Equipment Sizing: How Big is Too Big?

As a general rule of thumb, you should purchase the smallest walk-behind or ride-on equipment that will allow you to complete your active sweeping or scrubbing in no more than two to three hours (exclusive of dump and refill cycles). For most companies, the person doing the cleaning is also responsible for other jobs in the plant, and it’s generally not economical to have him spending more than half a day on cleaning.

Look for machines with larger capacity hoppers or solution tanks in order to minimize unproductive dump and refill activities. If you need to scrub a 9-foot-wide aisle, a 48-inch-wide machine will accomplish that task in a minimum of three passes. While you might think that a 50-inch-wide machine would get the job done more quickly, it doesn’t. It will still require three passes to complete the cleaning. This is a case in which a larger and more expensive machine offers no gain in productivity.

By matching the size of the machine to your exact needs, you minimize your capital investment while maximizing productivity. In many instances, you may need a ride-on sweeper or scrubber for large open areas and a smaller walk-behind sweeper or scrubber for narrow aisles or to get in around and between individual workstations. Again, each machine you choose should be the smallest practical size for the job in order to minimize your investment.

Sweep vs. Scrub

After assessing the size and amount of dirt and debris to be removed, the primary decision to be made is “sweep vs. scrub.” This decision is not always straightforward.

Think about this scenario: if the material to be cleaned consists of mostly fine dust, it may appear that a sweeper would be the ideal tool to remove it. But the best way to handle dust is to “add water,” which eliminates your dust problem; this means a scrubber may actually be the better equipment choice.

Sweepers are ideal for bulky debris such as wood chips, metal shavings (swarf), paper and fibrous materials. Scrubbers are suitable for light, dusty debris on all types of hard floors—especially dirty or oily surfaces. In many instances, you may need to sweep first and then scrub. This requires either two separate machines or one combination machine. In smaller facilities where only one person is doing the cleaning, a combination sweeper/scrubber is often a good choice because with two machines, one of them would sit idle a good share of the time. However, combination sweeper/scrubbers, due to their dual function, sometimes have limited hopper and tank capacities, which can reduce productivity in the long run. More time spent dumping hoppers and refilling solution tanks on combination machines can mean less active cleaning time.

What does your job need?