There are probably scores of building service contractors and in-house cleaning professionals that share the same dream. They dream of finding a machine that can solve their cleaning problems, speed up cleaning, and be so cost effective that this “dream” machine pays for itself in just a few months, or less.

For Mike Koesters, business services field operations manager for Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley in Dayton, Ohio, that dream has become a reality in the form of the No-Touch Cleaning system from Kaivac, developer of the no-touch technology. According to Koesters, the organization hires primarily people with disabilities and trains them in proper cleaning methods and processes.

As the organization grew — now cleaning more than two million square feet of commercial space per day — concerns mounted about the speed of the cleaning process and how uniform the cleaning was. By “uniform” he means that the organization expected to see the same high-quality cleaning results every time, no matter who used the cleaning equipment, as long as he or she had been properly trained.

To address these concerns, Koesters decided to try a no-touch cleaning machine and put it to work at his largest account in the Dayton area. This facility has 42 large restrooms and serves 4,000 to 5,000 people every day.

“We tried the [no-touch] system and in the first week we saw a 25 percent labor savings. So, we got a second machine and now have four [no-touch cleaning machines] at just this one account.”

According to studies by ISSA dating back more than 15 years, spray-and-vac or “no-touch” cleaning systems can “potentially reduce cleaning times by one-third or more.”

Even more, Rex Morrison, who developed the process cleaning method, reports that the no-touch system can “clean restrooms in half the time of manual cleaning methods, averaging one minute per fixture using spray-and-vac versus two to three minutes per fixture with a manual process.”

Not only did the no-touch cleaning machines cut costs and improve worker productivity, but they also improved the health and appearance of the restrooms on a consistent basis. Koesters was also impressed with the return on his investment.

“It did not take long at all to pay for the machines; I’d say they were paid for within about three months.”

The no-touch cleaning machines have also proven to be a problem solver for his organization. For instance, one client had complained that he would like to see his restrooms cleaner and healthier. The restrooms had been cleaned using traditional methods such as sprayers, mops, and buckets. Koesters brought in a no-touch cleaning system one night to clean the restrooms, and the next day the customer called and had changed his tune. Instead of complaining, he was now praising the cleaning crew, saying the restrooms looked great.

“The [no-touch] systems have helped us quite a bit,” adds Koesters. “They keep our clients happy, they help us speed up cleaning, and they reduce our costs. And, they are good PR…they tell our customers that we are willing to go the extra step to keep their facilities clean and healthy.”