Manufacturing

By its very nature manufacturing creates FOD. FOD sterilization in a manufacturing environment is challenging, but not impossible. Every manufacturing environment has its nuances but a few generalized steps can be made to fit any environment.

First, if employees stay in one place during the work day, there needs to be a FOD inspection sign-off sheet located at their stations. This not only reminds them of their FOD responsibilities, but also holds them accountable for performing daily FOD sweeps. A FOD sweep should be accomplished prior to a shift and it should be the last thing they perform at the end of a shift.

If employees move around throughout the day, FOD sweep sections need to be well defined and employees should be assigned to those areas to perform daily FOD sweeps. Sign-off sheets should be used for accountability.

Employees should not be assigned to one area for long stretches of time due to complacency. It is only human nature to stop seeing problem areas the longer you are assigned to an area. Switching around assignments gives fresh eyes to see issues that might be overlooked.

Manufacturing environments are a great place for using containment bins. Containment bins should be placed in a way that they are easily used, easily seen, and easily cleaned. ECP’s and specific locations known to create FOD are a great location for containment bins.

Lastly, any type of production planner, or step-by-step instruction needs to have FOD checks placed during strategic steps. An example would be, when a part is being closed. A closed part prevents others from being able to see into the part. Because of this lack of transparency, a FOD check should be performed and signed-off by both the operator and a Quality Assurance representative prior to part closure. A FOD check such as this needs to be signed-off by another individual that was not directly working on the part (i.e. Quality Assurance). The more eyes that are looking for FOD, the better.