Contamination Control–The Emerging Curriculum?
Companies need to move beyond procedural training: They must educate all personnel in contamination control consciousness. Organizations are beginning to link learning to competitive advantage and profit.
By Ed Petrazzolo
With the recent start of school and beginning of the fall semester, students from eight to 80 years of age have registered for classes, planned their academic programs, purchased books, laptops and CD-ROMs as they embark on another year`s learning journey. Meanwhile, in corporate training rooms, employees from eighteen to…well not quite 80, assemble for another company course on a subject vital to the corporation`s competitiveness (and to their continued employment). It has been well chronicled that as we have transitioned from an agrarian economy to an industrial and to an information-based economy, we have, out of necessity, become more and more a nation of learners. In the information-based economy, knowledge is power. How knowledge is acquired and distributed is changing as rapidly as the knowledge base itself. In schools, students are surfing the Internet, navigating through CD-ROMs, and exchanging e-mail. Corporations are requiring workers to be more flexible and better trained. Indeed, many corporations are requiring their suppliers to be the same. Organizations are beginning to link learning to competitive advantage and profit rather than just a training event in advance of a new product or process.
In the midst of these profound and important transitions, consider the following scenario:
A sophomore electrical engineering student at a major university is planning courses for the next four semesters. The student meets with the department advisor:
Student: When I graduate, I would like to pursue my engineering career by being involved in circuit fabrication for one of the top semiconductor companies. I need to add a course in microcontamination control to my portfolio. What do you suggest?
Advisor: Well, we don`t have anything like that here. I suggest you speak with the biomed people, they can probably assist you. I also suggest that you read some books or ask a company training department for some literature.
Student: I called a couple of companies about this, and they said they could send me gowning procedures but not much else. In addition, some said their contamination control information was proprietary and therefore, I couldn`t have it.
Advisor: Wait a minute! I came across a flyer on a seminar about this stuff. Here it is: “Cleanroom Training.” There`s a seminar in Austin, Texas next month. You could fly over there, get a hotel for two nights and learn what you need to fulfill your career plan. Plus, the seminar is only $1,095!
Student: But my tuition here is only $945!
The sophomore engineering student could be a chemistry student, a biology student, pre-dental, pre pharmacy, pre-veterinary, etc. They would all face the same dilemma. How can this be? Can a group of industries that represent upwards of $1 trillion in GNP-related output in upwards of 50,000 locations, in a rapidly growing sector of the manufacturing and processing economy–a truly global set of industries–not have a formalized body of knowledge that can be made relevant and transferable?
A Young Science
According to Dr. Michael N. Kozicki, professor of electrical engineering at Arizona State University, a recognized expert in cleanrooms, as well as the author of a number of related publications: “The problem we have today is that microcontamination control in its broadest sense is a `half science,` so to speak. It has not attained full-fledged status as a scientific topic and, consequently, does not have the concerted contribution from business and academia that will result in the formalization of the field.”
Dr. Kozicki also references the fact that contamination control is still very young compared to other sciences, and because of its multiple knowledge sources and technological applications, it lacks the cohesion and consensus among the scientific and technical community that would normally result in a more standardized and formalized body of knowledge. “The irony of all this is that it has not, up to this point, prevented the cleanroom- using industries from advancing their products, improving their yields, and achieving a level of competitiveness. However, with more and more industries employing controlled environments in their manufacturing, processing, and research, we are rapidly approaching a point where the demand for con tamination control knowledge, understanding, and application will outstrip the supply. Then, continuous improvements will be slowed down, and the winning companies within the cleanroom-using industries will be those who made investments in the knowledge base of their employees.” Dr. Kozicki has designed a one-semester course on contamination control and cleanroom technology–perhaps the only one of its kind in the world–as part of the engineering curriculum of Arizona State University. Kozicki refers to this course as a holistic approach to contamination control, in which it is not good enough to know what and how if you don`t know why.
