We surveyed over 140 readers to find out what’s trending in the cleanroom business, and we also asked questions about industry salaries, workloads, benefits, and job satisfaction.
Click here for the full results of the “Cleanroom Trends” portion of the survey: http://www.cemag.us/articles/2015/05/full-results-cleanroom-trends-survey
Click here to read the full results of the “Salary” portion of the survey: http://www.cemag.us/articles/2015/05/full-results-cleanroom-salary-survey
Nearly a quarter of responders work in the pharmaceutical industry. Other popular professions include manufacturing, medical devices, biotechnology, validation/quality assurance, aerospace, and academic/research.
About 53% of survey participants work in retrofitted facilities, while 37% work in a new or custom-build facility and 10% work in a turnkey facility.
Cost is king? Not always
When purchasing items for the cleanroom, nearly 46% of responders say that they are most concerned about the longevity and quality of the products. The cost of these products is the second-highest concern at 35%, and 8% of survey takers want the newest, most up-to-date models available. Just a few look for environmentally conscious manufacturing practices or American-made products.
However, cost IS the biggest concern (35%) when when choosing a supplier/distributor for equipment and supplies, followed by 26% who say they are most concerned with a vendor’s reputation and reviews. Nearly 11% choose the same supplier/distributor year after year.
Consumables take top billing
We provided a list of cleanroom supplies and asked participants to select the ones that their facility purchases. Nearly 74% of responders report that their facility purchases cleanroom consumables, such as wipers and swabs. Cleanroom attire is purchased by 69% of total survey participants. Monitoring/instrumentation systems make up 66% of the results. The lowest response, at 46%, is cleanroom services (outside cleaning companies, consultants, designers/engineers, etc.). Most restock consumables at least once a month.
The majority of survey participants (43%) say that their facility purchases single-use, disposable cleanroom attire. Washable attire makes up 34% of the responses, while about 10% opt for single-use, recyclable attire.
Equipment, maintenance, and cleaning
We asked our readers about how often their facility purchases significant types of cleanroom equipment — critical cleaning equipment, exhaust units/fume hoods, filters, gloveboxes/isolators, HVAC equipment, vacuum cleaners/systems, and vibration/isolation equipment. Most say that they purchase this equipment every five to 10 years, but critical cleaning equipment and filters are typically purchased more than once a year.
To keep the facility clean, 42% of responders say that the staff who actually works in the cleanroom also takes care of the cleaning duties, while 33% say that they have an in-house staff solely dedicated to cleaning. 24% employ an outside cleaning company.
We also asked participants how often their facility is inspected by an outside firm. 35% host an inspection more than once a year, followed closely by the 34% that host an inspection once a year. 22% host an inspection every 2-5 years, while 9% host one every 5-10 years.
Survey participants were asked about major cleanroom expenses that their facility anticipates for the year ending Dec. 31, 2015, and were invited to check all options applicable to their facility — 49% plan to perform an update or maintenance on existing equipment, while 40% will likely purchase new equipment. Getting back to the topic of inspections, 27% plan to have their facility inspected by an outside firm before the end of this year. 25% are planning a major repair/renovation of their existing cleanroom facility, 22% will be building an entirely new cleanroom facility, and 14% will perform a complete overhaul of their existing cleanroom facility. “Don’t know” came in at 20%.
Demographics
The vast majority of our survey participants are male (77%). Most responders are 50-59 years old, with the next-highest age bracket a tie between 30-39 year-olds, 40-49 year-olds, and people aged 60 and over. Only two participants are in their 20s. Half of our responders have a graduate degree; 38% have at least a college degree. International participants make up 24% of the survey.
About 40% list their job title as non-sales management (examples: product manager, operations manager, facility manager), while 33% are non-management employees. C-level executives make up 23% of respondents, and sales representatives/sales managers account for 4% of replies.
31% of our responders do not supervise any employees, while 26% of them supervise 1-5 people, 16% supervise 6-10 people, and 18% supervise 10-20 people. 9% of participants have 20 or more employees reporting to them.
Overall job satisfaction
The salary portion of our survey led to some interesting results. Ultimately, those that took our survey seem to be content with their jobs and feel that they are fairly compensated. 32% have been with their company 1-5 years, while 6-10 years and 11-15 years each came in at 16%. 3% said they’ve been with the company for under one year, while 5% have worked at the company for 30 years. The survey participant with the longest career at the same company has been there for 43 years.
We also asked how long survey participants have held their current position — the highest percentage was 1-5 years (44% of participants), followed by 6-10 years (23%). Employees who have held their position for 11-15 years made up 18% of the responses, 6% replied that they’ve had the same role for 16-20 years, and 8% replied that they’ve retained their position for 21 years or more. Workload has increased for most people, with 77% reporting that the demands of their job have increased this year.
“Do you believe that you are fairly compensated?” we asked, and 69% say yes. 83% of responders have not faced any salary or benefits cuts this year. 53% believe that their company offers adequate job growth opportunities.
28% say that they make $50,000 USD a year or less. 36% say that they make $50,000-$100,000 per year. 20% make $101,000-$150,000 per year. 9% make more than $151,000 per year. The remainder declined to give a salary amount.
We also asked about average amount of additional compensation each year, including bonuses, 401(k) contributions, education reimbursement, and other cash. 21% of responders say that they do not receive additional compensation. 6% receive under $1,000; 23% receive $1,000-$5,000; 18% fall in the $5,000-$10,000 range; 9% get $10,000-$20,000; 10% received $20,000-$50,000; and 9% of survey participants say that they got more than $50,000 in additional compensation. Four responders declined to give us a number.
We asked survey participants if they received any kind of a raise within the past year, and invited them to check any options that apply to them — 34% say they have received a standard increase in salary based on their performance, while 19% received a “considerable increase” and 20% received a cost of living increase. About 7% received incentive-based opportunities for cash rewards, or were given a stronger benefits package. 28% say that they did not get any kind of salary increase.
This article appeared in the May/June 2015 issue of Controlled Environments.