"Tribal knowledge" is any unwritten information that is not commonly known by others within a company. This term is used most when referencing information that may need to be known by others in order to produce a quality product or service.  I have been hearing this term a lot lately, I found out it may have been made popular by Six Sigma training.  In the metal finishing industry, we are faced with a lot of turnover, death, extinction/rebirth of plating machines, employment position eliminations, and new workers into the workforce.  Along with these challenges, the "basics" of metal finishing … [Read more...]

I've encountered a lot of frustrations dealing with oxidation scale or scale from welding, heat treating, or laser cutting. The customer doesn't communicate to the finisher that the new soil source is coming their way; then the temp worker hangs the part on the auto line; next thing you know the temp worker is reworking hundreds of parts due to blisters and poor plating coverage. So what system will work to help remove the standard soils you may be encountering and still survive the attack of a foreign scale? Here are some suggestions that have worked for some of my clients, as well as some … [Read more...]

When selecting "the best" cleaner for your operation, it is important to look at many factors. Each type offers their own benefits and disadvantages. I've listed some of the important things to consider when making your selection, but it will come down to working with a trusted vendor to work and test through your options before making your final selection. The simple answer is that all or one of the types of cleaners may be the best choice for your operation. Consider these three categories to narrow your search: substrate (the surface or type of metal you are cleaning), the soils you need … [Read more...]

There are a few things that will affect the life of your cleaner baths. The first is the condition of parts that you are putting into the bath. If they are covered in and dripping with oil/grime, your cleaner isn’t going to last very long as it will have a lot to clean up. This is easily fixed by lowering the amount of oil used to ship or manufacture the parts. Note that this may not be possible if you aren’t in charge of manufacturing the parts. It’s recommended that you discuss this with those who send you the parts to be plated. Additionally, depending on the type of cleaner you are using, … [Read more...]

For such a simple question, why is the answer so complex?  It starts with the understanding of what a cleaner is made of. Since we rarely deal with solvent cleaning these days, let’s limit this discussion to aqueous cleaners.  There is an extensive list of products that are incorporated into cleaners, and they all serve a function in one capacity or another.  Here is a list of common additives and the functions they perform in a cleaning system. Builders A builder is the basic component of an aqueous cleaner and the workhorse of all components.  Common builders are sodium hydroxide, … [Read more...]