Corporate Training
It is important to note that, although institutions of higher learning generally are not addressing broad-based education in contamination control, many of today`s corporations are indeed diligent about preparing their employees for working within cleanrooms. Companies are spending considerable dollars and investing considerable time in cleanroom-related training. The operable word here is “training.” What is really happening is that companies are training employees in procedures. Most of the procedures represent “what to do;” some provide an expansion into “how to do it.” Typically, they deal with gowning procedures, personnel do`s and don`ts, an introduction to airflow processes, and finally, emergency response team activities. While these are important first-echelon training requirements and, for many companies, the approach has produced impressive results in yield, cost, and time-to-market, the landscape for cleanrooms is changing. And the winds of change are blowing both inside and outside the clean “room.” Inside–cost, time-to-market, yield, miniaturization, and worker health and safety are the forces creating change. These forces have lead to tighter controlled environments. While Class 1 is not quite routine yet, it is in some segments of the microelectronics market. In pharmaceutical manufacturing and medical device manufacturing, we see more and more Class 100 environments. In addition, we see the onset of controlled environments in food processing.
Training Across-the-Board
However, it is outside the clean “room” where more recent and sweeping changes are occurring. The necessity to engage more of the enterprise (more than just the cleanroom employees) in cleanroom practices and protocols has evolved in recent years. Suppliers, custodians, and field service personnel are all included in the new cleanroom. In the new paradigm, the breadth of contamination control consciousness runs from the parking lot to the shipping dock and, ultimately, to the customer.
Many liken this to the early days of the Total Quality Management (TQM) movement. For years, quality was equated with product quality, and product quality was the responsibility of the quality control group. It wasn`t until the subject became a concept that all employees could embrace and contribute to that radical change occurred. Similarly, in today`s critical environment industries, more and more companies are finding a competitive advantage by treating contamination control as a concept applicable to all employees, suppliers, etc. Also, in ways similar to the TQM movement, it is a formidable educational challenge. This challenge requires an expansion of knowledge from the “whys” to the “whats.”
“It also requires time,” says Dr. Pinny Shoeran, executive director of the Business and Industry Institute of Mesa Community College and Motorola University. Dr. Shoeran is in the “eye” of the education storm, designing and delivering courses for one of the nation`s largest community colleges as well as perhaps the most recognized industrial university in the country. She has tracked the growing importance of contamination control as a subject and is on a path to incorporate it into the community college curricula. However, she counsels, more time and more diverse contributions from knowledgeable practitioners must occur before contamination control becomes a formalized body of knowledge or a discipline. Dr. Shoeran identifies three stages of a continuum in formalizing knowledge: sensing, discovery, and discipline creation. In the sensing stage, the subject matter usually evolves from a business need. People “sense” that the subject matter is important. In the discovery stage, information-seeking is occurring. “Where can I find it?” “How do I get it?” Finally, after many disparate players get involved–experts, scientists, business people, academicians, and the media–the subject will become a discipline.
Dr. Shoeran points to nursing as an example of this model. Even though it had been practiced for hundreds of years, it took a long time for nursing to attain discipline status. Today, Dr. Shoeran points to the Internet as an example of the model. People are sensing it is important. Discovery is occurring. Shortly, there will be courses taught from a formalized body of knowledge. This is also true of contamination control. Many sense its importance, and are seeking out knowledge and information. Yet, until many seemingly disparate forces, including the media, elevate its importance to society or the economy, it will not become a formalized body of knowledge.
The Clean Enterprise
Michael Scheerer, vice president of the Critical Environment Sales Division of Baxter (McGaw Park, IL), looks at the growth of cleanrooms across the industry spectrum, as well as within the industries themselves, i.e. the “clean enterprise.” Consequently, contamination control education and training is important for two reasons: Says Scheerer, “In order to be a solutions-provider to customers, the salesperson must know the customer`s challenges, address those challenges, and design innovative, cost-effective responses. It is critical that the salesperson have an understanding of contamination control and the technology to employ it in order to offer effective solutions. Secondly, our customers have big needs in the area of training, and we want to be there to assist. Whether it`s a new fab being built or a medium-size pharmaceutical customer improving their processes, we want to offer the best training solutions for them.”
