Rolls-Royce Motor Cars PressClub · Article.
THE ROLLS-ROYCE GALLERY CLEAN ROOM
09.06.2020 Press Kit
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has commissioned a highly technical Clean Room at its manufacturing facility at Goodwood, West Sussex. Similar facilities exist in microchip manufacturing plants and in pharmaceutical and medical equipment production facilities.
Press Contact.
Malika Abdullaeva
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Tel: +447815244874
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Author.
Emma Rickett
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has commissioned a highly technical Clean
Room at its manufacturing facility at Goodwood, West Sussex. Similar
facilities exist in microchip manufacturing plants and in
pharmaceutical and medical equipment production facilities.
The primary purpose of the Clean Room is to provide a sterile
environment within which delicate and highly bespoke items can be
assembled.
The eighth generation of Rolls-Royce Phantom brings with
it an unprecedented opportunity to exhibit works of art and design
within the motor car itself, in an area named, the Gallery. The
Gallery is formed of an uninterrupted piece of glass which spans the
width of Phantom’s fascia, behind which a recess presents an
illuminated stage, an area for patrons to embrace the unique
storytelling characteristic of the marque.
At the conception of the Gallery, a requirement for clean
manufacturing was identified and extensive research was conducted in
order to create a Bespoke Rolls-Royce Clean Room at the marque’s
headquarters in Goodwood, West Sussex – itself a Global Centre of
Luxury Manufacturing Excellence. The lifespan of Phantom is
remarkable, with over two-thirds of all Rolls-Royces created over the
marque’s 116-year history still in road-worthy condition. It is
therefore essential that the Gallery can stand the test of time by
preserving precious and personal items for as long as the motor car itself.
Experts from the Home of Rolls-Royce visited pharmaceutical and
microprocessor Clean Rooms to fully understand these complex
manufacturing laboratories and learn of the procedures and
requirements necessary to create a medical grade, particle free,
sterile enclosure. Even a minute speck of dust would detract from the
aesthetic perfection of the Gallery. The assembly therefore requires
meticulous attention to detail.
The Gallery Clean Room contains four medical grade, positively
pressurised spaces. A highly technical sensor continually measures the
particulate concentration of each space. Any particulates measuring
above 0.001 of a micron are detected, a staggering statistic
considering a human hair is between 50-100 microns in diameter. This
process enables continual assessment and the opportunity to identify
areas for improvement. If contamination is detected, the Gallery Clean
Room associates are able to identify exactly when and where the
contamination took place, in order to improve future assembly.
Planning and quality engineers monitor daily the particle count inside
the Gallery Clean Room to ensure that no deep cleans that might
interrupt daily production are required.
A complex filtration system is built into the ceiling of the
Gallery Clean Room to continually remove unwanted particles from the
re-circulating air. This system is, for aesthetic reasons, covered in
a wooden veneer – this is, after all, situated at the Home of Rolls-Royce.
There are only five associates at the Home of Rolls-Royce
trained to operate in the Gallery Clean Room, with only two permitted
to enter at any one time. These associates must comply with strict
guidelines to prevent possible contamination. No cosmetics, hair
products or deodorant may be used.
The first enclosure is charged with sanitisation. It is here
that associates prepare to enter the body of the Gallery Clean Room by
dressing, top-down, to reduce the risk of hair and other imperfections
soiling clothing. Medical-grade, lint free surgical clothing must be
worn at all times, including a hairnet, a sterile mask, surgical
overalls and overshoes. Associates must have previously cleaned their
hands using deionised water, preventing possible contamination from
soap and regular water. Bespoke non-powdered latex gloves have been
developed specifically for Rolls-Royce to ensure moisture generated
due to perspiration in this highly pressured environment is contained
100% within the glove.
Alongside the Gallery Clean Room is the Logistics Enclosure,
where art and engineering first meet. The artwork enters the chamber
wrapped in a protective film, inside two hermetically sealed
containers. The outer package is discarded, the inner package is
cleaned in preparation for entering the next laboratory. Componentry
enters here in an identical format.
The Preparation Room is the next stage of this intricate
journey. Entry is via an airlock, with each room becoming further
pressurised to create a compression chamber. The increasing
atmospheric pressure ensures that air only flows out of the facility.
The artwork is delicately removed from its packaging and cleaned on a
specially created machine, or ‘extract bench’. Here, any dust
particles are extracted whilst the associate uses ultra-violet light
and a powerful magnifying glass to identify any imperfections. No
foreign objects are allowed to enter this space, even paper is forbidden.
The final enclosure is the Operation Centre, in which the
micro-assembly takes place. This space is as atmospherically pure as
humanly possible, with only one Phantom Gallery, and one Rolls-Royce
Associate, permitted entry at a time. This room is deep cleaned each
week in a process that takes up to eight hours. Any componentry
entering the space must also have been through an intensive cleaning
process. All metal elements, no matter how small, must be sanitised in
an ultrasonic cleaner at 70 degrees for a period of 52 minutes.
Further ultra-violet light examinations take place before the final
assembly and the artwork is finally sealed within Phantom’s Gallery.