CIJ Seminar on Industrial Cleaning, at Pune: A Report

 

 

These were notes expressed after an interactive seminar on Industrial Cleaning, Hygiene Solutions & Maintenance organized by Clean India Journal at Suzlon Excellence Academy in Pune on August 7. The programme was supported by The Deccan Chambers of Commerce, Industries &Agriculture. Over 100 delegates attending the seminar included those exposed to such learning for the first time.

For the convenience of the maintenance heads of Chitale Dairy, Chitale Agro and other leading local companies, the speakers even broke into Hindi. “Do organise seminars in Hindi too,” is what they requested at the end of the session. Organising such seminars in Tier II and Tier III cities, Clean India Journal has reiterated its stance of spreading knowledge about cleaning technology. The response to such seminars goes to reveal the need for cleaning solutions even in smaller cities & towns.

The delegates, including operation heads & decision makers, represented industries like pharma, manufacturing, automobile, IT, healthcare, paints & dyes, food processing and facility service providers from across Maharashtra. Delegates also came from as far as Hyderabad.

More than 99% of the delegates found the sessions with demonstrations as useful and informative.

Delegates from the FM sector comprised 50.68%, manufacturing sector including chemicals, electronics, paints, pharma, food, equipment, metals and engineering companies about 39.72% and the others were from IT sector and healthcare.

The pie-chart gives a visual representation of the industries that participated in the seminar.

In a sample survey, Clean India Journal found that 32% of the companies represented at the Seminar had some form of mechanisation in cleaning operations at their facilities. While others who have responded have engagaed in manual cleaning for reasons like non-exposure to professional cleaning methods, cost restraints, lack of trained personnel, inability to source equipment and absence of local dealers.

The survey also noted that 69% of the delegates engaged in-house cleaning while only 31% had outsourced maintenance to cleaning contractors.

Importance of professional cleaning

Highlighting the importance of environment, health and safety in the opening note, DCCIA General Manager Lt Col. Prem Anand (Retd) said, “The Factories Act that governs all the industries in the country has laid down standards on cleanliness that are to be provided by an employer. The laws state that in the absence of proper cleanliness in a facility, the license of the employer is liable to be cancelled. Moreover, there are always safety issues at stake when maintenance is not as per prescribed standards.

“Only mechanised cleaning can provide consistent and high quality cleaning services. It is the need of the hour for all industries to switch to automated cleaning operations. We are thankful to Clean India Journal for selecting our Chamber for imparting such valuable information.”

Dr SK Raut, Director-Corporate Health Checkup, Noble Hospital Pvt. Ltd, Pune, also a member of DCCIA noted the importance of cleanliness in every aspect of a person’s life in his key note speech. “Cleaning should be an instinctive habit. There are many benefits that comes with it – improved employee morale and satisfaction, increase in productivity and compliance to standards.”

He also emphasized the importance of hygiene, especially in industrial settings. “Handling chemicals and various other potential harmful materials is common in industries. If proper care is not taken in hand hygiene, there are chances that a person can be slowly poisoned due to ingestion of the residue of harmful materials. Hence, proper hygiene in industrial sector also safeguards the health of the employees.”

Adding on the need to inculcate the importance of cleanliness in individuals, Parag Sawant, DGM- Facilities, Suzlon Excellence Academy said, “Cleanliness in any facility begins with an individual’s need to maintain his work surrounding. Cleanliness is about the correct mind-set. Cleaning equipment and chemicals can only facilitate the attitude. A clean workplace projects the employer’s outlook for the staff; making the employees feel valued increases their productivity and retention. It also conjures a positive image of the company for the employees and the visitors.”

Need for such seminar

Yogesh Kamthe, HR Executive, UniKlinger Ltd said, “I believe that it is important for every industry to provide its employees with clean and safe environment at the workplaces. It is essential for the top management to know the impact that cleanliness and hygiene has on the bottom line and that cleaning services are not just a cost centre but a value added service.”

