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630.896.6373
Clean facilities do not happen haphazardly
They are the inevitable result of effective program management: the management of
chemicals, the management of tools, and the management of personnel |
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May 4, 2012 by Pike Systems
Floor finish represents a large portion of most facility’s total cleaning budget. As summer nears, schools and colleges will begin their summer floor restoration process. As the cleaning industry becomes more sophisticated, better and better tools are introduced to enhance the cleaning process. Today’s process spotlight is on the Padco Finish Applicator. This finish application process, boasts the following benefits:
- Elimination of floor finish waste which produces savings of up to 20%
- Fast and easy clean-up at the end of the day
- Enhanced productivity during finish application
- Low purchase price makes acquisition a no-brainer
Watch the video by clicking the link below and let us know what you think!
Padco Finish Applicator
Category: Carpet and Hard Floor Maintenance Tags: budget, finish, floor care, Productivity, savings | Comments (0)
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May 1, 2012 by Pike Systems
It was recently brought to my attention that ISSA is working on a cleaning standard for K-12 schools. I’m interested in feedback everyone. The description is listed below:
ISSA is currently working on developing a “standard” and non-prescriptive approach to maintaining K-12 educational facilities in a sanitary and healthful condition that is conducive to the students’ learning experience. The working title of this project is the “Clean Standard: K-12”.
The Clean Standard: K-12 will be premised on the three years of research conducted by ISSA and the Cleaning Industry Research Institute (CIRI) in major school districts across the country. This research will result in a recommended, uniform, scientific based definition of “clean” from a public health perspective for K-12 schools that is based on ATP meter(s) and is also premised on tens of thousands of individual measurements taken in multiple school facilities across the nation. This definition of “clean” is expected to be the cornerstone of the Clean Standard: K-12.
Category: Cleaning for Health Tags: Cleaning Standard, ISSA, K-12 | Comments (1)
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April 27, 2012 by Pike Systems
Technology has become an integral part of our daily lives. While things have been changing all around us at a rapid pace, technology in the cleaning industry has been lagging. That said, the availability of cleaning industry technology and its integration into the cleaning operation is becoming more and more critical as budgets are shrinking. Here are just a few productivity enhancing applications available through Pike Systems and our Arsenal Flex SMS™ program. All of these applications support zero-based budgeting helping you answer the question, “How much does it really cost to clean my building?”
Easy Online Ordering—Pike Systems’ Customer Self Service Module allows clients to place orders online, view order history, view order status, and track invoices.
Multi-Location Budget Management Tools—Pike Systems’ Corporate Account Manager is designed for multi-location organizations and provides summarized data with drill-down capabilities allowing you to see as much as little data as you’d like. Compare usage from location to location. Set individual budgets by location. Set order maximums by product and total dollars per order to remain in control of your budget.
Also offered are Quality Control Programs, Workloading Programs, and more!
Category: Cleaning Budget, Uncategorized Tags: logistics, online ordering, technology | Comments (0)
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April 25, 2012 by Pike Systems
The State of Missouri, one of the first states to pass a Green Cleaning School Act, is now working to make changes to the bill. The bill originally recommended that K-12 schools adopt green cleaning products and equipment. Now, the state is working to make these recommendations mandatory. Is this a possibility for Illinois as well? Pike Systems welcomes any thoughts on this.
Category: Cleaning for Health Tags: Green, Green Cleaning Schools Act | Comments (0)
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April 23, 2012 by Pike Systems
As budget preparations are well underway for the new fiscal year, budget cuts are still a hot topic. If you’re charged with reducing your budget, know that there are only 6 ways to reduce costs. If you keep this in mind, it will help streamline this daunting task.
1. Decrease Expenses
2. Cut Benefits
3. Cut Salaries
4. Cut Staff
5. Decrease the quality of services
6. Increase Productivity – do more in less time.
The only positive way to reduce costs is to do more in less time. See our mechanization and productivity page for more information or give us a call. We’re more than happy to provide a productivity audit of your facility.
Category: Cleaning Budget Tags: budget, budget cuts, mechanization, Productivity | Comments (0)
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April 20, 2012 by Pike Systems
Your budget is shrinking making it harder and harder to provide a healthy learning environment. Each year, you’re forced to do more with less…less funding, fewer people, outdated tools, etc. While product costs have high visibility, lowest total cost solutions lie in managing the labor spend. We can help you do both!
Traditional dilution management systems pigeonhole you into a one size fits all model. The Arsenal Flex SMS gives you options. Stop stocking a two year supply of glass cleaner because you have to order it by the case and start spending money on what you really need and can use within your fiscal year. Supply costs will continue to rise. You have the power rise above by better managing your inventory.
