Golden Service Awards 2013
Making theNECsparkle bags twoGolden Service Awards
A great performance in one of the UK’s best known and busiest venues earned two cat- egory awards in the 2013 Kimberly-Clark Professional Golden Service Awards for the OCS Group UK teamat the National Exhibi- tion Centre near Birmingham, which took the Best Cleaned Premises - Hospitality and a joint win in the Service Delivery Inno- vation of the Year category. “Congratulations are due to OCS Group
for a fantastic performance in the Golden Service Awards,” said Stephen Kerr, re- gional sales leader for UK, Ireland, Nordic and Benelux at Kimberly-Clark Profes- sional. “Two awards for its work at the NEC, along with the awards it carried off in two other categories, is hugely impressive.” Paul Thrupp, OCS account director at the
NEC, said: “The success of the operation at the NEC is shown through the PMS (perfor- mancemanagement system) scores, which have been over 95%formonth aftermonth. We have taken cleaning to a new level.” The NEC Group cleaning contract con-
sists of four venues - NEC (exhibitions), NIA (events), LG Arena (events) and the ICC (conferences). OCS was appointed to de- liver cleaning and waste services as part of the soft services contract for the NEC Group on a five plus two year contract, which commenced on 1 July 2012. This presented a significant challenge to the management teamin terms ofmobilising resource across four large venues and the transfer of some 1500 staff (350 in clean- ing) fromboth the NEC payroll and the out- going contractor. “One of the strengths of our approach
was that the originalmobilisation teamdid not leave when they had set things up ini- tially,” said LeeWhite, OCS head of clean- ing and waste at the NEC. “They became the operational team. Thatmeant that they understood fully how every aspect of our role works.” White and Thrupp work closely with Sue
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www.cleaninghub.net
The teams from OCS and the NEC receiving their awards at the 2013 Golden Service Awards from Stephen Kerr, regional sales leader for UK, Ireland, Nordic and Benelux at Kimberly-Clark Professional, and the BBC’s Kate Silverton.
Pedley, head of customer excellence at OCS. “Sue’s role is to ensure that customer service is at the forefront of everything we do,” said Thrupp. “We’ve got fantasticmys- tery shopper scores, consistently exceeding 80%.” The contract includes cloakroomat- tendants as well as cleaning and waste and OCS staff are verymuch customer facing. Staff are encouraged to contribute ideas
through a series of innovation forums which have played an important role in driving standards higher, while suppliers have also played a part inmaking the use ofmaterialsmore efficient. “We’ve got a group of suppliers who are actively sup- porting us in what we are doing,” said Thrupp. “Through Lee we have focussed on people and skills. An OCS Academy has been established at the NEC complex, pro- viding a wide range of HR, learning and de- velopment opportunities for staff. Already over 650 OCS employees fromthe cleaning and security staff have signed up for NVQ training. Other innovations include bespoke cleaning trolleys, produced by Rubbermaid, andmodernmopping systems with flatmi- crofibre systems used universally over all four venues rather than the previous old fashioned solution. This has reduced the drying time when dealing with spillages at major events and has enhanced the image of a very front facing cleaning and waste team.” OCS has brought in a large andmodern
floor scrubbing and sweepingmachine fleet using efficient clean water systems and the latest in hot and cold water-fed pole cleaning systems for windows and fabric. There is a new contractor vac from Numatic to aid and improve the quality of stand cleaning. The OCS bespoke CleanSmart lean and
efficient cleaningmodel has been intro- duced into the office areas to improve effi- ciency. All staff have receivedmodern looking and fresh uniforms to foster and
encourage the ‘one team’ ethos so evident across the contract. Paul Thrupp continued: “The NEC con-
tract is an ideal test bed for innovation in cleaning as it offers very different environ- ments. Innovations researched and trialled at the sites include a back pack steamer, clean water system, and new vacuum tools.” Themost successful innovation has been
the refurbishment of the NEC’s Central Pi- azza floor, an area with very heavy footfall. “The NEC was opened in 1976, with a new white terrazzo floor laid in 2005, but over the past eight years or so it has become very dirty and tired looking,” explained Thrupp. “The NEC asked OCS to source a company that could carry out a deep clean of the 11,602 squaremetre floor area and a number of companies trialled their prod- ucts. The stand out product was the Twister pad fromSwedish group HTC, and OCS worked with the company to plan the task and equipment required.” In December 2012, representatives from
HTC and specialist supplier Diversey came to the NEC to train OCS staff on the use of the Twister pads and how to achieve the best results. To avoid disrupting activity the training was carried out at night. The strip- ping and buffing process of the Piazza floor commenced on 18 December 2012 by two teams, each with four operatives, working around the clock. Level 1 (totalling 1309 squaremetres) was completed in 10 days. Lessons learnt in the first phase were ap- plied to level two and the entire Piazza floor was completed by the end of January, in time for themajor Spring Fair International event. “It’smade amassive difference to the
NEC,” said Paul Thrupp. “The building now really sparkles.We’re very proud of the job our teamhave done at the NEC and very pleased to receive recognition for every- body’s dedication and hard work.”
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