The Seminar had well planned session with Sunil Kapoor, Regional Manager, Karcher Cleaning Systems Pvt Ltd, speaking on Cost effective mechanised cleaning solutions, followed by Prashant Sule Managing Director, Canon Hygiene, on Effective washroom maintenance in industries, and Ramesh Kanna, Senior Manager-Marketing, SealedAir India, on Applications of right cleaning chemicals for industries, with Savio Pinto, Commercial Manager-West, Forbes Facility Service Pvt Ltd, concluding the seminar by speaking on the Need to outsource services for effective results.

Kanna, Senior Manager-Marketing, SealedAir India, on Applications of right cleaning chemicals for industries, with Savio Pinto, Commercial Manager-West, Forbes Facility Service Pvt Ltd, concluding the seminar by speaking on the Need to outsource services for effective results.

Delegates’ Reactions

Some of the important delegates who attended the seminar represented companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Consulting Engineers, Chitale Foods, Jotun India Pvt Ltd, Unicore Autocat India Pvt Ltd, Uni Klinger Limited, NFTDC, Burckhardt Compression Pvt Ltd, Golden Hospitality Services Pvt Ltd.

Speaking on the valuable information given on the topic of washroom hygiene, Soniya Pahuja, Associate Executive Administration from Tata Consultancy Engineers said, “It was enlightening to learn how a dirty washroom was capable of making a whole office sick. It’s something worth pondering over. Being from administration, we make sure that the workplace remains clean and hygienic, so that the employees remain healthy and that in turn increases their input and at the end their productivity. We are now planning on introducing more such products shown at the seminar at our offices soon. To create more awareness on cleanliness, CIJ can have training and seminar sessions in big organisations on the importance of sanitation and hygiene. This will ensure that people who are aware of hygiene standards are not harmed by the practices of those who are ignorant about them.”

Many delegates expressed thoughts on sourcing their cleaning solutions from the companies present. It was a perfect opportunity for the delegates to network; companies having cleaning requirements were together with cleaning solution providers under one roof.

“Since cleanliness creates the first impression of the company and is linked to the productivity of the employees, it is given prime importance. We look after the health, safety, environment of our associates while in the workplace. We are looking to save time and cost by using mechanization in a better way,” said Bhimrao Mote, Administration, Tata Consultancy Services.

“The seminar provided with diversified information ranging from washroom hygiene to knowledge on using cleaning equipment and chemicals for industrial facility.

 

It helped in gaining information on proper industrial cleaning solutions that would allow us to approach and service a client having industrial cleaning needs.” said Dinesh Kotwani, Sr. Manager, Aura FM Pvt Ltd.

“Being from the healthcare sector, maintenance of the public access washrooms was a big concern, especially eliminating germs and odours. Coming to the seminar has allowed me to know more about various solutions in eliminating odour as well as infectious viruses from the washrooms,” said Meenal Nene, Assistant Housekeeper, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital.

“Since we are supplying components to other companies, it is necessary that they are of top quality. Any imperfection in the products will lead to its rejection, affecting the bottom line of the company. So stringent cleanliness standards are maintained around the manufacturing facility to ensure the production lines are not compromised by dust, dirt or any other contaminants,” said Bhausaheb Ruke, HR Executive, Denso Thermal Systems Pune Ltd.

“The valuable inputs given in the seminar will help us provide better services for our industrial clients. Through these seminars we come to know about the perceived standards on cleanliness in the industry and the modes to achieve them,” said Shushil Dutta Shinde, Director, Bugs Control of India.

Issues on standards and manuals for washroom maintenance under cost controlling modes were discussed and possible solutions of mechanizing the operations were looked into. The attrition rate and audits were also deliberated on.

In the concluding session, Lt Col. Prem Anand said, “The major difference between manual and mechanised cleaning is that equipment operate on the standards they are designed for without compromising on the quality of the work. This will make it possible to achieve desired standards of cleanliness in key areas where maintaining cleanliness becomes a safety issue, directly affecting the productivity and also the costs incurred due to injuries to the employees.”

“DCCIA will show its support to Clean India Journal in its endeavour by organising such seminars for the benefits of Association members and industries at large. DCCIA is supporting the 10th edition of Clean India Show – Clean India Pulire 2013 – Asia’s largest cleaning expo being organized in Mumbai in December.”