by David Hill
Editor
During the COVID-19 outbreak, how do you help employees at one of the largest wholesale electronics businesses in the country feel comfortable and safe enough to come to work?
There are lots of suggestions and ideas, but sometimes efforts and times like these require a specialized set of skills and the initiative to get it done.
A group of individuals in the engineering department at Digi-Key in Thief River Falls that deals with internal solutions, was quick to respond when they heard some employees had expressed some concern about the 8,000 or so totes that travel throughout the company. On a daily basis, these totes travel through receiving, picking and packing departments. The concern: you never really know who was the last person to touch it. In this day and age of COVID-19 that’s a reasonable concern.
Chris Baird, a member of the group working on the project, said they began looking at portable machines that spray sanitizing chemicals. They installed one at the warehouse in Fargo, N.D., and when they discovered the machines were on backorder everywhere, they borrowed one from a school.
They wanted more, especially a portable one, but everything was on backorder. What did they do? They went to the hardware store, of course. To be portable, they had to have something that was on wheels, so they picked a cooler, then they made a wand, found a pump and air compressor motor and added the sanitizing chemical, which they had plenty of. To borrow a common term these days, they then “Macgyvered” something together that worked. While ingenious, would it be enough for 8,000-plus totes?
Now what?
Ultraviolet sanitizing works. They wondered could they create a machine and a process that could sanitize the totes with UV light?
Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is a disinfection method used by many businesses, and hospitals, because short-wavelength ultraviolet (ultraviolet C or UVC) light can kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions.
It could work, but before they started installing UV lights they had to do the math and science. To give you an idea of the math involved, UV light sterilization works well if it is on the object for a period of time. That period of time is governed by the strength of power to the lights. And what about getting the light on all surfaces?
Baird said they began discussing this on March 26. That weekend, a memo went out and people began doing the math, double checking the math and working on a design. Yes, it could be done. That next Monday they began ordering materials.
They really didn’t have any design they could follow, but the model, now being used, includes a tunnel that is about two and one-half feet tall and two-feet wide and 15 feet long and is on a curve on the conveyor belt. (Placing it on a curve allows the UV light to hit all surfaces.) The bulbs will last about 9,000 hours or roughly 330 days if left on all the time, but why leave them on if they aren’t in use? So, they installed a sensor and timer. Of course, they also needed shielding, which required some outside assistance. They turned to C-Jay Wojciechowski at Metal Pro Machine in Thief River Falls. Baird said C-Jay turned out what they needed and worked lots of long hours to make sure it worked.
About 80 percent of the totes will travel through this tunnel each day, and it will kill 99.99 percent of organisms on the totes. They are turning their attention to starting on a second such station in the sprawling business.
About five to six employees, including Baird, Nate DeBoer and Michael McGrath, worked on the project along with the employees at the company who did the math.
DeBoer said he personally gets excited about helping out. He loves his job and if there’s anything he can do to help people feel comfortable about coming to work he’ll do it. He said he also wants Digi-Key to be around in Thief River Falls for many years to come.
Baird said none of the employees working on the project work with totes on a daily basis, but he’s happy to support the company in any way he can.