Ten building blocks of successful rationalisation programmes
Increasing pressure of competition intensifies the pressure to continue developing technical infrastructure services for production and logistics facilities in an efficiency-oriented way. With improvement concepts in mind, facilities managers take a special interest in cleaning services. This multi-faceted and labour-intensive area of work often holds a rewarding savings potential. This article summarises the key aspects that should be prioritised in rationalisation projects or long-term continuous productivity improvement programmes relating to cleanliness.
Cost transparency
A reliable information basis is an indispensable springboard to successful rationalisation. Proof of resource consumption is concentrated on those input factors that depend on workload, cleaning intensity and efficiency and therefore reflects in direct costs:
• Personnel deployment (broken down by wage groups)
• Cleaning agents, care agents, disinfectants
• Materials and accessories subject to wear and tear
• (Hot) water, including sewerage fees
• Energy (electricity, fuel, batteries)
This list should be available in duplicates, as a quantity structure referring to material factors such as hours, numbers of units, physical units and as a value structure with amounts in rupees. Since auxiliary wages usually account for 80% of cleaning costs it is advisable to break down personnel hours in detail so that every cleaning measure is recorded by –
• Time taken to clean a specific area
• Setting up time (e.g. filling the scrubber-drier with washing solution)
• Transportation time (transfer of equipment and material back and forth)
• Waiting time (e. g. because the area is temporarily in use for production processes)
• Additional time (e. g. for clearing the area to be cleaned).
Cleaning programme
• What soiling requires early intervention?
• What measures (sweeping, wet-wiping, vacuuming, etc.) are suitable for this?
• At which frequency (For example: Per shift, per working day, per week) and on what occasions (For example: When storage areas are cleared) should they be carried out?
• Which partial area (For example: Lobby, shed sector, work station) should be covered in each case?
Periodic intensive cleaning must be designed to cope with soiling that can be tolerated in the medium to long term. While interim cleaning is concentrated on stubborn dirt marks such as rubber skid marks, paint splashes, etc., deep cleaning is increasingly in the nature of renovation and rehabilitation. To avoid unnecessary actions, as a matter of principle one should supplement the conventional cyclical system (whereby cleaning measures are carried out at regular intervals) by an inspection system (whereby the cleaning requirement is established by inspection).
Technology concept
Methods and equipment must be matched to conditions at the premises to be cleaned, particularly in terms of size, content and soiling. As a rule, manual and mechanical methods complement each other. For example, in mechanical workshops where drying coolant emulsion usually has to be tackled, ultramodern automatic scrubber-driers (which wet, scrub and vacuum in a single operation) will prove their worth in corridors, while the familiar trio of mop, edge cleaner and twin bucket on wheels is often unbeatable around work benches.
To adopt the most favourable solution, you should evaluate the specifications of the various machines on offer systematically with the help of a strictly function-oriented specification of requirements. In the case of scrubber-driers, for instance, the test will include the following criteria:
• Working width (measured on the suction beam)
• Speed of travel and manoeuvrability
• Fresh and dirty water tank capacity
• Battery capacity or fuel tank volume
• Setting up functions (Example: brush change)
• Range of uses (Example: renovating coatings, polishing)
Road sweepers, industrial vacuums and stationary high-pressure cleaners warrant an equally detailed check-up.
Process optimisation
For each cleaning process to produce the optimum result at the most favourable cost, it is advisable to analyse work processes from time to time and if need be to redesign them. Therefore, the relevant process parameters must be recorded in detail and adapted to the respective requirement. In the case of pressure washers, for example, the following factors must be coordinated:
• Operating pressure and water flow
• Water temperature or steam consistency
• Spraying distance and spraying angle
• Contact surface (of nozzle width or rotary jet)
• Type and dose of cleaning agent/disinfectant
• Additional equipment (washing brush, splash guard, etc.)
• Associated work (For example: Pre-spraying of cleaning agent)
The efficient work process is defined in relation to every object to be cleaned – the floor, mechanical plant, pipework and packaging. This data is incorporated into the work descriptions and forms the basis for instructions to staff so as to ensure that it is put into practice. In the context of this optimisation work, there is also an opportunity to try out new accessories, chemicals and possibly machines and to try varying operating routines.
Infrastructure factors
ing up times. In practice, the following have proved particularly significant:
• Easy-care floor covering (smooth, hard surface)
• Cleaning-friendly building (straightforward layout, open-plan space structure, etc.)
• Appropriate furnishing concept (For example: Contents should either stand completely on the floor or have sufficient ground clearance)
• Appropriate equipment stowage sites (for speedy transfer to and from the place of use)
• Favourable setting-up points (Example: for changing cleaning solution)
• Functionally equipped cleaning room (cleaning agent and accessory store, tool stock)
• Auxiliary facilities close to where required (For example: Take-off point for high-pressure cleaning).
It is not just a case of ensuring that a building fulfils these requirements. Rather, one should take a critical look to see whether the passage of time has impaired the functioning of such facilities, in which case they may require modernisation.
