +39 0 5352 7880
e-mail: paolo.galavotti@nexion.ws
I would like to dedicate this article to
the memory of Eddie O’Meachair of
Panmed Teo, Ireland, who passed away
in February 2010. Eddie was a friend and
colleague who possessed great humanity,
thoughtfulness, humility and technical
expertise and from whom I learned a
great deal.
emdt.co.uk European Medical Device Technology
June 2010 | 39
