Indispensable Technology?

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” said British mathematician Alfred North Whitehead more than 100 years ago. For jan/san distributors, it could be better stated that inefficiency is the mother of technology. This is evidenced throughout the sanitary supply industry, where manufacturers are continuously developing and redeveloping product lines as they attempt to simplify the jobs of end users. It’s especially true of the washroom dispenser market.

Current high-tech dispensers are a far cry from their elder sibling devices of the 1980s and 1990s. Whereas flashing lights, motion detectors and remote controls were once selling points in and of themselves, today’s customers aren’t as impressed by bells and whistles. Dispensing technology must be tantamount to saving money and time for end users or it won’t be of interest.

“As a distributor, I have to be about solution selling,” says John Steinmetz, general manager of xpedx, a national distributor branch in Portland, Ore. “The technology has to be practical. If my customers are having problems, then it’s my job to find the technology that will solve those problems.”

Show Savings
The cost savings afforded by new washroom technologies was difficult for end users to gauge in the past, according to Steinmetz. However, manufacturers have gone to great lengths over the past three or four years to painstakingly document how dispensing technology can save money.

“Manufacturers are trying to keep up with the times,” says Maria Ortiz, sales manager for G&B Janitorial Supply, Middlesex, N.J. “They are exploring whatever avenues dispenser technology has to offer so that they can serve the distributor, who can then serve the end user.”

Xpedx has had recent success selling a universal paper towel dispenser that monitors product usage in tandem with a standard personal digital assistant (PDA). “Unfortunately, the dispenser doesn’t come with its own Palm Pilot. That would really be a good deal for them,” says Steinmetz. “It may not be for every customer, but for those who are looking to make the most of newer technologies, it has been a major labor savings.”

The touchless dispenser allows end users to hold their PDA up to a sensor on the machine and quickly access all vital data related to paper usage. “It allows you to monitor high-traffic times of day, month and year,” explains Steinmetz. “Some facilities have a lot of washroom traffic in the afternoons, while others are in the morning. Some need more paper in the summer months, and others need to be restocked more often in the winter. The dispenser makes the whole process a lot easier for our customers.”

One of xpedx’s customers, Portland Community College (Oregon’s largest college), recently purchased several of the self-monitoring paper dispensers and is already seeing significant savings.
“They just got it about a month ago, but they’re already able to go back and find out how much they spent and how much product was used,” says Steinmetz. “They can also determine what kind of towels would maximize their value.”

After ascertaining the amount of paper used each month, Portland Community College will be able to determine what kind of paper will make the most financial sense for each particular month.

Before purchasing the new dispenser, the college’s biggest problem was knowing how much product to buy from month to month. “Their stocking levels were really a mess,” says Steinmetz. “These colleges usually have multiple janitorial closets: one would be fully stocked for a year, and another would always be empty.” Xpedx was able to not only provide the right product solution by suggesting the sophisticated dispenser, but the company also helped facility managers streamline their stocking routines in a way that would amplify the dispenser’s effectiveness.

A Day In the Life
Even high-tech dispensers that can readily demonstrate savings require knowledgeable distributors to do the selling, says Otiz. “Customers always have a certain comfort zone that’s been established with the products they’ve purchased in the past,” she says. “When new technology is introduced, they’re usually very slow to deviate from that comfort zone.”

When it comes to washroom dispensers, nothing is as germane to increasing sales as understanding the problems that facility managers are trying to solve day in and day out. “The last thing a building manager wants to hear is a complaint about the restroom,” says Ortiz. “If they have a dispensing system that has resulted in very few — or, ideally, zero — complaints, then you are really going to need to show them how the new technology will benefit them.”

G&B Janitorial sells touchless paper and soap dispensers that use motion detectors to determine when a user needs more product. “Everyone is always talking about it, but it’s true: the market is switching toward a touchless restroom because people are worried about bacteria and cross-contamination,” says Ortiz. “If a distributor can demonstrate how a touchless dispenser will result in protection against sickness and disease, then the customer will be more apt to make the purchase.”

Senior care facilities and health care facilities are often interested in touchless dispensing technology. “They want peace of mind, and the advanced technology can give them that,” says Ortiz. “The only thing that they are commonly concerned about is the lifespan of the battery. They don’t want to always have to purchase a new battery so that the technology works.”

Waxie Sanitary Supply, a large distributor based in San Diego, provides specialized long-lasting batteries to be used with its Waxie Millennium, a dispenser that can be operated from afar with the use of a remote control. Customers can order the industrial battery along with their dispenser purchase, or they can order replacements whenever necessary, says Jim Rubenstein, vice president of marketing. It usually needs to be replaced once every six months to a year.

With proper batteries and regular maintenance, dispensers can advance dispensers can do their job — making sure that a washroom never runs out of product. “First of all, there are two options for alerting end users to empty dispensers: either a light will go on, showing that more product is needed, or it can be set to have a sound go off,” says Steinmetz of xpedx’s new dispenser.

However, many of the washroom dispensers being marketed today have been redesigned so that new product can be stored in the dispenser before it runs out. Xpedx’s dispenser fits in that category as well.

“Say you have a 1,000-foot roll of paper, but there is only 60 feet of paper left in the dispenser,” says Steinmetz. “You want to make sure that dispenser doesn’t run out, but you don’t want to just throw the 60 feet of paper away. Our dispenser allows the end user to put a new roll in and then the old stub roll, which is still being used, moves to the back. When it runs out, the dispenser automatically shifts to dispensing the new roll.”

Some distributors might scoff at worrying about 60 feet of paper (or, in similar terms, a few ounces of soap); however, it does make a difference to customers, says Steinmetz. “You’re showing the customer that you want to find the right technology to solve his or her problems. It might not seem like a lot, but 60 feet of a 1,000-foot roll of paper is 6 percent of the product, and that adds up to thousands of rolls of paper a year.”

Get On Board
Several manufacturers have said that they plan to unveil more technological advances for washroom dispensers in the coming months. It seems as if the rate of new industry solutions is increasing as end users search for better ways to save. “Right now there are dispensers that can be used with Palm Pilots, but by next year, maybe even that will be a thing of the past,” says Ortiz.