Internal division of labour
The interface between production and cleaning personnel is an important cost-influencing factor. Under the pressure of lean production, value creation activities take up almost all the machine operator’s capacity, so the contribution he used to make towards a clean working environment must largely be made by others. His remaining cleaning workload is measured by two criteria: First, the production worker should concern himself with tidiness and cleanliness to the extent that benefits his emotional attachment to the workplace. Accordingly, he will keep tools, means of measurement and documents clean and tidy. Second, he must remove on the spot any acute pollution that jeopardises functioning or health, although as far as possible the cleaning service should relieve him of this responsibility.
Recently, closer integration of shed cleaning, technical cleaning and machine maintenance has come to be seen as a highly interesting approach to reduce overhead costs. The basic idea is to involve the cleaning team, which works at relatively low hourly rates, as far as possible in labour-intensive technical infrastructure services. At present, this division of labour is focused mainly on the cleaning of machine interiors and cooling lubricant services, but in the longer term it could well be extended to include technical inspections, preventive parts replacement and repair measures that lend themselves to standardisation.
Personnel development
Obviously, the duties on which traditional image of a cleaner was based no longer fit into present-day industrial reality. Many service experts consider it essential to upgrade the cleaning team into a versatile maintenance group. Staff equipment and management must be adapted to more demanding work contents that require informed intervention into the company’s technological infrastructure. For operative services to the premises, you need staff with manual skills, technical understanding, a willingness to learn and a sense of responsibility.
Personnel development begins with the induction of a new worker who, by means of on-the-job training and occasional instruction sessions, is then systematically trained to become a specialist in his area of responsibility. Continuous coaching should be aimed at ensuring that he has internalised the performance targets set, because in the final analysis the smooth functioning of machinery, continuity of production and the ability to deliver quality depend to a critical extent on his having done so.
Facts relevant to decisions on the organisational superstructure, for example the supervisor, facility manager, cleaning expert, must be recorded and analysed and the results must feed into the corporate plan. The suggestions and ideas will concern cleaning function cost drivers, from furnishings and equipment layout and building structure to internal transport and mechanical engineering.
Outsourcing
The decision between outsourcing cleaning and keeping it in-house depends on the most lasting structural effect. As with other outsourcing projects, in the case of company cleaning, more and more people are coming to realise that in the place of internal costs, procurement costs have a noticeable influence on the budget and that the company incurs quite a few administrative costs, for example for communication, supervision, contract administration, etc. One simple fact that stands out in this “make or buy” calculation is that competitive cleaning costs nowadays presuppose extensive use of part-time workers. The associated coordination effort can grow into an alarming strain for personnel management, which is a strong argument in favour of outsourcing. Often, the most favourable solution is a finely balanced combination of internal and external services. For example, within the framework of an outsourcing concept the following can be allocated to the service provider:
• Individual buildings or areas (Example: heavily soiled factory sheds)
• Special cleaning measures (Example: deep cleaning, interim cleaning, special clean-ups following transfer of machinery)
• Integrated service functions (Example: including maintenance of production plant).
Budgeting
Once the cleaning programme, work processes & staff and machinery resources have been settled, it is easy to work out budgeted costs. As a matter of principle, this should be done for all measures, buildings and all significant expense items insofar as they may vary over time. The figures must be realistic but should challenge employees to maintain strict cost discipline. At the end of each accounting period, actual costs are compared with the budget figures. Any divergences are analysed in detail. If costs have run over budget, it is of interest to know reasons, who was responsible and possible remedies.
Costs that have run out of hand can be an indication of entirely different problems. First, they may be due to external causes such as price or wage rate changes. Internally, there are two influencing factors. Either more use was made of the cleaning service than had been planned for, or it was not efficient. While there are often objective reasons for the former eventuality (For example: higher cleaning requirements, more dirt) that may necessitate an adjustment to future budget figures, cost management is concentrated on the latter. As a rule, it should suffice to insist that the cleaning programme and prescribed method of work are maintained strictly.
Strategic planning
A single show of strength is seldom sufficient to achieve enduring streamlining of overhead cost functions such as factory cleaning. Instead, this calls for a new conceptual approach with a strategic outlook. A position paper with the following contents can be used as a central instrument of planning:
• Programme (type, sequence and frequency of the envisaged cleaning and maintenance measures)
• Working method (deployment of personnel, equipment, machine operation, stages of operation)
• Procurement projects (equipment and materials for manual or mechanical cleaning)
• Finance require
ment (Example: investment expenses, payment to cleaning firms)
• Reorganisation (Example: division of labour between production and cleaning personnel, use of a cleaning firm)
• Budget calculation (per measure, accounting period, sub-area, cost centre)
• Rationalisation gain (as an annual amount, imputed interest rate or capital value).
The target situation should be presented in a comprehensible way on the basis of accurate data and a delivery concept broken down into clearly outlined individual phases. This will provide interested parties such as technical management, controlling, finance or management with a sound decision-making basis for planning a neat solution to factory cleaning.
David Wickel
Public Relations-Environmental Matters
Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, Germany