C.H.E.S.S. ARTICLE - EFFICIENCY
C.H.E.S.S. ARTICLE - EFFICIENCY
Are you washing good dollars down the drain?
Savvy Facility Managers know that productivity costs are 112 times higher than energy costs1. Unfortunately, too much emphasis is put on reducing product costs when it is actually labour costs that drive the bulk of the expense. In fact, 90% of facility management costs are tied to labour rather than products1.
Many forms of waste are obvious, but others are not so easy to see without looking in unexpected places for them. Using LEAN principles, our consultants at Kimberly-Clark Professional* can uncover and identify problems that our customers have and offer solutions for ‘continuous improvement’.
Our team has been trained to identify opportunities to maximise efficiencies, helping create healthier, safer and more productive work environments.
So what are we wasting precious dollars on?
Through years of experience and consultations with countless facility managers, we have identified eight broad categories of labour waste in washroom management that lead to avoidable inefficiencies2. These include:
- Defective or withdrawn products – poor quality checks cause a waste in time and money when staff have to check, return and repurchase items.
- Overproduction or over-purchasing and as a result, expenditure on unnecessary storage.
- Waiting time – Do users have to wait for washroom products such as hand towels and toilet rolls to be replaced because they are running out too quickly?
- Not utilising resources to their maximum abilities by failing to equip them with the right knowledge and know-how.
- Transportation – Is the product packaging efficient, taking up less space on trucks and reducing the number of trucks required for transport?
- Inventory – Orders are sometimes poorly calculated and results in inconsistent inventory. These items that sit in the inventory and are not being actively processed to add value contributes to waste.
- Motion – Are your washroom staff suffering from repetitive injuries or frequent accidents? Or simply spending too much time in motion on the wrong tasks.
- Excessive processing – Is too much effort spent on things such as ad hoc cleaning or paper roll changing than is actually required?
Just how much could you save?
Compromising on a quality clean could risk managers losing over $50,000 worth of tenant contracts annually3. In fact, many managers compromise on better products for their washroom thinking it could lessen costs, without realising this could result in a drop in the number of tenants in the long run. .
In one case, a facility manager switched from a cheaper regular Multifold hand towel, to the use of Kimberly-Clark Professional* SCOTT® SLIMROLL Hand Towels. SCOTT® SLIMROLL Hand Towels allow for 300% more hand dries than the conventional folded towels, meaning a significantly higher number of dries before needing refilling. As far less hand towels were used, 80% of washroom staff’s time refilling towel rolls was saved that year. In fact, 79.26% less rolls/cases of towels were used that year. This also resulted in an estimated 10% cost savings for the client4.
Make your first move towards developing a long-term washroom strategy.
Kimberly-Clark Professional* can help our customers with internal and external benchmarking, focused on washroom operations. Internal benchmarking will provide insights on floor-to-floor needs, or washroom-to-washroom needs, that should be addressed differently for the best results. For instance, high traffic washrooms may need to be cleaned or topped up more often in order to reduce complaints – but just how often and when can be difficult to determine.
As a first step, we recommend you determine exactly how efficient your washroom strategy is by taking the C.H.E.S.S. Efficiency Calculator. If you want to learn more, simply book an appointment with us and we’ll send a Kimberly-Clark Professional* representative to give you a FREE consultation.
Reference:
1. Staples white paper, How to Reduce Labor Costs, KCP Customer Experience Training Kit Module 2_1b
2. KCP Customer Experience Training Kit Module 2_1b
3. Helping enhance cleaning efficiencies brochure, Kimberly-Clark Professional, Exceptional Workplaces
4. KC Sustainability Achievement & Business Case
1. Staples white paper, How to Reduce Labor Costs, KCP Customer Experience Training Kit Module 2_1b
2. KCP Customer Experience Training Kit Module 2_1b
3. Helping enhance cleaning efficiencies brochure, Kimberly-Clark Professional, Exceptional Workplaces
4. KC Sustainability Achievement & Business Case
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