REGULAR
“The paradox for the user is that these products in concentrate form will
potentially be more user and environmentally hazardous, but due to the use of
controlled dosing systems,
the diluted products in use will have very low environmental and safety impacts.”
have differing requirements and/ or restrictions on what type of equipment can feasibly be sited. So a full survey of requirements needs to be conducted to assess the dosing equipment required, whether they are chemical to water or water/chemical mixing stations.
With the provision of electronic dosing equipment for dish and glass washing, liquid laundry or drain dosing applications, it is absolutely critical that the customer fully verifies the suppliers’ capability to provide a reliable and comprehensive engineering back up service. No matter how sophisticated the dispensing system is and how effective the chemical solutions are, without this aspect fully covered all parties are skating on thin ice.
Customers need to have proof that the supplier can provide effective engineering capability to respond to machine breakdowns, maintain/ replace equipment parts within a wider preventative maintenance programme, and have the capability to roll out national multi-site contracts efficiently and on time. This is easily done by providing existing customer references, which are sought independently from the supplier.
Then there is consideration as to how suppliers assess the commercial viability of providing free-on-loan dosing equipment and to avoid some of the pitfalls when costing out contract investment. This area makes or breaks a contract, and if incorrect assessment and decisions are made at the drawing board stage then the supplier will be
www.tomorrowscleaning.com
fire-fighting from the moment the first millilitre of chemical is consumed, with the customer having no alternative but to live with second best.
Chemical dosing systems, whether manual dispensing pumps or electronic dosing units, have been around for 30 years or so and the core premise of both is the same – the use of equipment to enable the end user to accurately dose or dilute a chemical concentrate at the point of use, to give a ready-to-use cleaning or disinfecting solution.
Against this back-drop it is important to realise that with pre-packed, ready- to-use chemical solutions, the active ingredients make up a very small percentage of the composition – the rest being water. In the past, this meant that large multi-site organisations were spending a significant proportion of their cleaning expenditure on ‘buying water’. The solution lay in pushing up the concentration of active ingredients. This is what RP Adam has done over the last decade or more by manufacturing and marketing concentrated chemicals. In essence, we believe in putting as much in the bottle as possible and in effect bringing the chemical manufacturing facility to the customers’ premises – safely.
Over the last 15 years, great strides have been made by the major dosing equipment manufacturers. Dosing systems are now simpler to use, easier to install by technicians and more reliable in terms of lifespan and accuracy of dilution control. It used to be that only the larger global corporations could afford to supply free-on-loan equipment and resource with adequate engineering services. This is no longer the case. Today, the provision of dosing equipment and associated engineering services is much more accessible and more affordable to a wider spectrum of businesses.
This has been a positive and progressive trend for both supplier and customer, and has put economy in use higher up the agenda. So today, many customers now expect chemical dosing stations as part of their cleaning package. Some suppliers can sometimes find managing
these expectations a difficult task, especially if the user’s financial contribution (spend) is not in line with the investment required by the supplier to supply, install and service the equipment on an ongoing basis.
To do it properly, suppliers should expect to invest up to a double digit percentage of their turnover in the provision of free-on-loan equipment and professional engineering services each year. Clearly, this will vary between business types and the sectors they are active in, but there are no short cuts – you either commit and resource properly or you don’t. It is critical, therefore, that there is a solid business model supporting investment in their clients’ operations. All parties (supplier, distributor and end user customer) need to be clear on who is investing in what and who benefits from such investment. The supplier and the distributor hopefully receive a longer-term supply commitment, with the customer gaining the in-use cost and lower wastage benefits of dilution control.
Suppliers should also collaborate with equipment manufacturers and invest time and money to help research and develop new dosing equipment technology, to assist them in bringing new innovations to market. We are frequently asked to participate in Q&A sessions when the concepts are at design stage and take part in soft launches to ensure these systems are fit for purpose in a real and demanding working environment. After all, it is in everybody’s interest to ensure that these system innovations can handle the rigours of the modern cleaning world. Likewise, equipment manufacturers must ensure that concentrated products are tested for upper limit chemical compatibility tests to ensure that the dispenser components can handle high chemical concentrations and will not corrode over time. It clearly is a collaborative arena, and perhaps it’s time the industry should concentrate more?
To read more musings from Max, visit the RP Adam blog here.
www.rpadam.co.uk Tomorrow’s Cleaning March 2016 | 27
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84