Ed, I agree with your perception of 'real' clean rooms in other board shops. Other than trying to impress people touring your facility, a certified 10K or 100K clean room may not be worth the ongoing expense. It depends on your shop's processes. In your situation, you may want to include into your plans, space for a certified clean room. Before you commit to a certified clean room you need to be able review the types of in-process defects that you are having. If that information is not readily available to you, then your best investment at this time is to set up a data collection system so that you can review and monitor your in process quality. You NEED to know what type and the number of defects you are having. Without being able to see what your process is doing, the chances of spending your money on value added process improvements are slim. Once you have a data collection system in place, the need for a clean room (or other capital investment) will be obvious and justification will then be easy. It would also allow you to set up your clean room to suit your needs without overkill. Norm Dill