CASE STUDY: School District Saves Money By Reducing Need To Burnish

Without proper maintenance, floor finish can lose its glossy appearance and the ability to protect floors over the long term. Today, many schools must carefully balance their budget with the desire to have clean floors that can withstand heavy foot traffic.

Upper Merion School District, located outside of Philadelphia, has over 830,000 square feet of flooring, and a variety of floor types including cement terrazzo, epoxy terrazzo and vinyl composition tile. In 2006, the cleaning staff consisted of 37 people, including two floor care specialists who oversaw weekly burnishing using propane burnishers.

Following the economic downturn, weekly burnishing was not economically feasible and several positions were reassigned or eliminated to cut costs. In 2015, with fewer staff members, the district sought a cost-effective, efficient and sustainable way to keep floors looking their best in between burnishing.

“Through equipment, we can increase efficiency despite having fewer members on staff,” says William Dillon, custodial coordinator. “We sought a product that would prolong the floor finish to protect our floor care investment and reduce the need for more costly and time-consuming burnishing.”

For years, the district has used floor cleaners from Sealed Air’s Diversey Care division, as well as its TASKI Intellibot DUOBOT 1850 robotic sweeper/scrubber and the Intellibot SWINGOBOT 1650. Thus, it was a natural next step to incorporate TASKI IntelliPad, Diversey Care’s two-in-one floor care pad that both cleans and burnishes.

“We have been using the 15-inch IntelliPads with our SWINGOBOT and have ordered 19-inch pads for our walk behind floor scrubbers following the positive response from cleaning staff and higher-ups in the district,” adds Dillon. “There’s no training required; it’s as simple as putting the pad on the machine and witnessing the floor’s shine increase after each use.”

Through daily use of TASKI IntelliPad, the district has realized the following benefits:

 • Cost savings: With a unique diamond formulation to increase durability, TASKI IntelliPad is long-lasting, helping to reduce total floor care investment. And because it is formulated to work with all machines (scrubber drier, single disc, Intellibot and non-robotic, etc.), it is a universal tool.

 • Improved cleanliness and resilience: TASKI IntelliPad delivers 3.5 times more cleaning than a standard red cleaning pad by removing micro-scratches from floor coatings that contribute to dirt embedment.

 • Employee pride: The district’s cleaning staff takes great pride in maintaining the highest level of cleanliness between burnishing.

 • Enhanced sustainability: TASKI IntelliPad is made of post-consumer and industrial recycled waste. Because the pad can be used for most common floor care tasks, it reduces the number of required floor pads by 70 percent and ultimately cuts unnecessary waste.

“With Diversey Care’s portfolio of floor care solutions, we’ve overcome our cleaning challenges and are now ahead of the curve and able to maintain continuity in cleaning levels at each of our schools,” says Dillon.