DFS Team Called In To Improve Accuracy, Reduce Waste, and Increase ThroughPut on Legacy Chemical Blenders
Lead by a three man team made up of a PLC Programmer, and (2) Field Service Technicians, DFS was able to complete an insitu, on-site upgrade to a client's existing OEM chemical blender systems. The upgrade came as a result of a request from a large semiconductor manufacturer, inquiring if DFS could do anything to improve their existing OEM chemical blender performance.
The Customer made this request based on various challenges they were experiencing such as; increased blender down time, inability to keep up with production consumption, accuracy issues with the blends, metrology issues, blend waste discharge during qualification period, and decrease of performance throughput (flow rate).
As the original OEM declined to support the old systems in favor of purchasing all new units, DFS was called upon to find a solution.
Do Your Existing OEM Chemical Blenders Need Performance Upgrades?
To evaluate this opportunity a feasibility study was conducted by our Senior Technologist who reviewed 3 of the Customer's blenders and prepared a plan for improvement. Once reviewed and approved by the Customer, the DFS Field Service Team Manager prepared the executable plan.
Traveling to the Customer's site, the Field Service Team brought with them all necessary components, including new metrology devices, pumps, valving, piping, and more to complete the task. Each blender took less than 2 days to complete and the results exceeded Customer expectations!
All said and done, when the upgrades were complete, our Customer went from 3 minutes of blended material to waste drain, down to 20 seconds. A large part of the success was due to metrology upgrades allowing blend to come into customer specification more rapidly, as well as program enhancements to take advantage of the metrology's rapid response.
Additional improvements included a 25% increase in product throughput moving from the previous flow rate of 30LPM to just over 40LPM, and an increase in the precession of accuracy by 10%.
The upgraded chemical blenders are now able to keep up with manufacturing demand, while downtime and maintenance has been dramatically reduced.
Now our Customer enjoys an annual cost savings from less material utilized during blend qualification time as well as decreased waste treatment. By upgrading the old chemical blenders, they saved the cost of three new systems; estimated at $1M after install and qualification.
Our Senior Technologist and trusted Field Service Team made this possible through their advanced technological capabilities and know-how.
Thank you Team!
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