About Ultra Clean Systems
Providing healthcare facilities with better, more reliable ultrasonic cleaners for their
sterile processing departments since 1999
Our Story
How We Got Started
Ultra Clean Systems began in founder O’Brien Cale’s garage. Now we occupy a 55,000-square-foot facility. How did we get here? By working hard to offer the most innovative, versatile, timesaving, and energy-efficient ultrasonic cleaning systems in the medical industry. We firmly believe that patient and technician safety come first. We engineer, manufacture, and service our products with that mindset daily. That philosophy has kept us innovating and expanding for more than 20 years.
The Beginning
Founder O’Brien Cale began his career making repairs and quality checks for a medical products company. After joining a company that sold ultrasonics, he learned all about them and moved into sales. Out in the field, he saw firsthand the challenges that sterile processing technicians had cleaning flexible laparoscopic instruments. “I took it personally to come up with a better process or make it easier for them,” he said. In 1999, in an effort to create a better, more efficient way to clean surgical instruments, O’Brien founded Ultra Clean Systems in his garage.
Innovations
We were the first company to design an ultrasonic cleaning system that allowed technicians to clean 12 lumen instruments at a time by connecting them to a manifold in a tray, rather than sticking their hands in the filled basin to connect them to or disconnect them from the machine itself. Ultra Clean also was the first to use a mirror-finish basin to reflect ultrasonic waves more efficiently, and the first to produce a dual-process ultrasonic cleaner, with both irrigation and nonirrigation processes in the same basin at the same time.
Cleaning Robotics
In 2001, we engineered a dual-basin ultrasonic cleaner, providing completely independent cleaning cycles in a single system. As the field of robotic surgery expanded in the 2000s, Ultra Clean Systems became the first company with a Robotic Arm Cleaning System (RACS), designed to flush the ports of da Vinci® robotic instruments.
TRT Technology
In 2011, we were the first in our industry to incorporate high-powered titanium rod transducers (TRTs) in our machines to provide an even dispersion of ultrasonic energy. Our in-basin rod transducers provide more rapid and thorough cleaning with less stress on the machine, increasing the energy efficiency and life expectancy of the unit. TRT technology allowed us to shrink our machines’ width, critical when wide spaces are at a premium in SPDs.
Increasing Capacity
To help sterile processing departments increase their productivity, flexibility, and cleaning capacity, in 2012, we developed a fully automatic, dual-basin cleaning system capable of processing four trays of instruments simultaneously—two sets of two trays independently. The same year, we added an optional paperless cleaning verification program, UCS-Verify.
da Vinci Validation
We introduced the Triton 36 in 2014, our first ultrasonic cleaner to be fully validated by Intuitive Surgical® to clean two sets of da Vinci Xi® robotic instruments simultaneously in 15 minutes. The system can clean any da Vinci robotic instrument. The machine also includes an industry-first ultraviolet (UV) water filtration system, designed to deactivate bacterial matter and kill microorganisms through ultraviolet irradiation, making both patients and SPD personnel safer.
Highest Throughput
Two years later, our Triton 72 received full validation from Intuitive Surgical to clean all da Vinci robotic instruments in a 15-minute cleaning cycle. This TRT-enabled system has the highest throughput available, with the ability to process 72 lumen instruments in a single cycle using two independently operable basins.
New Challenges
Advancements in medicine and medical equipment happen almost daily. There will always be new challenges for us to meet and new advancements in surgical instrument cleaning to be made, from better cleaning solutions to more efficiency in cleaning. As our founder O’Brien Cale says, at some time, everyone is going to have a procedure and we all want to make sure those instruments are clean.
Cleaner, Faster, Smarter—it is our promise to you.
Our Commitment to Quality
“I just wanted to make a contribution to better healthcare.” –O’Brien Cale
As a leader in sterile processing, Ultra Clean Systems is committed to quality with every machine, every time. A US Occupational Safety and Health Administration nationally recognized testing lab certifies each part we use, for maximum safety in hospital environments. Additionally, our ultrasonic cleaners are proudly made in the USA by our own highly skilled craftspeople.
Our commitment doesn’t end with the build process. We understand that your time is valuable, so we take the time to rigorously test every machine before it leaves our facility. Then, we work to support you, the buyer, and your machine once it is on its way to you.
Since 1999, we have led the industry with efficient designs that provide the most throughput while enhancing patient safety. We adhere to the ISO 13485 medical devices standards, which are reflected in the quality of our products and services.