Cleaning Up the Court: Aftermath of the UCLA Water Main Break

In the summer of 2014—amidst a drought that continues to plague much of the west coast—the area of Los Angeles surrounding UCLA experienced a confounding type of flood. It came in the form of a burst water main nearly 30 inches in diameter, which tore a hole in the street roughly 15 feet across and drenched the area with about eight million gallons of water.

What’s even more confounding is the fact that city officials have reportedly stated that this will happen again as century-old infrastructure gives way to the abuses of time and corrosion.

Fortunately, when the water main was successfully shut off after about three and a half hours, cleanup crews took to the scene with a variety of advanced equipment to help minimize the damage.

One specific building to receive attention was Pauley Pavilion, a recently renovated—to the tune of $136 million—athletics facility that was set up for volleyball at the time. That’s where Advance® autoscrubbers entered the scene.

Cleanup crews leveraged their Advance mid-size rider scrubbers by running them with empty tanks and using the squeegee and vacuum systems to pick up several inches of standing water and transport it to appropriate drainage areas. While this function is less common than their typical day-to-day use, Advance autoscrubbers feature the high-performance vacuum power, large capacity pickup tanks and long-life cordless operation that made them a great resource in minimizing some of the damage that occurred during this unfortunate situation.

For more on this story, read The Washington Post article here.

One Machine, Multiple Cleaning Modes

One facility can present many different cleaning challenges, including different types of surfaces and varying cleaning strengths needed to complete the job. To tackle these challenges, cleaning professionals often have to purchase multiple pieces of cleaning equipment to satisfy each job. This not only results in extra equipment costs, but can also require additional labor.

Automatic floor scrubbers are a significant capital investment, as they not only have a high initial purchase cost, but can also present preventative maintenance and operating costs. Overall, these factors can greatly influence the total cost of ownership. For example, every cleaning machine requires specific training for operators, storage space, additional parts and ongoing maintenance. When you add this to the initial price, cost-efficiency is no longer attainable.

A floor scrubber with flexible cleaning modes can mean buying fewer machines and reducing training and maintenance costs. The most flexible machines are capable of cleaning in multiple ways and allow staff to use the same piece of equipment for a variety of floor-scrubbing jobs. This ultimately leads to reduced cleaning costs and higher productivity.

Simple Operation, Flexible Performance

Advance’s rugged, low maintenance SC750™ and SC800™ walk-behind scrubbers with EcoFlex™ System deliver high productivity with each tankful. Allowing for 84 minutes of continuous scrubbing, these scrubbers reduce dump/refill cycles and deliver fast ROI to your facility.

Enhanced with Advance’s EcoFlex System, the SC750 and SC800 scrubbers provide a green cleaning performance. At the touch of a button, you can quickly switch from chemical free cleaning to using an ultra low dilution ratio. Not quite strong enough for the job? Switch to full-strength detergent for the ultimate, deep-cleaning performance. Using the burst of power feature, you can easily apply more pressure, more solution and more detergent, cleaning even the toughest of soils. With the flexibility to change pressure, solution and detergent levels, Advance’s SC750 and SC800 walk-behind scrubbers use less detergent, minimize water use and reduce cleaning costs.

Equipment Features Contribute to Cleaning Productivity: Part II

Along with cleaning path widths, easy equipment changes and battery chargers, the following equipment features are also key when considering floor-cleaning machines.

Reduced sound levels – Today's low-decibel cleaning equipment, from canister vacuums with hospital-quiet operation to ride-on scrubbers with built-in sound attenuation, enables your operators to clean during business hours, and without the fatigue and irritation that noise can cause.

Reduced water usage – Some of today's floor-cleaning machines are specially designed to minimize water usage, providing a big productivity boost for a modest investment. Water-saving designs increase cleaning efficiency by: 1) reducing the number of dump-and-fill cycles required to clean a particular area, which in turn increases the amount of time operators can spend productively cleaning; and 2) reducing the drying time needed before workers can return an area to service. (Some automatic scrubber and extractor models let you choose between low-moisture and deep-cleaning modes so you can increase water usage just in especially soiled areas.)

