CHEMICALS & DOSING Making The Grade


Lesley McKenna, Marketing Executive at Brightwell Dispensers, looks at trends impacting on chemical dispensing systems and how equipment manufacturers are catering to this to remain competitive.


Cleaning is a necessity, but when margins are tight, expenditure on cleaning and maintenance is usually one of the first things to come under scrutiny. The need to reduce and correctly forecast cleaning costs paved the way for the development of chemical dilution systems, which are fast becoming the norm in the cleaning and maintenance industry. Traditionally, dilution systems were about chemical waste reduction and being able to accurately predict cleaning costs. However, as chemical proportioners grow in popularity, equipment manufacturers are under pressure to expand their expertise along with their product and service offering in line with emerging customer needs. Performance, of course, still remains the most important factor, but with new trends and drivers, companies are increasingly looking to adapt their products and services to remain competitive.


Daytime Cleaning In the past, cleaning was commonly done after business hours, but now a growing number of companies are bucking the trend and opting for daytime services. However, daytime cleaning isn’t simply night time cleaning done when it’s light outside. It calls for a new approach to how cleaning is performed.


This new approach calls for cleaning regimes with minimal disturbance to office workers during cleaning hours, which has led to an increase in the number of daytime friendly cleaning and maintenance products available on the market. With obvious annoyances such as noisy hoovers and wet floors taking precedence in the disruption check list, the important role of accurate dosing and dilution is sometimes overlooked.


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Inaccurate dilution ratios are most commonly caused by operatives wrongly estimating the amount of chemical to dilute which often results in visible dirtiness and repetition of tasks. Over-dosing can damage surfaces and leave sticky residue, while under-dosing can cause poor product performance resulting in prolonged cleaning routines. In both cases, the cleaner will most likely have to redo the task, causing unnecessary interruption and disturbance to other employees in the building. Chemical dispensing systems such as Brightwell Dispensers’ ECOrange have been developed to help operatives overcome such issues. The ECOrange enables precise dosing measurements giving cleaning staff the means to dilute and clean in an efficient and resourceful manner. It also gives cleaning companies the tools to offer a consistent level of cleanliness and hygiene with minimal disruption to office staff regardless of time of day.


Colour-coded Cleaning The idea of colour-coded cleaning equipment is nothing new. With diverse nationalities accounting for 30% of Britain’s contract cleaning employees, it has become commonplace to establish cleaning regimes that can be easily understood by all and not affected by language barriers. Colour-coding is by far the most effective way to indicate to operators which cleaning equipment and cleaning solution to use in each environment. While some companies develop their own combinations to fit their own needs, the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) has created a clever


colour-coded framework for use within the cleaning industry.


For those who are not familiar with the BICSc chart, it shows that red is appropriate for general washroom use with red/white suitable for sanitary appliances. Additionally, it designates white for high risk specific areas often associated with hospital environments.


In the case of chemical dispensing systems, operators mix their own cleaning solution, meaning that they must be able to correctly identify which chemical concentrate to use. Because chemical concentrates are often safely locked away inside cabinets, it makes it difficult to pinpoint its purpose and application. For this reason, many equipment manufacturers are now developing systems which support colour-coded labelling options. Colour-coding can take the form of labels stuck directly onto the proportioner or customised coloured covers which correspond with matching wall charts or signage indicating application and the environment that it’s suitable for.


Corporate Branding According to a survey by Ceris Burns International, 51% of those surveyed would prefer to see cleaners in branded uniforms. In addition to this, respondents were 20% more likely to say that an object looks professional when it is branded. With statistics like these, the role of branding within the cleaning industry is only going to become more prevalent.


Brightwell Dispensers are well-known for their customised branding service, and our internal branding facility allows our customers to print their logos on the front cover of our dispensing equipment and chemical cabinets. We


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