We had a great time at Achema 22 in Frankfurt, working with our friends at Airex to show ImpactAir and ISO-90 environmental monitoring technology. 

Achema ‘22 was an excellent event. We talked ourselves hoarse answering questions about the product range – ImpactAir and ISO-90 – from visitors from all over Europe, and it was great to be at a face-to-face event again after the disruption of Covid. It was fun to catch up with friends old and new, and we were humbled by some of our distribution colleagues travelling from all over the world to meet with us at the show. 

We heard that foot traffic is down from the last time the show ran in-person, which was pre-covid. However, Achema is still a huge event, “as big as Cardiff!” in the words of one of our team. The size of the show allows big pieces to be displayed, such as full isolators. This is an impressive show.

So, what was it that alarmed us?

We spoke to many of our fellow exhibitors, and especially a number of RABS and isolator builders. What has alarmed us is that we feel far too many of them do not have enough of a sense of urgency about Annex1. During the early part of the show, we even heard the view expressed that, “we'll see what happens; it’s been going on so long now that it might never happen, etc”.

Well, it did happen, and sooner than anybody thought. The GMP caught the whole industry on the hop by publishing the Annex 1 guidelines on the Thursday of the show, 25th August 2022, with implementation of almost all of them needed by 25th August 2023.

So, now the word is out and the clock is ticking. We have a deadline. We have a monitoring standard that in practice will only be achieved by active monitoring. For many companies, this will mean switching out existing sampling technology for active monitoring technology. In many cases, internal validation processes will take many months, and so the time to act is now. 

We know from other conversations that there are people who believe that they’ll be able to address the continuous monitoring needs of Annex 1 by using settle plates. We’re really clear; although Annex 1 does not preclude the use of settle plates, in practice they have nowhere near the performance needed for Annex 1 compliant monitoring in a Grade A environment.

So what do we conclude after Achema 22?

1. Achema is a great show to attend if it’s relevant to your work. Full of innovation, and the opportunity to talk with others from all over Europe.
2. If your role involves any kind of responsibility for Grade A cleanroom environments, please educate yourself about Annex 1 and the associated changes coming next year. Start here.
3. We believe that we produce the best slit-to-agar monitoring systems in the world. If you’re serious about your cleanroom environmental monitoring, or if you’re not sure what to do, please talk to us.