Autoscrubber Choices Influenced By Cost Savings

Selecting the right cleaning equipment for hard-surface floors is important in floor care. Effectiveness, reliability and ease of use are among the key factors that need to be carefully considered in the selection process if you’re going to provide your customers with the best possible tools.

When it comes to today’s automatic scrubbers, the industry consensus is that they are increasingly durable, reliable and effective.

So, in helping your customer choose one, what other factors must be considered? Which of the machine’s three basic configurations should you recommend as most appropriate for your customers?

A propane-powered one? A battery-powered scrubber? An electric-corded machine?

Those are the questions distributors must ask when assessing a facility’s autoscrubber needs. The pros and cons of each should be explored and discussed with customers.

Beyond The Budget
Before Jeannie Murphy begins to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of autoscrubbers, she does a site visit and talks to her customers at great length.

Murphy, president and owner of Murphy Sanitary Supply, Tulsa, Okla., says she needs to know what customers’ budgets are, how many full-time employees they have, what their cleaning schedules are, how they clean with their equipment and how large their facility is.

“It’s our job to show them how the autoscrubber we recommend can improve their productivity and save them money and labor,” she says. “Budget is not the number one consideration.”

“Many organizations are faced with budget restraints, and this, of course, is an important consideration,” says Jeffrey Pease, corporate vice president of sales and marketing for Brady Industries, Corp., Las Vegas. “However, when we help customers, we provide a total-cost analysis as it relates to their purchase. It’s not always the less expensive product that will provide the greatest total cost savings.”

The cost of maintaining equipment is another important consideration as parts and service are inevitable costs associated with these machines. Pease says his company also offers a number of lease options to help customers obtain an autoscrubber.

Russ Melton, vice president of the RoyaLab Division of Royal Papers Inc., St. Louis, also believes you must first interview customers to determine what they want, what their budget is, and what their objectives are. “You should know what kind of debris they are cleaning,” he says. “That determines what contact pressure is needed.

“The size of the facility is another factor,” he adds. “If a facility is less than 5,000 square feet, it probably doesn’t need an autoscrubber. If it encompasses 50,000 square feet or more, a battery-powered machine has its limitations. In that case, a continuous-running scrubber is needed, and I’d recommend a propane-powered machine.”

William Kuross, Sr., CEO of Savoie Supply, Minneapolis, believes the size of the facility and the size of the scrubber are keys to success. “The bigger the scrubber is, the faster it’ll do the job and save on labor,” he says. “About 90 cents of every expense dollar is labor. Budget is important, but in many cases, you can show the customer it’s better to purchase an autoscrubber instead of hiring an extra worker.”

Square footage and density of a facility play a vital role in choosing the right machine, says Pease. Density depends on how cluttered with obstacles the area is, and the more dense the space, the greater the need for a machine with an improved turning radius and a footprint and deck-width that allows for easy maneuvering.

“Obviously, an airport would require a totally different scrubber than would a retail facility — wide open, less dense floor space, vs. smaller aisles and obstacles to maneuver around,” Kuross says.

Understanding the customer’s needs and the space they are cleaning will help achieve the goal of maximizing the customer’s efficiencies. “One of the largest costs of cleaning is labor,” says Pease. “We want to provide the customer with a product that reduces clean time and gives them excellent results.”

How To Power Your Autoscrubber
Melton believes propane machines, the least-used autoscrubber model, traditionally do a good job in large commercial and industrial buildings.

“In such places as warehouses, factories, and food plants, they can do huge jobs,” he says. “They can clean about 60,000 square feet per hour.”

The propane power provides long run times when compared to battery-operated machines. They operate in the area of 3,000 rpms and they apply great pressure to a floor because the entire weight of the machine is on the pad. There are disadvantages, though.

The propane machine usually requires more maintenance. Proper lubrication is important. Engine oil must be changed on schedule to prevent possible damage.

“There are also safety concerns about propane machines,” says Pease. “Schools, for instance, don’t allow them because of the pollutants they release into a building. They also vibrate and are extremely noisy. Some retail establishments frown upon them for the same reasons.”

Electric-powered autoscrubbers operate on standard 110 AC wall current and are usually the most dependable model in terms of long-time operation. They usually cost less and weigh less than their battery and propane-powered counterparts.

But because of their lighter weight, they generally don’t apply enough pressure to the floor to create the heat that makes a mirror-like floor surface, says Melton. Some electric machines work well in creating floor gloss, others do not.

“Weight, sometimes, may be an important consideration in transporting a machine from one place to another,” Melton explains. “But if elevators are close by, or transportation is not a problem, battery-powered machines are probably the way to go.”

Battery-powered machines, the most commonly used autoscrubbers today, don’t need to be plugged into an electrical outlet, which saves time.

Melton says the disadvantage of battery-powered machines is they need to be plugged into a power source when not in use, usually requiring at least eight hours for a full charge.

While productivity runs higher for battery machines, actual effective run time on one charge is usually from two to six hours.

Also, an operator can cover more square footage in the time the machine is operating, but he or she is limited in the amount of time the machine will run.

The Past And The Present
The automatic scrubber was originally invented in the late 1920s, according to Kuross. “The original machines were huge and combined a floor machine with a wet vacuum mounted behind it to pick up used solution.

“Over the years, however, autoscrubbers have evolved and improved over those early models,” Kuross adds.

Today, they are sophisticated, durable and efficient machines that are head and shoulders above machines that were built as recently as the 1980s. They now come in various sizes from small, eight-gallon machines to large 30-gallon machines, and even larger ride-on scrubbers used in warehouses. Flexibility has become the name of the game.

Jordan Fox is a Milwaukee-based freelance writer.