There’s a newcomer at the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC), and while the Upstate may be unfamiliar with Cleanpart, this global company is well known in other parts of the world.
Cleanpart is one of the largest OEM (original equipment manufacture) independent semiconductor service providers in the United States and Europe with core competencies in chemical engineering, surface engineering/coating, mechanical engineering, and process engineering.
Cleanpart began in 1972 as a parts cleaning, recycling and precious metal recovery facility for IBM. From 1972 to 1988, the company operated as a semiconductor service division of one of Europe’s leading chemical engineering companies in the area of surface technologies and corrosion protection for critical parts in the automotive industry. In 2001, Cleanpart opened Europe’s largest and most advanced semiconductor service facility. The same year, Cleanpart acquired a majority share in a California company and began operating in the United States as LSA-Cleanpart LLC. Since then, the company has expanded its U.S. presence, now based in Richardson, Texas, and has a manufacturing center in Santa Clara, CA, along with the original site in San Jose, CA plus additional facilities in Phoenix, AZ and Southbridge, MA.
CEO Chad R. Brown says Cleanpart’s array of services make customers’ operations easier while reducing their cost of ownership in parts, coatings, labor, and service. “One of our premier services is process kit management or PKM,” he says. “This is a service we provide to the engineer or technician during their equipment preventative maintenance cycle that ensures them a chamber ready kit for installation.”
The service includes disassembly, decontamination, advanced coatings, damaged durable part replacement, part repair or refurbishment, consumable replacement, shipping containers, assembly, and delivery. The goal is to reduce downtime thanks to a range of services that might otherwise have required many different suppliers.
At SCTAC, Cleanpart is co-located with GVD Corporation, a company supporting Michelin in the same campus. In addition to Michelin, the company’s major customers include Intel, Texas Instruments, Global Foundries, IBM, Samsung, ST Microelectronics, Freescale and Micron.
Half of Cleanpart’s 350 employees work at locations in France and Germany. The other half are split between U.S. locations. In Greenville, Brown says, the company has just begun production activities. Two full-time employees work on site and a third employee is part-time. All three were local hires. Several additional employees from other Cleanpart offices have completed temporary assignments at the company’s newest location. Greenville plant manager Dwayne Layman is new to Cleanpart and new to Greenville. The Missouri transplant has been on the job for three months and coming from a rural area with 13,000 residents, he’s adjusted to living in a larger city and being part of a global operation. “It feels good to be part of something big,” Layman says. “Coming from a small area, we didn’t have a lot of bigger companies like this one and what you see all around you at SCTAC. It’s nice to be part of all this growth.”
The Greenville location is in a ramping-up stage. “As business continues to grow and we are able to gain additional contracts and opportunities, we will continue to expand,” Brown says. “The current location can support about a dozen total employees. Above that, we would need to expand our space.”
As positions are added, recruitment will take place locally. Skills sets needed will include a technical background and manufacturing production environment experience. “We typically deal in material and chemical applications, so strengths in these areas are important as well,” Brown says. “We are primarily a semiconductor service company, but are rapidly expanding into petrol-chemical, aeronautical, biomedical, alternative energy and other technical industries. In order to start up operations, we are using online services such as Monster.com and local resources such as temporary employment agencies to help fill our needs.”
Brown, who travels to U.S. and European operations, spends a great deal of time in the air. So his impression of Greenville began at GSP where he says the airport was very accommodating. On the ground, he was impressed by the area itself. “Greenville is a beautiful community, and its downtown has much to offer everyone. It is very accommodating for multiple age ranges and multiple lifestyles – students, singles and families. It is also one of the greenest places I have ever seen,” he says.
Given the company’s plans for the Upstate, Cleanpart should soon be a well-known name. “We look forward to getting to know Greenville and upstate South Carolina quickly, so that we can efficiently expand our engineering solutions to the area,” Brown says.