DAMAGE CONTROL SDN BHD ( DC ) has handled a wide variety of work assignments with high end technology equipment. Some of our projects in this area of recovery work are listed below. While we are prepared to work unaided on equipment of this nature we much prefer to work in association with the manufacturer’s representative or, if possible, with the manufacturers technicians themselves or the plant service technicians who have a good working knowledge of the plant being recovered.

In 1999, in Johor Bahru, DC recovered packaged hard disk components manufactured under a six-sigma regime. These sealed packages had been held in the manufacturers store and had become sooted by a fire in adjoining premises.

DC had to overcome the challenge of repackaging the contaminated goods while still maintaining the quality assurance of the six-sigma regime. This necessitated the use of clean-room facilities but it was not possible to carry out this task in any of the existing clean rooms.

DC overcame this problem by building a series of temporary clean rooms and staging the goods through the rooms in such a way that the critical repackaging was carried out in a class 1000 environment, without contamination of that environment by the soot.

In 1997, in Kuala Lumpur, DC were engaged to carry out decontamination of smoke affected CD manufacturing equipment involving precision electro mechanical, electro pneumatic and electronic assemblies. The equipment was typically MK Replication and AMS Mastering units, CD Replication Test players and Neststal control cabinets.   DC also recovered CD Hanky Printing machines. The decontamination at the premises took 6 weeks to return the equipment to full operational status.

In Selangor, in 1997 also, DC recovered a computer diskette automated manufacturing facility, following a fire. The equipment was fully recovered for a cost of 13% of its replacement value.

The best restoration result is achieved when recovery specialists work together with the insured’s technicians on the machines. This is particularly so for complex mechanical devices, such as the disk manufacturing equipment shown in the photograph below. While recovery companies try to employ technicians with diverse backgrounds, the fact remains that in many situations, the people who know the machines best are the insured’s own technicians.

After working with our team for three weeks on the floppy disk equipment, the insured’s confidence in DC and the concept of recovery was such that we were invited to work with them on the recovery of a compact disk manufacturing machine. This additional machinery had a value in excess of US$3m. We concentrated on the electronics and electrical side while the insured’s technicians handled the mechanical components with advice from us on cleaning techniques.