The Arsenal Flex SMS offers all your routine cleaning chemicals in a close-looped chemical dispensing solution for your high volume, high use chemicals like floor detergent and a premeasured pouch solution for everything else reducing your inventory holding costs by as much as 50%. In addition, if you are using restroom cleaning machines such as the Kaivac, chemical expenditures can be greatly reduced through the Arsenal Flex SMS system as well. For more information, contact Pike Systems for an analysis of your current supply program to find out how you can minimize your inventory and maximize your cash flow!
Category: Cleaning Budget, Uncategorized Tags: budget, holding costs, inventory management | Comments (0)
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April 18, 2012 by Pike Systems
Last Thursday, April 12th, Pike Systems hosted it second annual Park District Open House. Many area park districts were in attendance and benefited from the wealth of information shared at the event as well as the delicious pork chops from Miller’s Old Fashioned Butcher Shop in Plainfield. Here are just some of the ways attendees benefited from the event:
- Biobased cleaning demonstrations that featured the greenest products available
- Ideal Fit Can Liners that combat budget constraints and provide the performance you need
- Controlled usage and commodity towel and tissue programs that help you stretch your budget even further
- Floor coatings for wood, synthetic, vinyl, marmoleum, and more
- Foam soap, sunscreen, ivy block, and waterless hand cleaner for all your skin care needs district-wide
- Cleaning equipment demonstrations that can help you harness your labor
- Tools of the trade that make your job easier and faster
Please join us next year at our next Open House!
Category: Uncategorized Tags: event | Comments Off
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April 16, 2012 by Pike Systems
As you know, we are very focused on providing our customers with the support they need to truly transform their cleaning operations. Check out this month’s ISSA article which features quotes from Pike Systems’ very own, Carolyn Quinn on our new approach to value added support!
http://issatoday.issa.com/DigitalAnywhere/viewer.aspx?id=8&pageId=14&refid=12381&s=undefined
The article discusses the following:
- Product price vs. the true cost of clean
- Zero-Based Budgeting vs. Traditional Budgeting
- The cleaning professional vs. cleaning worker – there is a difference !
- The working pieces that create a clean, healthy environment
- Workloading software – Achieve
Category: Cleaning Budget Tags: cost, price, workloading, zero-based budgeting | Comments Off
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April 13, 2012 by Pike Systems
Taking a closer look at the custodial budget.
Today’s K through 12 Building & Grounds Managers are continually challenged to do more with less. While addressing the overall budget numbers, school administrations around the state are slashing custodial budgets again. Does this mean dirty schools for the coming year? Custodial operations were, at one time, just a necessary part of providing a good education for our children. Now it represents a large piece of the overall M&O budget, a budget under constant scrutiny.
Where did that budget number come from over the years? In many cases, it was just there. As administrators, how would you like some answers as to what the number (budget) should be for your district? After all, a supply like floor finish is based on your demographics and square footage of the floor surface to be coated. We as a supplier see custodial staffs deciding when to coat a floor and how many coats to apply. If you asked your managers how many gallon of finish you need, I will bet you a cup of coffee the answer is based on what they used last year. Matter of fact, how many mangers know the square footage of the area to apply floor finish?
As long as the custodian manages your budget, and you continue to drive costs out by buying at a low price you will not solve the custodial dilemma. Look around your schools and see the overstocking of supplies in the nooks and crannies of the school. Who’s managing the inventories? Just what should the number look like?
Risk management is becoming a bigger issue for administrators. This has added to the operational costs. When a MRSA outbreak happens, many administrators are bypassing their staff and calling in the “professionals”. These issues will continue to plague our schools. We need to put cleaning processes in place that lower our risk and provide process documentation for all concerned.
Pike Systems can help you through the budget dilemma. We can provide you with the answers you need to provide a healthy learning environment. We will help you address budgets constraints and tell you the impact less dollars will have on the environment. We bring over 25 years of experience working with schools as well as the support of manufacturers who also know the school environment.
If you want a budget number that is backed with meaning, Pike Systems can help! For more information on Hillyard’s new Cleaning Cost Analysis Program, watch this video on a program that gives you the tools you need to justify departmental expenditures on both labor and supplies:
http://www.hillyardccap.com/Pages/HomeVideo.asp
Category: Cleaning Budget, Cleaning for Health Tags: attendance, budget, cleaning chemistry, cleaning for health, cleaning tips, custodial budget, custodial staffing, custodial trainining, high efficiency, Productivity, reduced budget | Comments Off
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April 11, 2012 by Pike Systems
Advice on how to optimize snow and ice removal this year!
