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Contract Cleaning
Going leaner and greener
Martin Cox is director for OCS’ Cleaning
with us very closely on that. But we are all under intense economic
pressures so we can’t always achieve what we want to achieve as
Service Stream. For industrial contract quickly as we’d like to.”
cleaning, it’s all about quality, cost and
Again Cox looks to the long term.“If we look at a fairly matured
contract, it’s interesting to see how staff stability has risen. I can think
sustainability. Gerardine Coyne reports of one large contract in particular where we now have a large waiting
list of people wanting to come and work with us,” claims Cox.“That’s
W
hen OCS began in the 1900s, its main business was window a sign of success for the client. They are getting a service which is
cleaning. It branched out into other areas of cleaning in the proven to be high quality, for a lesser charge and the employees are
1930s and has never looked back.“Today we have a happy. That’s what lean engineering, if done correctly, can bring.”
significant percentage of our expected turnover of £550m in the So what are the drawbacks of lean engineering? Cox says it’s not so
industrial sector,” says Cox. OCS’ industrial sectors currently include: much drawbacks as timescales and contractor input.“There’s a huge
aircraft manufacture, printing, automotive, dockyards and airports. investment for us as a business in delivering lean engineering.
In such heavy industrial arenas, safety is key.“Health & safety is However, it is applicable to any kind of contract. Lean engineering is a
paramount in everything,” says Cox,“but especially in industrial way of thinking, not a way of cleaning.”
cleaning as the risks are so much higher.
“We have a very rigorous health & safety programme that every A sustainable effort
employee goes through. The core skills are common to almost every Cox says for OCS’ long term chemicals strategy, the focus is on,
contract, but there will be additions and variations.“ “quality products that have a significantly smaller environmental
The second important process for OCS is training induction, again impact”. Some of this is regulation driven, but Cox and his team are
individual to each contract. In terms of ‘craft skills’, the core is covered also actively researching products. However, Cox is adamant it is not
by the OCS Merit Training Programme. There are 16 basic modules, about appearing on the bandwagon, these products must work.“We
and in some industrial contracts – such as submarines – all the can all use ‘green’ chemicals that don’t deliver quality – that’s very
required skills are covered by the modules. In other industrial easy. Our goal is to use green chemicals that deliver the level of
contracts, such as in food or steel production, there are very specific quality that our clients demand.
cleaning skills required, unique to that “The top three client demands will
site. In these cases OCS has a always be: Quality, value for money and
programme that every single operator sustainability. And if you’re not delivering
must go through.“They are inevitably quality – who cares about the price?”
‘buddied up’ with someone,” explains The environment is still a big concern,
Cox,“and at the end of the training, it’s even with the current economic
signed off so that no one is allowed to challenges.“There is not a major client of
carry out that work until they have been ours who is not talking to us all the time
specially trained.” about sustainability,” states Cox, and
surprisingly he does not believe that client
Economic operations hands are being forced by regulation.“I
“The industrial sector is a huge sector, believe overwhelmingly it’s companies
so it’s hard to generalise, but there’s no thinking about their CSRs. They recognise
question that the sector has been badly they need to go further and more quickly
affected over the last 18 months,” says than legislation is demanding.”
Cox. How has OCS been hit? “The automotive sector has been the So how does OCS engage with sustainability requirements? “To
worst affected,” states Cox. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. deliver the best sustainability requires working with the client and
“Amongst others, the food production sector has been the least any other contractor that is on site. It has to be a holistic solution, not
affected. We also do quite a lot of work in defence and that’s barely individuals working in isolation,” explains Cox.“A simple one is waste
been affected at all.” At least our weapons are clean then, no dirty streaming. From the very start of producing waste it is handled
fighting for the UK. immediately so that the whole process is done in the most efficient
“But out of every challenge comes an opportunity,” claims Cox. way, at the least possible cost, using the most recycling.”
“We are with these clients over the long term, and the current But it’s not just a case of engineering sustainable solutions for
economic problem is short term. We are constantly evolving using clients. Cox says OCS also looks for sustainability within its own
lean working and smart thinking: Is there any human waste/activity? organisation.“It’s right at the top of our agenda when we talk to our
Any inefficiency that we can drive out? Almost invariably we find that suppliers – in terms of machinery for example – we ask them,‘What’s
there is, therefore at a stroke, we can deliver additional efficiency the real sustainability of your product? How can we help to advance
which could be more work for the same charge, or the same work for that?’
a lesser charge.” “For the future of industrial cleaning, it is the easing of the
The same work for a lesser charge is an obvious benefit for the economic situation which will allow development of innovations,
client at the top of the pile, but what about the contractor, and at the and the lessening of the environmental footprint. We can’t plot out
bottom, its employees? “When we re-engineer a contract we try and every step of the future, but we know where we have to get to and
ensure benefits for the employees,to encourage a higher grade of we’re trying to go in the right
42629 or cleaning-matters.co.uk/enquiry
person and greater retention,” offers Cox.“ Most of our clients work direction.” Tel: 01524 595526
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