An underrated and integral aspect of any part’s process, the degreaser is a shining star at CW Fletcher. Every single part we make here goes through a degreaser multiple times at different stages of its manufacturing process. CW Fletcher utilise two different degreasers; each offering a high quality clean that breaks down solid particles, grease, fingerprints and dust to ensure the parts are impeccably clean. The degreasing process enables the parts to move on to the next process of their manufacturing lifecycle and allows our parts to be finished to a high quality and precision.

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So what makes the Degreaser so underrated?

It could be argued that the nature of the machine is not all that impressive, it cleans the parts (much like a dishwasher) however, this process is essential to every method of manufacture. On average, each of our CW Fletcher parts will go through the degreaser three or four times – if it’s a simple job. The more complex the part the more times the part will go through the degreaser, often leading to parts going through cycles two to three times more. The degreaser is a fixed procedure that is present in every manufacturing process, without it parts would not be able to continue on their developmental cycle.

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The importance of cleanliness

Due to the nature of the markets we serve, dedication and attention to detail is paramount to ensure we meet our customer’s detailed specifications. Extreme care is taken when choosing the right programme for each individual part, with evidence of decontamination being assessed through water break tests once each part has finished its cycle. If evidence of decontamination is still present after its degreasing cycle, the parts will be reprocessed until they are deemed clean. But what makes cleanliness so important? The answer is quality. The quality of our parts are something that we pride ourselves on here at CW Fletcher, for over 130 years we have produced manufacturing solutions for several different markets and one of the reasons we have been so successful is our dedication to the quality of our parts. By ensuring we have clean parts, it helps to prevent Foreign Object Damage (FOD), creating a good starting point for further operations that each part goes through such as welding and NDT. Ultimately, the degreasing process aids the manufacture of a higher standard of part, all of which support our current drive for zero defects at CW Fletcher. 

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What do our Degreaser Colleagues think?

We asked Steve Slinn, an NDT Level 2 Penetrant Inspector who is trained on the degreaser his thoughts, “Every part has a set process that has to be completed in a timely manner. If we aren’t on time, we affect the rest of the shop floor and that could impact on our delivery requirements to the customer. It is definitely a process that is not appreciated enough, you have to be well trained and understand the process properly in order to work the degreaser and without the degreaser itself, the parts would be unusable. For example, we have to clean every part before it goes into NDT, if we didn’t do this, or didn’t do it properly, it would affect the penetrant process. The degreaser is integral to how we process parts here at CWF”.