As with anything in our industry, the sheer plethora of information can leave even the brightest confused and stuck in a state of analysis paralysis. Some may even be thinking that it’s not worth the time to think about ice melt. Previous practices have worked ok so there’s no need to change or consider alternatives. Before you make any decisions this year, review these Do’s and Don’ts to prepare for a successful season.
Scenario #1: Not Using It – Budgets are tight. We’re all trying to cut back on non-necessities. Ice Melt shouldn’t be one of these. There’s nothing like a slip and fall accident to throw your budget out of whack. Some of you may be thinking that as long as walkways and parking lots are shoveled, there’s no danger. In reality, it’s not the snow itself that causes accidents. Accidents are caused by wet shoes, freeze and thaw cycles, black ice, and more. Most of which can be curbed through an effective ice melt program and the use of proper entrance matting. Ice melt should be used on days where we receive a light dusting of snow as well as on days where we’re hit with a major storm.
Scenario #2: Using Too Much – I’m sure we’ve all seen it. You walk up to the building and there’s so much ice melt on the sidewalk that you feel like you’re walking on gravel. Once you enter the building, you find ice melt residue everywhere. It’s on the carpeting, imbedded in the entrance matting, and all over your floors leaving your finish with a whitish haze. Even those specialty ice melt removal detergents won’t touch this mess. It doesn’t have to be this way. All ice melt and rock salt bags list coverage information. Coverage varies greatly depending on the composition of the product and the manufacturer. Read your bags and know what coverage you should be getting out of the product you’re using. Inferno and Nitro have a coverage rate of 27,000 to 30,000 square feet per bag. To put this into relative terms, one bag would cover 6.5 basketball courts (84′x50′). Both our Inferno and Nitro ice melts are blue in color whereas most magnesium chloride and calcium chloride alternatives are not. Colored ice melt makes a huge difference during the application process. Your staff will be able to see exactly where the pellets are going giving them confidence even when applying during a snow storm. In addition, building patrons know it’s been applied eliminating calls for the application of additional ice melt.
Scenario #3: Applying It Wrong – Does your current ice melt require gloves? How should it be stored? Is there a danger to vegetation or the water system? Can it be used on sidewalks less than a year old? When should the ice melt be applied: before the storm, during the storm, or after the storm? Can I treat my brick walkway the same as a parking lot or sidewalk? Once again, read the bag and re-read it each year to ensure the effectiveness of your program. Calcium Chloride and Magnesium Chloride are both hydroscopic meaning they are moisture seeking. Both of these types of ice melt clump-up in the bag and are unsafe to apply without gloves. With Inferno and Nitro, you don’t have to wear protective clothing or worry about the product caking up or hardening in the bag. Less wasted ice melt helps you cope with a slimmer budget.
Scenario #4: Using the Wrong Kind – Just because it’s a $6.00 bag doesn’t mean it’s the same as the $12.00 bag. Know what you’re using, why you’re using it, and what potential risk factors are associated with your decision. Also, be cautious if you have newly poured sidewalks. Any concrete less than 1 year old requires the use of liquid ice melters instead of typical ice melt. Also, are you concerned about planting beds, shrubs, and trees around your building? Believe it or not, green guidelines have permeated ice melt just like numerous other lines in our industry. Both Inferno and Nitro are safe on vegetation and bear the Evergreen Certification seal of approval reinforcing its landscape safe attributes. Both are also safe for pets.
Scenario #5: Not Cleaning It Up – If you’re using ice melt, it’s inevitable that it will get tracked into your building. Now is a great time to evaluate your entrance matting to determine if it’s sufficient for the coming months. If you rent entrance matting, be aware that it may not function as well in harsh conditions. For optimal performance, you need a true entrance mat capable of cleaning the feet, absorbing a significant amount of water, and drying shoes. Also, depending on the storm, it may be necessary to increase your mopping or autoscrubbing frequency. When left on the floor for extended periods of time, ice melt residue will dull finish. If combined with sitting water, it will soften your finish leaving you with the timely task of stripping and refinishing floors and entrances. Carpeting may need to be extracted frequently with an extractor to remove both water and ice melt residue. On both carpeting and hard flooring, other ice melters leave a greasy residue. Inferno and Nitro will aid in your cleaning process during the winter months. It’s critical to keep up with maintenance during the winter months. Without a focus, the summer restoration may be more cumbersome than necessary.
Category: Carpet and Hard Floor Maintenance, Cleaning for Health Tags: cleaning tips, entrance matting, ice melt, Maintenance, reduced budget, tips, winter weather | Comments Off
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