Facility budget cuts often mean a decline in the quality of cleaning within offices, schools, hospitals and other buildings. However, cleaning is essential for creating a safe and healthy environment, maintaining occupant satisfaction and keeping a facility looking its best. Rather than eliminating cleaning practices from a facility, organizations can instead implement a variety of cost-cutting cleaning methods and new technologies to make cleaning more efficient and affordable.
Day Cleaning: Instead of late-night work, shifting cleaning tasks to daytime hours helps reduce cost and improve sustainability by taking advantage of more productive hours. Day cleaners are more productive per square foot because they have better visibility of soiled areas and can establish relationships with occupants so that messes are cleaned up as they occur. Buildings can also lower their energy bills by turning down lights and adjusting HVAC settings at earlier hours, rather than keeping them running at night for cleaning crews.
Dilution Control: Dilution control solutions dispense the correct chemical dose so that employees don’t have to manually dilute them. By implementing this solution, facilities can avoid switching to lower quality chemicals to cut costs, which typically require employees to use more chemical to achieve the same results. Properly diluted chemicals and cleaning practices will also help protect the investment made in the facility’s floors, equipment and other assets. Dilution control solutions also reduce hazards and error by ensuring that employees avoid contact with concentrated chemicals and that solutions are not mistakenly mixed together or improperly diluted. Many dilution control systems are easy to use, and employees can be quickly trained on proper use.
Controlled Dosing: Traditional floor care machines continue to dispense chemical solution when machines slow down and turn. Advanced floor care machines now offer speed-dependent dosing systems that apply the chemical to the floor based on the machine’s speed rather than the amount of time that has elapsed, reducing solution waste. By using an advanced dosing system, facilities can reduce cleaning solution waste by up to 30 percent. These machines also allow operators to vary the level of dilution/solution and in some cases, turn off chemical dispensing to clean floors based on the level of soil. These machines also increase productivity because employees don’t have to empty and refill tanks as often. They can also reduce downtime after cleaning because they leave very little moisture behind.
Customizable Cleaning Carts: These carts can be configured based on the user’s preferences. These carts improve productivity because items are strategically placed for workers. Studies have shown that efficiency increases by 20 percent or more when using carts designed for a specific cleaning task versus fixed solution carts. These customizable carts allow cleaning to be completed more quickly, thereby reducing labor costs. They also reduce ergonomic strain for workers, limiting potential injuries, time away from work and workers’ compensation claims.
When facility managers face budget cuts, the ideal solution is to adjust cleaning programs, rather than cut out resources completely or switch to cheaper options that yield less impressive results. Innovative technology, chemicals and equipment can make cleaning more efficient and cost-effective by reducing energy, chemical and water consumption and improving productivity.