ACS Blows Wind of Change at Mole Valley

26 June 2009

As a major repair, design and refurbishment subcontractor to one of the worlds most prestigious office equipment suppliers, Mole Valley Systems Ltd services and repairs photocopier components for distribution in UK & Europe.

With up to 2000 photocopier components and sub-assemblies received each month, the Gillingham based company has to dissect and clean every assembly prior to refurbishment. Unfortunately for the Dorset business, the pre-operational cleaning of the components in a completely isolated goods-in building does not completely remove all the toner prior to parts being transferred to the repair and refurbishment shop for processing. This allows an element of dust to still enter the workshop. Despite the cleaning of the assemblies, when they were dissected at the operators’ bench – further toner and waste could still be located in intricate areas. The problem at Mole Valley arose when shopfloor staff cleaned the remaining residue from the parts with an air line and the remaining traces of toner and paper dust were blown into the workshop atmosphere.The company recognised the dust as an issue and reviewed the marketplace for a system to remove the problem. Potential suppliers made it apparent the solution was to clean the parts with an air line over a downdraft bench. The evaluation process immediately ruled out most suppliers as they were unable to meet the exacting needs of Mole Valley. It was Air Cleaning Systems (ACS) of Cardiff that solved the problem with its FB700II downdraft bench. With some scanner parts/assemblies over 0.5m long, the downdraft bench had to accept the part and allow sufficient work space for the employee to thoroughly clean the part. ACS was the only supplier that offered a tailor made solution beyond the standard product range. The application demanded a fully enclosed bench to guarantee operator safety to ensure that no particulate could escape into the atmosphere when the parts are blown with an air-line.  ACS provided a full enclosure with an aperture at the front large enough to place the part on the bench and operate the air line. The enclosure prevents particulate being blown outside the confines of the bench when the air line is operated. There are hinged sections to the enclosure to facilitate access to the bench work area.Production Manager at Mole Valley Systems, Mr Trevor Hannam comments: “Since acquiring the ACS bench in January the plant has changed measurably. The bench removes over 85% of the dust and cleaning the adjacent workshop area is now only a small part of the job rather than a daily necessity. Within a week of installing the FB700II we noticed a marked improvement.”“The bench is completely enclosed with Perspex guarding that isolates operators from airborne dust. Since its installation we have only changed the filter once. The downdraft bench has changed our facility by virtually eliminating the cleaning process. It has given the staff a better working environment and a sense of pride in their surroundings,” concludes Mr Hannam.