Larger water and solution tanks – Equipment with higher-capacity tanks can also increase your productive cleaning time between dump-and-fill cycles. However, there is a trade-off because larger tanks usually mean larger equipment, and you will generally want to select the smallest machine suitable for your application. Small machines are more maneuverable and lighter weight, allowing operators to work faster and with less fatigue.

Before purchasing your next floor-cleaning machine for your facility, consider these significant features to get the most out of your equipment.

Maximize Productivity With a Cost-Efficient Cleaning Program

Studies show that labor represents 90% or more of the total cost of floor cleaning—meaning that workers are the largest share of the total cost to clean. What can you do to increase worker productivity, but still keeps cost low? The answer: employ a cost-efficient cleaning program. But what does that really mean? What makes a floor-cleaning machine “productive,” and how do you evaluate floor-cleaning machines for productivity?

Today's automated floor-cleaning equipment includes efficiency features that can lead to greater productivity, such as longer cleaning times between dump-and-fill cycles, faster ride-on and self-propelled equipment, wider cleaning paths, and the ability to perform multiple operations with one machine, to list just a few. Determining which floor-cleaning equipment will deliver the highest productivity per application and, in turn, decrease overall cleaning time and costs, requires careful consideration.

The following two posts will delve further into equipment features that contribute to cleaning productivity, and ultimately, decrease overall cleaning time and reduce the total cost to clean. Stay tuned!

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.

What’s Affecting Your Choice in Floor Equipment?

A clean working environment helps promote worker safety, productivity and product quality. That’s why the floor-cleaning equipment you select for your facility is nearly as important as the manufacturing equipment you select. In addition, the cleanliness of your plant, warehouse or machine shop defines the message you are sending. A quality image carries over into higher employee morale and positive reactions from visiting customers and vendors. In short, keeping the workplace clean adds real value to virtually any enterprise.

Every facility requires a combination of floor-care equipment from brooms to vacuum cleaners to walk-behind scrubbers or rider sweepers. Getting the right mix of equipment is a matter of assessing your specific cleaning needs. Some of the factors that affect this decision include:

• Size of dirt and debris particles generated
• Amount of dirt and debris generated
• Character of the dirt (fibrous, oily, dusty, wet)
• Type of surface (tile, bare concrete, coated concrete, outdoor, etc.)
• Number of personnel involved in cleaning activities
• A definition of what constitutes “clean” for your facility

“Clean” can signify anything from getting rid of chunks of dirt on the floor to creating a shiny, scuff-free surface. Your facility’s cleanliness goal will be a factor in your equipment choice.

Introducing the Advance Smart Cleaning Blog

Hello and welcome to the new Advance Smart Cleaning blog. Here, you’ll find the latest information on efficient, environmentally friendly floor and surface cleaning—including tips, strategies and equipment that will help you achieve your clean standard, no matter what the application. Designed to increase productivity while driving down the total cost to clean, our cleaning equipment spans many markets, including: healthcare, education, hospitality, retail, recreation, casinos, building services, government, manufacturing, warehousing, parking and outdoor use. Our equipment cleans your floors and outdoor areas, while maintaining a professional, aesthetic appearance.

Nilfisk-Advance is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of professional cleaning equipment. The company has developed professional cleaning equipment for over 100 years. Nilfisk-Advance has production facilities in North America, South America, Europe, and China, and has an extensive network of sales entities in 43 countries and is represented in more than 100 countries around the world. With the Advance brand, Nilfisk-Advance is committed to providing versatile equipment that supports facility cleanliness, the health and safety of occupants, as well as the environment.

The Advance Smart Cleaning blog will focus on the benefits we can offer to enhance your productivity and the tools needed to produce efficient cleaning results. We will also focus on relevant industry issues, the latest studies affecting these issues, and green cleaning solutions and equipment to help reduce costs while satisfying your environmental and cleanliness goals. This blog will feature many contributing authors, including representatives from product development and technology, marketing and sales. These professionals will contribute detailed technical information and knowledgeable opinions on a variety of cleaning industry topics, from green cleaning to improving efficiency and meeting the highest cleanliness standards.

For the latest information on floor cleaning and maintenance, bookmark this page or add our RSS feed. We welcome your feedback on future posts, as well as suggestions for topics that you’d like to see covered in the future. Stay tuned!