Improving Quality and Decreasing Lead Times with In-House Vapor Degreasing Services
At Athena Manufacturing, continuous improvement guides everything we do. From our intentionality in Lean manufacturing to our impactful workforce solutions, our teams take steps every single day to produce long-lasting results. In addition, Athena is consistently evolving on an organizational level with our investments in top-notch technologies and cutting-edge machinery.
One of the most impactful investments we’ve made in recent years is our vapor degreaser, which brought a previously outsourced solution in-house, adding to our arsenal of surface preparation tools. Since implementing this capability a few years ago, Athena has enhanced our ability to deliver superior products, reduce risk, and meet customer requirements. Here’s how:
The Vapor Degreasing Process: A Summary
Vapor degreasing is a non-contact cleaning process that uses heated solvent vapor to remove contaminants from part surfaces. It works in two stages:
Vapor cleaning: Parts are immersed in a chamber where hot solvent vapor condenses on the surface, dissolving grease, oils, and other contaminants.
Condensation rinse: As the vapor cools, it condenses into a pure, liquid solvent that rinses the part, leaving it noticeably clean and free of contamination.
Vapor degreasing is particularly advantageous because it eliminates the potential for embedded residues that are often left behind by manual cleaning methods.
Why Athena Brought Vapor Degreasing Services In-House
Surface prep is a critical step in our contract manufacturing services. Ensuring a clean, contaminant-free surface is essential to preparing parts for paint, powder coating, or aerospace bonding applications. Even the slightest residue from grease or oil can compromise coating adhesion, leading to unsightly aesthetic defects over time.
Our team historically outsourced vapor degreasing services from an outside vendor when specified in the print. While our trusted source did an excellent job, sending parts for outside processing presents risk and extends customer lead times.
Initially, our team added the vapor degreaser to support one of our customers in the semiconductor sector. While they didn’t explicitly require it, Athena Manufacturing saw an opportunity to improve our processes and demonstrate our commitment to the quality and longevity of their parts.
Though it was a steep upfront investment, it was wholly justified, as we noticed other customers—especially those in the aerospace and defense space—recognized the value of this in-house capability.
The Benefits of Our In-House Vapor Degreaser
1. Improving Coating Adhesion
One of the main reasons the Athena Manufacturing team invested in a vapor degreaser was to address challenges related to paint and powder coating adhesion. Raw materials often arrive with mill-scale residues and oils from handling. Though they are typically invisible to the naked eye, they can present issues without proper preparation.
Our vapor degreaser ensures surfaces are prepped to a level that enables…
Consistent adhesion for paint and powder coatings
Reduction in defects like peeling or bubbling, even in harsh environments
2. Meeting Requirements for Aerospace and Defense Bonding
Aerospace and defense applications often involve bonding dissimilar materials like metals and polymers, requiring strict surface preparation protocols. Our in-house vapor degreaser ensures that our parts meet these rigorous specifications every time.
3. Integration into Our Sheet Metal Fabrication Workflow
Our vapor degreaser is now integral to our fabrication workflow, particularly for parts requiring paint or powder coating. The typical preparation cadence at Athena goes as follows:
Media blasting to remove mill scale and oxides
Vapor degreasing to dissolve and rinse contaminants
Phosphate washing to enhance surface properties for coating adhesion
Pre-baking to eliminate residual moisture and oils
Leverage One-Stop Services at Athena Manufacturing
Adding a vapor degreaser isn’t just about meeting current requirements; it’s about anticipating our customers’ needs in the future. Our in-house vapor degreasing service adds value to Athena and its customers in the following ways:
Shortening lead times by eliminating outsourcing
Enhancing product quality through better adhesion and cleaner finishes
Mitigating risk by reducing handling
This is just one example of the investments we’d made in high-powered equipment to support our one-stop capabilities, earning us even greater opportunities to add value to new and existing customers. If you’d like to benefit from this (and other) capabilities, partner with our custom metal fabrication shop!