Distributor Consulting Key To Facility Floor Care

Cleaning professionals are leaning heavily on their jan/san distributors as they tackle the Herculean task of redesigning floor plans for social distancing and creating new and stricter cleaning protocols. The main objective is to streamline processes and save on labor. Investing in floor equipment innovations may save custodial staffs time, freeing them up to tackle other cleaning tasks.

The first step for any distributor working with a client on their floor care needs is to understand how the task has changed over the last year. To accomplish this, distributors should visit their clients’ facilities and complete assessments, which should include details on resources, square footage and current cleaning procedures.

“It’s vital to understand what your customers are dealing with. What’s their environment? You can see the flow of people, where they congregate, the common areas, the high-touch surfaces,” says Daniel Josephs, chief operating officer at Spruce Industries, Rahway, New Jersey. “It’s very hard to do that when you are talking to someone over the phone.”

The assessment should include information about all custodial operations, giving a clear understanding of how floor cleaning fits into the entire cleaning enterprise. Jack Ellison, senior vice president of sales at EBP Supply Solutions, Milford, Connecticut, says that when he talks to clients about their floor care needs, his goal is to get a complete picture of their cleaning specifications in terms of their procedures, frequencies, supplies and tools.

In terms of floors, a site assessment should consist of how often the floors are cleaned, the types of tools and solutions used, and the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) hours it takes to complete the task. It should also consist of details on the types of floors and coatings the client has, as well as the recoating frequencies.

An important point that distributors should glean is what the client is dealing with regarding changes in their cleaning budget. The pandemic has not only forced floor plans to change, but also has caused economic havoc, according to Bill McGarvey, director of training and sustainability for Imperial Dade, Bordentown, New Jersey.

The overall goal of the assessment is to get a complete understanding of how custodial staff have been reallocated to meet the cleaning needs of the facility.

“People are looking at cleaning completely differently now. Before, they might have had a custodian in the evening taking care of the floors,” says McGarvey. “Now they need that person to be more proactive during business hours and go after frequently touched surfaces.”facility a

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