The extension of contamination control practices, procedures, and knowledge is also evident at Intel`s Fab 12 (Chandler, AZ). Here, certification in contamination control training is a must for any worker associated with the fab. This includes suppliers` personnel, construction personnel, and any support personnel. Mark Gorenson, Fab 12 people systems manager, states the case for training very simply: “It is our competitive advantage. Smaller geometries demand greater diligence in contamination control. We want higher yields per wafer start. In order to achieve that, everyone connected to Fab 12 must not only know what to do in controlling contamination, but why.” Gorenson is committed to utilizing technology in Intel`s training and education programs. He stresses the importance of flexibility and “just-in-time training.” “Although we are committed to more computer-based learning methods, the value of having our own engineers administer training to employees and vendors is great. While we will employ technology, it will augment the engineer in the training process.” Gorenson is also proud of the utilization of the local community college in partnering with Fab 12 to meet many of Intel`s training and education needs.
Focus on Safety
Safety is the issue in contamination control training at Abbott Labs (Abbott Park, IL). Training coordinator Bill Hopkins and lead engineering technician Fred Robbins, have teamed up to champion the cause of contamination control across the corporation. “We started out by simply being compliance-oriented in our training with OSHA and other regulatory agency requirements,” says Hopkins. “We did a good job of ensuring that our plant engineering and maintenance personnel employed safe practices in the course of their work. Over time, more and more of our internal clients were employing critical environments in their research and production. It became our responsibility to maintain the cleanrooms, bio-suites, and bio-hazard areas. Safety was still important, but contamination control knowledge became important as well. We embarked on a course of designing contamination control procedures which our plant engineering personnel could learn from as well as our clients.” Robbins says, “The muscle behind the training was safety; now the desire is quality. We want to be contamination control-conscious across the company.” Hopkins sees advantages in computer-based instruction and CD-ROMs in delivering contamination control training. “It only makes sense. Our organization is distributed, so our training content must be also.”
Key to Success
A particularly interesting educational challenge is represented by ServiceMaster (Downer`s Grove, IL). The company has 34,000 direct employees and 190,000 managed employees serving over 5 million customers around the globe. Service-Master has made a major commitment to the cleanroom industry. John Rice, director of operations for ServiceMaster`s Business & Industry Division, views training and education of both direct and indirect employees as the key to success up to this point and as the competitive advantage in the future. “Let`s face it, our job is to get people as competent in cleanroom cleaning as quickly as possible! Many times, we are training people who have not been in cleanrooms nor clean environments before. Their concept of clean is not Class 1 or Class 1,000,” claims Rice. “We are attempting in short but efficient order to teach people that they don`t have to `see` dust to clean it. In a sense, we are dealing with `virtual` dirt! Consequently, we not only have to train personnel in procedures, we have to educate in contamination control concepts,” says Rice. He adds that the organization is doing a good job with procedures training and with beginning the process of linking the procedures to contamination control knowledge. “This process of `linking` will allow us to continue to grow with our customers, as well as educate them in first-echelon cleaning concepts.” Results of company research show that cleanroom service workers who have undergone contamination control education perform to a much higher standard than those who have only received procedural training. n
Ed Petrazzolo is president and CEO of Forth Research, Inc. (Scottsdale, AZ), which designs product and training solutions for the contamination control market. Previously, he was a senior executive with Digital Equipment Corp. in its manufacturing organization. Petrazzolo is the founding chairperson of the Phoenix Excellence in Education Commission.
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Forth Research, Inc.`s CleanDisc interactive CD-ROM training program is one of the newest contamination control training programs. Many companies are finding that using CD-ROMs and other computer-based instruction helps in making the entire company contamination control conscious.