<div dir="ltr"><div>Richard,</div><div> </div><div>good morning. Here at UofMichigan we use all launderable suits for regular entry, and we'll issue disposable suits to the one-off entry, the occasional contractor that needs to enter, or if there is a potential for damage to our launderable garments. We've been using Cintas since about 2008, when we migrated from all disposable to the laundry service. It's not the cure-all, be-all, but it is working for us. the hardest part is keeping the inventory adjusted to accommodate the variety in user sizes. I've attached a snapshot of what we have had cleaned for the last 8 weeks. It costs us about $1,100/week for the laundry service at our current usage levels. All of the suits are pulled every Monday morning when we do lab clean, and Cintas delivers the clean product later that day. Now that our inventory is "correct" we don't have to worry too much about running out of a size/garment. Years ago, when we were using disposable, the changeout of the suits was up to the user...........you'd see the entire spectrum in the cleanroom in regard to wear levels......from torn suits to new ones every single day.</div>
<div> </div><div>One of the advantages of using the washable garments for us is that it allowed us to modify them with fasteners on the back so that we can slowly migrate to name tags (sports jersey style) for all of the users as a way to easily identify who's in the cleanroom with our video cameras. Currently only our staff have the back tags.</div>
<div> </div><div>For the disposable suits we use on occasion, we're currently using a Dupont Tyvek (Micro-Clean 2-1-2) product, but are actively looking at a Kimberly Clark A5 product.</div><div> </div><div>Dennis Schweiger</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><div><div>University of Michigan</div><div>Lurie Nanofabrication Facility</div><div> </div><div>734.647.2055 Ofc</div><div> </div><div>"People can be divided into 3 groups - those that make things happen, those that watch things happen, and those that wonder what happened." Within which group do you belong?</div>
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<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 12:23 PM, Everly, Richard <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:everly@usf.edu" target="_blank">everly@usf.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid">
NREC at USF operates a class 1000 cleanroom servicing about 10-20 students per week with about 40-60 cleanroom entries per week. We have 3 sets of 20 gowns that we rotate out at regular intervals for cleaning. We currently have our gowns cleaned by mail order but the current vendor wants to increase our contract rate by 10X the current amount, needless to say, this is not in our budget! The current company only seems interested in servicing high volume accounts and they want to move us to a minimum billing fee, based on their other clients usage.<br>
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Right now I'm looking for alternate companies that service the southeast market that will rent/repair and launder gowns via mail order for a smaller operation like ours. We've tried to contact several vendors but we've have not received any replies, based on this lackluster response I can only assume that the economy has picked up so well that they can afford to turn away business!<br>
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We've always used laundry services and purchased/rented our own gowns, but I'm entertaining the idea of the standard coverall disposables but I have a few questions regarding their use that your feedback will help me determine if they will be cost effective for a smaller operation like ours.<br>
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1. would you consider using the disposable gown more than once, as long as they are not torn/tattered or soiled? it seems to me they would last for a few days or maybe even a week.<br>
2. if you use disposables what is your policy regarding these gowns and replacement?<br>
3. what brands/suppliers could you recommend. (I know there are many out there but I'm relying on the vast experience of Labnet to narrow down the playing field to a handful of contenders)<br>
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Respectfully,<br>
<br>
<br>
Richard Everly<br>
Research Engineer<br>
Nanotechnology Research and Education Center (NREC)<br>
University of South Florida<br>
Mailstop ENB 118<br>
4202 E. Fowler Ave<br>
Tampa, FL 33620<br>
<br>
PH: 813-974-5365<br>
FAX: 813-974-3610<br>
<a href="mailto:everly@usf.edu">everly@usf.edu</a><br>
<a href="http://www.nrec.usf.edu" target="_blank">www.nrec.usf.edu</a><br>
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