REGULAR
10 Questions with... Werner du Plessis
Each month we ask a cleaning industry professional the
Tomorrow’s Cleaning 10 Questions. This month, we chatted to Werner du Plessis, Managing Director at Rawlins.
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WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? Packaging tomatoes in a Tesco distribution centre.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE CLEANING INDUSTRY? I got into the cleaning industry through my experience
with hard and soft services as a facilities manager. What interested me most was the health and wellbeing of people in the cleaning industry, and the positive difference cleaning can make if it’s done correctly.
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WHICH THREE WORDS DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Passionate, direct, focused.
IF YOU COULD VISIT ONE PLACE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD YOU GO AND WHY?
Egypt. I’ve always been fascinated by history, and I’ve always wanted to see the Pyramids.
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IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY TOMORROW, HOW WOULD YOU SPEND YOUR FORTUNE?
I would probably invest some of it to secure my family's futures, and I’d probably just give most of it away.
IF YOU COULD HOST A DINNER PARTY AND INVITE ANY PEOPLE, DEAD OR ALIVE, WHO WOULD THEY
BE AND WHY? Saint Paul, because everyone has an assumption of what he was like but I’d like to meet him and understand who he actually was, as I don't think anybody really knows. Lee Evans, because after all those serious conversations with Saint Paul you’d need a few jokes. Finally, Winston Churchill: he had to make many very difficult decisions and see the country through a World War. I think he did a phenomenal job, so I'd like to pick his brain on how he managed and how he didn't lose his mind.
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WHAT, DO YOU THINK, IS THE FUTURE OF THE CLEANING INDUSTRY?
The next few years will be challenging, with the realities of pressured staffing levels versus the trail-and-error world of robotics. As we struggle finding cleaning operatives, everybody’s going to move towards robotics, leaving a huge gap.We need to invest in training and evolve cleaning into a skilled, rather than non-skilled, profession, backed with real fit-for-purpose and above all easy-to-use technology. During the pandemic, cleaning operatives became more visible, important and respected: we need to build on that to attract great people for the industry’s future.
5 Marcel Müller, Global Marketing Director at TASKI Machines, asks:
HOW WOULD YOU IMPROVE THE CLEANING INDUSTRY?
I want to make people more aware of the significance of cleaning, and improve on training standards. The pandemic opened people’s eyes to the importance of proper cleaning, but I feel we’ve already slipped back into the old ways of doing things. We’re back to using a mop and bucket and already forgotten how to wash our hands properly. I passionately believe in the health and wellness benefits delivered with correct cleaning methods, and that the industry can make a lasting difference.
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IF AN INTERN WERE TO START TOMORROW, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM?
Wrong is wrong, even if everybody’s doing it – and right is right, even if nobody’s doing it.
46 | TOMORROW'S CLEANING 10
WE’VE SEEN MORE TALK ABOUT AUTONOMOUS CLEANING SOLUTIONS IN
RECENT YEARS, WHEN DO YOU THINK IT WILL BECOME CENTRAL AND WHAT'S HOLDING IT BACK? I think we're on the way to autonomous becoming quite central with many of the large FMs investing money and looking into it. I believe what's holding it back is the technology isn’t spot-on yet: it could be another five or six years before we get there. There’s also the relatively high cost of entry and while it’s supposed to be labour-saving, humans are still needed, representing additional cost.
www.rawlins.co.uk
Check out next month’s issue to see what Werner asked our next industry professional...
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