Together with the locally-based Albstadt-Sigmaringen University, the companies put the spotlight on pharma technology. In addition to the importance of having a forward-looking design for cleanrooms, aspects specific to the branch were presented with numerous examples, so that the technical and scientific expectations of the participants could be more than fulfilled.

Cleanrooms are the core of production in the industrial sectors of pharmacy, food production and micro-electronics and they need to be designed to fit into the production processes. This means that cleanrooms in a prouction process not only need to fulfill the required cleanroom standard under ISO 14644; they also make an important contribution on the competitiveness of the company with regard to energy costs, flexibility and minimisation of risk. The auditoruim of the first cleanroom symposium organised by Camfil and bc-technology was full of anticipation for these themes in the July 13th event, which focused in particular on the pharma industry.

The event was introduced with a presentation of the planning basis for ceanrooms by Henrik Böhm, an engineering graduate who ist CEO of bc-technology GmbH. The speaker discussed among other issues the identification of disturbance sources through risk analysis and the development of technical cleanroom protection concepts.  In addition, he went into the need for flexibilty, in oder to be able to react adequately to later changes in production processes. The concrete example of the commissioning of a cleanroom under EN ISO 14644 and EU-GMP provided the basis fo assessments, critical and otherwise, in the later plenary session.

Horst Wilkens, Segment Manager/Pharma at Camfil KG, discussed air quality in his contribution - form the intake of external air to the inlet into the cleanroom, bearing in mind the need for energy efficiency. The discussion continued form the basic concepts of filter technology and the way that air currents flow in a room to the issue of efficient air purification. On the basis of a calculated example from an LCC analysis, Wilkens later showed the reduction of energy costs with further improvement of air quality. With the help of computer animation, the requirements of ceiling air extraction could be discussed, specifically for the pharma industry.

In the expensive and delicate production departments of pharmacy, food producition and mircor-electronics, it is vital to maintain risk managemnt and carry out a risk analysis in cleanrooms, in order to identify an record critical parameters. This was the theme of Prof. Müller and Ms. Weber, a graduate in engineering, both from the technical pharmacy department of the Albstadt-Sigmaringen University. They gave the symposium their practice-oriented view of a risk analysis with thee exemplary indroduction of an FMEA (Failure Mode an Effects Analysis) fo a cleanroom.

The next symposiums on this topic are set for October 2010 in the Frankfurt/Main area, November 2010 in the Dresden area and January 2011 in the Berlin area.