If you are using any of the recently obsoleted, discontinued mass flow controllers made by any of the major mass flow controller manufacturers, and you have been told you cannot buy them anymore, or that it will cost as much as a used Harley and take slightly less time than the gestation period of an elephant to repair them, give us a call. For over 30 years we have made it our business to continue to supply replacement devices and service the mass flow controllers that are no longer supported by the OEM’s. While you’re at it, ask us about the latest digital and Devicenet models because we can service most of those, too, but that is another news item topic.
Well, I just got back from a two week trip to the Semicon show in Shanghai, China. It was a very busy show that indicated things in Asia may be picking up a bit, certainly from a Coastal Instruments mass flow controller service viewpoint. I also stopped over in South Korea to visit some customers, and future customers, as well as checking up on the latest warmongering threats from our buddies in the North. It was really something to see American B-2 bombers, that flew non-stop from the US to Korea and back, flying over Seoul. I would think twice about messing with those myself, but then, I am not a nut case like Premier Chubby Baby Face.
A lot of progress was made on the renovation while I was gone. The floors,ceilings, HVAC, and new outside gas pad for the bulk distribution system are finished. The installation of the all-welded, 316L stainless steel, UHP gas piping system has started, and the new work benches, cabinets and work surfaces should be in next week. We are still on schedule for a late April move in. Posted by Bob Williams.
In order to more efficiently support our customer base we have decided to consolidate our Texas operations with our North Carolina operations. Effective March 15, 2013 we will cease operations at our Plano, TX location and all future work from that location will be performed at our Burgaw, NC location. Brad Darby, Texas Shop Manager for the past 20 years, will be moving to North Carolina and assuming the role of NC shop Manager effective April 1, 2013. Lawrence Johnson, our Senior Calibration Technician in the TX shop, will also be relocating to our NC facility so the main contacts that our Texas shop customer have used for many years will still be available in our NC shop. If you have any questions regarding where to send your mass flow controllers for service please contact Wayne Church, Customer Service, 1-800-mfc-help,(800-632-4357), wchurch@mfchelp.com, or Brad Darby, NC shop Manager, at bdarby@mfchelp.com. We will continue support all of our customers, wherever they are located, with the same quality service and quick turnaround they have come to expect from Coastal Instruments, Inc.
If you are attending Semicon China this week be sure to drop by our Booth #2267, Exhibit Hall N2, and say hello. I will be there as well as Jon and Carol from our China office. It looks a very busy show so far. Say you saw this on our website when you drop by and win something free. Maybe some Smarties or a Life Saver.
Posted by Bob Williams
Jon, Bob, and Carol at Semicon China 2013
Coastal Instruments, Mass flow Controller Service Specialists since 1980, will be exhibiting at the Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC) Technical Conference to be held at the Omni Hotel in Providence, RI, on April 23 and 24, 2013. Attending from Coastal will be Bob Murphy (National Sales Manager), Tim Williams (Technical Manager), Tasha Williams (Customer Service-NC office) and Bob Williams (President). If you are going to be there please stop by to see us at our Booth #615 and get the latest news on our mass flow controller service capabilities,and oh yeah, eat some Smarties.
Our team, working hard, at Semicon 2011
Coastal Instruments, Dandong, Company, Ltd., our facility in China, will be exhibiting at the Semicon show in Shanghai March 19 through March 21, 2013. If you are planning to attend please stop by our Booth #2267, visit with Jon or Carol, and get all the latest news on our mass flow controller service capabilities in China, especially our announcement to begin offering full service on the Horiba STEC SEC-Z500 series devices in our Dandong, China facility.
Our Coastal team at Semicon China 2006
As many of you know our original building, which we had occupied since our company started in 1980, was totally destroyed by a fire in July 2011. We bought a new building very close to our old location and were back in operation within a couple of months, although in somewhat temporary conditions. There was another company already leasing the remaining 40% of the our new building and they did not move out until the end of 2012. In January 2013 we started a major renovation of the remainder of the new building which will ultimately house our calibration lab, cleaning and disassembly room, spare parts storage, and shipping/receiving. The renovations include new walls, ceilings, lighting, flooring, windows, doors, HVAC systems with electronic filtering and UV light treatment systems, and a new gas piping and distribution system including a new outside bulk gas storage facility. We even put in a new high efficiency, ultra quiet bathroom exhaust fan which addresses one of our most critical gas distribution problems.
Shipping/receiving moved into their new location on 3/5/13 and work continues to complete the new lab areas within the next month or so. In the meantime we are still operating from our temporary facilities and we expect there will no disruption to our customer service during the move into the new facilities scheduled for late April. When all production areas have moved into their new facility we plan to renovate the remaining portion of the building which will house our warehouse, employee services and administrative offices, as well as a new customer entrance foyer with a conference room, a fancy sofa, recliner chair, big screen TV, and a candy dish filled with M&M’s.
Posted by Bob Williams
Future Calibration Lab Our New Building
Ok, now that I have been given the ability to post directly to our website news, totally unencumbered by my staff and the website dudes, I will try to make periodic posts to keep our customers updated on all the significant happenings in the world of mass flow controller service at Coastal Instruments from my viewpoint. I am not particularly versed on all the latest social network blogging techniques and I don’t intend to be. I also have no intention of making this news post a daily chronicle of every mundane event that happens here just to show some activity. So, if you want to know what we had for lunch today you are out of luck, actually we had spicy chicken wings, mashed potatoes and cole slaw.
I will post the events that are important to our company, to our customers, and to our competitors, so stay tuned. I have been unleashed on the web!
Bob Williams, President, Coastal Instruments, Inc.
I have been riding motorcycles for 49 years, the rest of
the time I was at work. Weston Pass Colorado 2012
Coastal Instruments Inc. has successfully completed the bi-annual renewal assessment
by the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to the requirements of
ISO 17025:2005 and ANSI Z540-1-1994. Our scope of accreditation for flow of gases has
increased in range from 1 sccm to 1,000,000 sccm. Our scope and certificate (#2235.01) can
be viewed on the A2LA website
Coastal Instruments, Inc. has been accredited to ISO-17025 and ANSI Z540, “Testing and
Calibration” for flow of gases since 2004 and has been in the mass flow controller business
since 1980.
Coastal Instruments now services the Horiba STEC Z500 series mass flow device.