Arrow Electronics Opens Class 1000 Clean Room to Fulfill OEM Customer Demand for LCD Features

Arrow OEM Computing Solutions, the division of Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW ) that provides integration, manufacturing, and supply chain management services to industrial OEMs and intellectual property-based companies, has opened a class 1000 clean room in its TL9000, ISO9001:2000-certified integration facility in Phoenix, Ariz.

The new dedicated clean environment will allow Arrow to respond to growing demand from its industrial manufacturing customers to apply overlay bonding techniques such as touch-enabled panels or vandal shields to LCDs, with the assurance that no airborne particles will be trapped within the layers.

"Touch screen applications are developing into a major display market niche as they ramp up their utilization of LCD flat panels into their designs," said Chuck Kostalnick, vice president of sales, OEM Computing Solutions. "Arrow's new clean room ensures that we can integrate particulate-free flat panel displays, which gives our touch sensor suppliers and customers greater confidence in the quality of the final product."

"Arrow's new clean room and associated processes meets and often exceeds the strict guidelines 3M Touch Systems recommends for integration partners," said Tim McCullough, global quality manager, 3M Touch Systems.

A class 1000 clean room adheres to federal standard 209e, regulating dust particles to include no more than 1,000 particles larger than 0.5 microns in any given cubic foot of air. As a result, Arrow's clean room allows its engineers to employ overlay bonding techniques for flat panels and touch screens without compromising product quality.

The industries with the greatest demand for the flat panel displays that are integrated at Arrow's Phoenix integration facility include gaming, automotive, medical, education, industrial manufacturing, aerospace, military applications, and point of sale.