Top Machinery Picks For Facility Managers
Top cleaning machinery picks for facility managers
An insider’s perspective on what’s hot in cleaning machines for the commercial sector.
Meet Dave, better known as Dave Careless. An unfortunate surname some might say, given his role at The Floorbrite Group as Service Manager. Dave is responsible for approximately 5,000 pieces of cleaning machinery across the UK. However, Dave is anything but Careless, in fact, he has worked as a machinery engineer for the past 20 years and joined The Floorbrite Group 10 years ago. Dave is very experienced, hardworking and conscientious. He wakes at 4.30am and takes his beloved dog for a walk, arriving in his warehouse workshop at 6.00am to start his working day.
Dave’s responsibilities extend to the procurement, management and sometimes delivery of all Floorbrite vacuums, floor scrubbing and burnishing machines, scrubber driers and sweepers and various other pieces of kit. Most of the machinery inventory is owned by Floorbrite and so is PAT tested, serviced and repaired by Dave too. All larger rented and hired pieces of machinery such as ride on scrubber driers or robotic machinery have manufacturer serviced contracts which are also managed by Dave, so he can have his work cut out. That being said, Dave is passionate about finding the right piece of equipment for the right job and fit for use by the operator on site. Dave liaises with our business development team, cleaning operatives and various manufacturers and customers to provide demonstrations on sites for the latest innovations to find the right solution for our customers.
Due to his specialist role, Dave is the only person to have visited every Floorbrite site that we provide cleaning services to, which is well over 1000 across the country. His accumulated knowledge over the years and ear to the ground with regards to machinery, definitely make him best placed to give an overview of what our customers are looking for at the moment which in short are:
- No Touch Cleaning Methods
- Sustainable Cleaning Methods
- Autonomous Robotic Cleaning Machines
So, let us take an unbiased look at what Dave decided were a couple of great solutions to some of our most recent customer’s challenges.
Customer 1 Overview
This customer’s distribution site covers over 1.4 mil sqft, is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and at peak times has 2,500 employees on site. The washrooms receive an enormous amount of traffic and are cleaned continuously throughout the day and night shifts.
Problem/Goal
A more efficient and deeper method of cleaning was required on a more frequent basis.
Solution
No Touch Cleaning by Kaivac through Dennis Rawlins. The 1250NTC is a complete trolley system. Including a handheld wand with scrubber and miniature pressure washer, inbuilt 20L solution tank and wet vac.
This machine is perfect in tiled washroom and shower blocks. Tiled wall, floor, sink, toilet and shower areas are sprayed with Kaivac’s recommended cleaning solution, scrubbed and pressure washed clean. The wet vac element removes all dirty residue, leaving surfaces almost perfectly dry.
Results and Benefits
The no touch cleaning method is scientifically proven to be 30-60 times better and up to 3 times faster than traditional cleaning methods. Surfaces are left sterile and dry, negating the requirement for wet floor signs and preventing slips, trips and falls.
The 20L water tank also saves on water usage by filtering and recycling the same water whilst the system is in use.
Conclusion
Dave says this is a great piece of kit for tiled washrooms. Faster and more efficient than traditional cleaning and a hygienic and healthier method of cleaning, benefiting both the cleaning operative and end user.
Customer 2 Overview
This customer’s large and busy distribution centre, comprising hundreds of thousands of sqft of warehousing is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The floor area is expansive with many aisles and warehouse operatives. Traffic can peak in certain areas at certain times of day meaning cleaning tasks can be difficult to complete.
Problem/Goal
The customer was looking for innovation and an efficient method of cleaning. Due to heavy warehouse traffic at different times, some areas are unable to be cleaned during a shift and not always picked up on the following shift due to the cleaning rotation in such an expansive area. This caused areas to remain uncleaned for longer periods of time until the next rotation cycle.
Solution
T380AMR Robotic floor scrubber-Dryer by Tennant is powered by BrainOS advanced vision-based A.I. system. This machine can also be operated as a ride on machine for small cleaning task or just for the purposes of mapping out the floor area to be cleaned autonomously ongoing. Cleans effectively in cleaner environments using water alone or using floorcare solutions. However, Tennant’s ec-H2O NanoClean™ technology is recommended, which electrically converts water into an innovative cleaning solution. The BrainOS operator system is easy to use, intelligent and can be managed from an app on a mobile or tablet device. Four hours running time versus four hours charging time. Additional interchangeable batteries can be purchased.
Results and Benefits
The T380AMR can intelligently map large open areas alone without an operator manually mapping the area with it. Once all areas including aisles are mapped and cleaning can commence, the T380AMR will intelligently stop and alert a warehouse operative in its path. If the obstruction is immobile, the T380 will move around the person or object to avoid them and continue on its mapped route. At the end of the mapped session the T380 will return to missed areas to ensure they are also cleaned. Downloads are available for all system reports and the T380’s journeys. Maps can be adapted to avoid high traffic areas at certain times of day. Can also be purchased with a docking station where the machine will return to at the end of the day to self-charge and commence its duties again when it has finished charging. The mobile app notifies the manager when the T380 has commenced work and finished and will receive alerts if the machine runs out of water or encounters an obstacle it cannot navigate.
Conclusion
Dave says this is the easiest Robotic Scrubber Drier he has used, as some can be complicated. The BrainOS system is perfect for solving the customer’s issue with busy areas being missed and the reporting is very useful for auditing purposes. This kind of solution is not for every site though. For some of the more expensive machines to be a cost-effective solution, the area needs to be large enough to warrant full or almost full-time operation. However, the use of a machine like this can also allow contractors to reallocate employees to high-value tasks too.
A final note from our expert
In summary, Dave’s advice is to take everything into consideration when investing in the right piece of equipment. Work with the customer and manufacturer to understand specifications, requirements, budget and objectives whilst also working with the site operatives during demonstrations to ensure they are able to operate the machinery safely and with ease.
Dave loves his job and loves to make people happy. His parting words are “If you can give people a piece of kit that looks good, does the job well and makes them happy, then you’ve won. If everyone is happy, I’m happy and they’re going to do a better job because of it
By Nina Wyers, Marketing & Brand Director at The Floorbrite Group
