CASE STUDY: Technology Company Stops Using Mops to Clean Floors

At its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, BTG Labs researches, innovates and manufactures specialized surface analysis equipment. The company’s prestigious client base, which includes such companies as Google, Apple, NASA, General Electric, and GM, regularly visits its headquarters to inspect operations, conduct product trainings, or do research and development.

In order to create a welcoming space that earns the trust of these and other noteworthy companies, BTG Labs President Tom McLean decided to have the facility’s cleaning professionals stop using mops. Instead, they now use the Kaivac OmniFlex system for total hard floor care.

“Some of our clients are coming from facilities with very sophisticated clean rooms, so we need to match their expectations and show that we have the same concern about cleanliness, especially floor cleanliness, as they do,” said McLean. “Stopping the use of mops was an easy decision to make once I saw how the OmniFlex system cleans. [And we’ve found] the more we use it, the cleaner our floors get.”

Using Kaivac OmniFlex floor cleaning system equipment, such as Kaivac’s SUV AutoVac, fresh cleaning solution is dispensed through a trolley bucket at the base of the machine. Similar to an automatic scrubber, as it is rolled over the floor, a pad at the rear of the machine provides the agitation necessary to loosen soils, which the system then vacuums up. No mops are used in the cleaning process.

Previously, McLean and his staff would have to inspect the building prior to client visits because they simply were not confident that the floors would be properly clean. Additionally, they were frequently removing dirty mop “strings” that were caught on table legs, which is a common problem, and streaks on the floors due to mopping.

In the worst-case scenario, due to McLean’s concerns about floor cleanliness, he would even steer clients away from some of the rooms in his facility, worried that the floors simply were not cleaned thoroughly and effectively to show his clients.

“Mops [just] don’t do a good job,” says McLean. “They may be less expensive to purchase, but ultimately if floors have to be re-cleaned due to mopping, they’re just not cost effective.”

Based on his own experience using mops to clean the facility’s floors and now using the OmniFlex system, he finds it “amazing that mops are still being used as much as they are.  New technology has made mopping obsolete.”

And when asked to compare the effectiveness of the Kaivac OmniFlex system with that of a mop, McLean adds, “there’s no comparison. It’s a night-and-day difference. The OmniFlex is significantly better at removing soil than a mop.”