6 steps that can show you how to lower your janitorial supply costs..

Every business should have one question in mind, how do we increase revenue? Most would say we need to increase our sales, but that’s only half of the equation. The other half is the reducing expenses that the business has. What expenses would be the best to lower? Your janitorial section is a great place to start; this doesn’t mean firing people or using a cheaper product. Instead, the following 6 suggestions will lower the costs of your janitorial needs.

1. Move Away From Traditional Mopping:

If you have a facility with 7,000 square feet or more, an auto scrubber can save you more than 3 quarters of your labor cost to maintain that area. When used properly an auto scrubber can do a 7,000-10,000 square foot area within an hour, compared to taking an employee up to 3-4 hours to mop this size of an area. This method is not only cost effective, but a much more sanitary way of cleaning the floors compared to traditional mopping. Unlike traditional mopping an auto scrubber doesn’t reuse the water that was used to clean the floors, thus preventing any chance of spreading the bacteria and soil across the floor instead of picking them up.

When you choose an auto scrubber for your facility, will need to be aware of a few things. The first is the size. The machine should be able to fit within all of your hallways. If the machine doesn’t fit into a room, its not going to help you clean the room. The other is the ease of cleaning the machine. The process and should be training as simple as possible to avoid frustrating your employees with the complexity of the equipment.

2. Look Into New Technology:

The technology to increase your productivity is available, but may not be utilized, similar to when computers and smart phones were first introduced. The hard part is convincing your employees of the benefits of the new technology. But if done properly, you can greatly decrease the costs of labor within your facility. One of these technologies is Backpack Vacuums, which allow employees to clean areas much faster than traditional uprights, due to not being required to move furniture as required with uprights. For more information check out “Making the Switch to Backpack Vacuums”

3. Train Before a Mistake Not After:

Training your employees is one of the most important things to do. No one should be expected to know everything the day they walk in the door, but we can hope they know at least a little. This means that training needs to be implemented differently for each new employee depending on their past experiences. This will help prevent a costly mistake before a problem happens and wasting time reeducating new employees. For more information check out, “Training Can Help Prevent Cross-Contamination”

4. Bulk Purchases:

We have all heard and seen that bulk purchases can save businesses money. It’s no different in your janitorial department; purchasing 5 gallon pails instead of cases of product will be cheaper and more Eco-friendly. The challenge is having the space and initial investment to make these purchases.

5. Dilution Systems Instead of By Hand:

When using diluted products, the best option to save money is to use a dilution control system. Using these automated systems remove any concern of having the wrong dilution ratios. Wasting chemicals will be a thing of the past, and you wont spend labor money having an employee mixing the chemicals.

6. Work loading:

A business always has to be aware of its resources, their experiences and labor. It will never be cost efficient to overstock a product or service, but it can also be detrimental if you have a contracted job and don’t have the resources. Work loading can be used to solve both of these problems by obtaining standard times and amounts of chemicals for potential jobs. Your company can then use this information to allocate and prepare the proper amounts of labor and chemicals for each job. These predictions may not always be completely accurate due to human error, so always plan to need a little more then your predictions to keep the job on time and the customers happy.

Every company is looking to increase revenue and the best option isn’t always to increase sales, but to look at the expenses of your company. Remember, there are many ways to increase revenue, but going cheap on quality isn’t the one you want to choose.