Innovation for a new age

I am writing this column shortly after another very successful ISSA/INTERCLEAN 2016 North America show in Chicago. Here we saw a total of 16,637 visitors from 74 countries meeting with 740 exhibitors drawn from 28 countries. Of these exhibitors, 132 were companies participating in our North American shows for the first time – a statistic that speaks volumes for the unparalleled level of innovation that our industry is experiencing right now.  

Real, relevant and timely innovation could be found in every aisle and on virtually every booth in the exhibition hall, but nowhere was it more obvious than in the ISSA Innovation Showcase, which featured entries for the ISSA Innovation Awards. Many of the ISSA Innovation Awards winners were companies that are well-known to the UK and European cleaning sectors, such as the Tork Image Design Line by SCA, which triumphed in the Dispensers category; the Stingray indoor cleaning kit by Unger, which won in the Supplies category; or the i-suit from Dutch company i-team, which picked up a Visitors’ Choice Innovation Award. 

Key themes

Reviewing the winners and short-listed entries, I tried to identify four key themes that linked many of them together. Those themes were firstly products that had the option or ability for personalisation to suit their use or location. On a similar point, I also noted that a number of innovations were designed to improve the visual appearance and appeal of the cleaning product or function — a good thing as we all strive to elevate the image of our industry. 

Unsurprisingly, robotics and the burgeoning use of technology within the sector to maximise efficiency and performance was also a common innovation driver. Finally, I was also delighted to see a high number of ergonomic innovations whose primary purpose was to make things easier and/or more comfortable for the cleaning operative for daily use. 

Adaptive cleaning

Walking the aisles, I picked up on the phrase “adaptive cleaning”. For those of us in the cleaning industry, what we have to do can vary markedly virtually every day. Why? Because generally there is no telling what needs to be cleaned, picked up, worked around or, indeed, how traffic the exact flow/volume will shift or alter from day to day. 

Work programmes and routines can be predictable in many other industries, but in ours they simply have to be adaptive and more complex. They must be able to reflect and tune into the individual and often specialised needs of each customer and the unique decision making that is required every shift. 

In fact, there is a school of thought that says we might be losing money or margin by trying to treat cleaning as routine and standard, when actually it needs to be adaptive and adjustable while meeting quality standards. New innovations not only can help us to be more productive without having to cut more corners but they also allow us to pick which corners need our attention.

At the same time, making things more ergonomic or comfortable, and adapting to the worker helps in many other ways: reduced injury, higher morale, higher productivity, better accuracy, less staff turnover and lower business cost. 

Tied into this school of thought was Rob O’Neill - one of our Chicago show keynote speakers. This former US Navy SEAL held leadership roles in more than 400 combat missions in four different theatres of war. He connected being adaptive with being prepared, in terms of thinking through potential scenarios in advance for greater success, rather than jumping in all guns blazing or offering knee-jerk responses as situations change. 

Steve Wozniak, the inventor and co-founder of Apple, also spoke at ISSA/INTERCLEAN Chicago and offered a heartfelt espousal of the value of tinkering at the ground level. How are organisations using their cleaning workers to tinker with what works best to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness? How are contractors or the management of in-house teams letting the staff provide evaluation and feedback on what new innovations could be helpful?

As we look to 2017, we stand at the dawn of a new age for our industry. The innovations already rolled out have the potential to transform performance and productivity. They also have the potential to change how cleaning is undertaken and how the world views cleaning. What will you embrace to be a part of the evolution?