The Cleaning Bigger tools and equipment are not always better or more effective. By: Angelo Poneris New Old Way Of T Angelo Poneris is a 20-year veteran of the professional cleaning industry. He now works as a customer service representative at Valley Janitorial Supply in Hamilton, Ohio. for more info Visit www.cmmonline.com and type in search keyword: Productivity . For more information on related products, visit www.cmmonline.com , select SUPPLIER SEARCH from the main navigation bar, and enter keyword: Hand Tools . The keynote speaker at the 2007 ISSA/ INTERCLEAN North America trade show in Orlando was former congressman Newt Gingrich. Although he discussed a number of issues, the big takeaway for many people was his comment about how fast things will be changing in years to come. Essentially, he said that we are moving from an era when major changes occurred every few years to a new era in which we can expect changes impacting people all over the globe to occur every few months. Change appears to be happening in the profes-sional cleaning industry as well. However, it may not be the type of change or as fast as Gingrich was referring to. During most of the past decade, manufacturers in the industry have put more and more time and resources into tools, equipment and machines that automate the cleaning process. The goals were to improve cleaning standards, minimize operator mistakes, speed-up the clean-ing process and enhance worker productivity to help lower cleaning costs. For the most part, these manufacturers have been successful. Some equipment, such as automatic scrubbers and spray-and-vacuum cleaning systems, has cer-tainly improved the speed in which surfaces may be thoroughly cleaned. However, cleaning professionals are finding that, as effective as these new machines are, hand tools similar to the ones that have been used for decades are still needed to accomplish many cleaning tasks or do them most effectively. As a result, some manufacturers are revisiting and even reintroducing a new generation of hand Because some tasks do not warrant a big, bulky machine, specifically designed hand tools can speed-up the cleaning process. 36 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • October 2011 Images courtesy of Kaivac Inc.
CMM – Archives Oct 2011: 36
