Top Quality News Issue 2 July to Sept 2014 | Page 7

Top Glove Quality News R&D By Adeline Ling Write to me at [email protected] Continuous improvement is a journey, not a destination, and one which the R&D team at F25 have embarked upon with great enthusiasm. As the crucial “scientific pillar” to the company and charged with the responsibility of providing technical support to our factories, the R&D Center recently buttressed its facilities with the addition of an in-house microbiological testing laboratory and accredited wastewater testing laboratory. An agar plate containing growth medium used to culture microorganisms Colony counter which eases the tedious colony counting process through use of fluorescent lighting, high quality magnifying glass, and digital display showing the total counts as each colony is ticked off with the specially devised marker. Now, some of you may wonder: just what do microbiology and wastewater have to do with the glove manufacturing process? Plenty, as you’ll discover. The Solution: Setting up an internal microbiological testing laboratory within the R&D Center itself, to perform the requisite testing. Microbiological Testing Lab The Advantages: • Elimination of external testing costs • Ensures internal compliance to ABNT* requirements (which helps avoid shipment failure) • ROI (Return of Investment) within just 1.36 years Open for Business! The Microbiological testing laboratory was completed end May 2014 and is now ready to serve all ABNT* factories. An R&D Chemist preparing latex glove samples for microorganisms extraction The Issue: All medical glove exports to their key market, Brazil, require microbiological testing, for which our ABNT* factories have until very recently, used an external laboratory. Well and good, but for the extortionate cost of RM 100,000 a year. *ABNT refers to the Brazilian National Standards Organization Pg 5