Leaner, greener contracting
June 23rd 2008 Emprise clients include The John Lewis Partnership, David Lloyd leisure centres and Marks & Spencer, where it is helping fulfil the retailer’s commitment to reduced environmental impact under the much vaunted ‘Plan A’. Brendan Coyne reports
The ISO 14001 accredited firm sells on the basis that it is an environmentally-friendly business, immaterial of contract size. Chief operating officer, Michael Garrett, says naturally, the firm can’t claim to be ‘green’, if some of its contracts are not. To achieve uniformity, the company decided to devise its own chemical range, aiming to minimise environmental impact – and the number of products it actually used.
“All the chemicals we use are made especially for us. We worked with a single manufacturer over many months to get the balance right,” says Garrett, who admits the learning curve was steep. “The end result was four highly effective products: a general purpose cleaner; a glass cleaner; a hard maintenance product and a washroom solution. None of which has a higher pH factor than six, which in real terms is less than washing up liquid.”
Reducing environmental impact across its entire business base, the firm also reduced its product inventory (and therefore costs) and simplified day-to-day work for its cleaning staff: “The four products are colour coded; in terms of the dilution rate, we have a uniform training module; and it gives us peace of mind that everyone knows what they are using and what they are doing across all contracts,” says Garrett.
However, where possible, Garrett says Emprise is keen to remove chemicals from the equation. “In an ideal world we could eliminate chemicals altogether. Where contracts are large enough we aim to introduce the microfibre route – the technology has advanced hugely in the last few years. But it takes a buy-in from the client because provisions have to be made available to the contractor, for example, the site then needs a washing machine to launder the products on a regular basis. There is a cost, and not all clients buy into it, and sometimes that cost has to be managed. But it is very high on the agenda of our corporate and local authority clients.” Although the initial cost of provision may be more than a nonmicrofibre route, Garrett says the reduction in chemical use, CoSHH and microfibre’s aptitude for daytime cleaning mean substantial savings are available over the life of the contract.
Daylight savings
Around 30 per cent of Emprise’s core cleaning activity is undertaken during the day, enabling clients to reduce the hours their lighting, air conditioning and heating would otherwise clock up. For larger buildings, the savings, both environmental and monetary, can be significant. Alongside microfibre, Garrett says investment in energy efficient, ‘silent’ backpack battery vacuums for spot cleaning, and implementation of benchmarking to a standard makes daytime cleaning much more acceptable to clients. Especially when, six months down the line, the savings in utilities become apparent. Garrett says equipment such as battery backpacks have improved hugely over recent years to facilitate daytime cleaning, and that, while manufacturers and contractors will rarely see eye-to-eye on price, they are becoming viable. Battery backpack vacs, for example, have come down in price by 40 per cent this year alone, according to Garrett, and should continue to fall as economies of scale develop.
However, while all of these measure are practical, straightforward, and the utility savings become increasingly significant with every passing week, Garrett says he is regularly challenged when presenting and pitching on environmental issues. “It’s right that clients and prospects should question what they are being told. I tell them to visit any of our sites to see our proposals in action. Because all of our sites are reference sites.”
Delivering Plan A
Emprise currently cleans 55 Marks & Spencer stores, and will take on another 48 outlets later this year. Mandy Keepax, M&S head of facilities management, cleaning, waste & pest control, has charged Emprise (and three other store cleaning contractors) with realising savings of between five and 10 per cent by April next year. “Cleaning and support services is a major part of Plan A,” says Keepax. “I have charged our contractors with assessing cleaning machinery, use of water, use of chemicals and to try and bring daytime cleaning into focus. We have to present the best possible environment to our customers throughout the trading day. At the same time, we need to save energy – and costs – by shortening the length of after hours cleaning. Much can be done on the shop floor during morning trading and then the cleaners can go backstage during ‘power hours’ at lunchtime and early evening.”
Keepax says M&S is also examining cleaning chemical packaging and delivery. She recently challenged suppliers at the ISSA/Interclean exhibition in Amsterdam to review their packaging. “All our suppliers are charged with studying our supplier exchange under Plan A, ensuring not only the activity they undertake with M&S, but the way they conduct their business – the logistics, the way they train their staff and what they do as a business – reflect our Plan A objectives.”
Lesley Shearman, Emprise managing director for retail and leisure, works closely with Keepax. She explains that all deliveries, historically monthly, are now bimonthly to reduce environmental impact. This approach has been adopted by the other three contractors in the M&S consortium, which are collectively creating a blueprint for all M&S store cleaning.
“The consortium meets bimonthly to share best practice. Whatever turns out to be the most effective approach is adopted by all,” Shearman explains. “The consortium is unique in our industry – in the open market they are our competitors, but here we work as a team.” By way of example, ICE, originally Emprise’s sole machinery supplier was introduced to M&S through Shearman. After assessing its product offering and ICE’s willingness to provide equipment that meets the M&S requirements, ICE will supply all of the machinery to the four contractors in the consortium. “I met very recently not only with ICE (which supplies the equipment) but also the manufacturer. I charged them with getting to know precisely how M&S operates throughout the trading day, looking at our environment and how it will change over the coming years” says Keepax.
“The manufacturer is fully onboard and understands the challenges we offer them. Within our food halls, for example, fridges can be difficult to clean because they have an overhang. The solution is a machine that can clean the overhang while the main floor clean is being undertaken, rather than two separate tasks and sets of equipment. I am providing the manufacturer with samples of our fabrics, floor finishes etc., and it will also collaborate with our chemical supplier.”
With regard to the broader washroom environment, Keepax believes M&S has a genuinely unique package devised by washroom services firm, Mayflower, following last year’s tender. “Previously I had three contractors and therefore three sets of vehicles on the road, delivering service for nappy waste, feminine hygiene waste, air fresheners and produce mats in our food halls. But John Doyle, Mayflower’s MD, thought completely outside the box. He has specifically designed a fleet of vehicles to supply all of our services, which, from a transport perspective, reduces our carbon footprint enormously. And we are now sending no waste to landfill from our washrooms.”
With such a high profile, Plan A is clearly comprehensive. While setting no specific deadline, M&S CEO, Stuart Rose, has stated Plan A must eventually be cost neutral. The company also aims to be carbon neutral, and send no waste to landfill, by 2012.
Rose has publicly predicted “difficult” retail conditions for the foreseeable future. But for the cleaning industry, that’s not necessarily bad news. Moreover, for the contractors and suppliers who prove able to cut both cost and carbon, it is an opportunity to win business and secure stability in times of economic climate change. As Keepax says: “Marks & Spencer looks for long term partnerships to achieve its ambitions. We recognise and reward those who help us attain them.” More articles from Emprise Services: |
