Barbara Kanegsberg

I was in the middle of my program “Cleaning Catastrophes” at the Parts Cleaning Expo (PCx) in Columbus. The sea of faces in the audience brightened expectantly when I began the topic of mixing acetone with water or with aqueous cleaners.  I had to squelch everyone’s enthusiasm by explaining that […]

It was back! The all-too-familiar multi-colored, cycling globe of doom dominated the screen. My lovable old computer and I waited patiently for it to go away. It didn’t. PowerPoint shut down, accompanied by the usual polite but unproductive announcement that it had to quit. “Nooooooo…! It happened again, Ed!” I […]

For better or worse, it is human nature to resort to offensive or defensive force when the going gets tough. In manufacturing, if the soil sticks to the part, there is an automatic reaction to get angry – angry at the soil, angry at the cleaning process, angry at the […]

Ask someone involved in manufacturing, particularly a person involved in critical cleaning, about regulatory trends. The responses are apt to be strong and impassioned. Regardless of the portion of the political or environmental spectrum we occupy, we all have strong feelings. Everyone thinks we could be doing a better job […]

Are stronger nation-wide controls on worker exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) likely in the near-future?  Recently, the U.S. EPA held an “Expert Public Workshop on Alternatives and Risk Reduction Approaches to Trichloroethylene (TCE) Use as a Degreaser.” I participated both as an attendee and as a presenter. I suggest that you […]

That “new car smell.” The power, the acceleration, those visions of eternal youth, of victory, of success.  New cleaning equipment comes with similar fantasies relating to business, profits, and promotions. Then comes the nagging question, asked by either you or your boss: How much does it cost? In the previous […]

“It’s the best. All the big companies in aerospace, (or medical devices or telecommunications or….) use this fantastic cleaning agent.” You hear claims in advertising, from sales reps who come to your shop; from people at trade shows. Is it the right cleaning chemistry for manufacturing your product? Learn more […]

This is a call to action for all involved with US manufacturing! Cal/OSHA is proposing to set an airborne permissible worker exposure level (PEL) of 0.3 ppm time weighted average (TWA) for hydrogen chloride (HCl). If passed, this would be a lower level than 0.4 ppm recently set in California […]