overview
Concepts4™ consultants have spoken to, taught and worked with over 3,500 organizations over the past 16 years about the application of The Team Cleaning system into their operations, we, as many others, have come to the conclusion that this is currently the best cleaning system to absorb the most stringent demands for high performing cleaning requirements that face our industry today.
Team Cleaning is really work simplification and redistribution. The introduction of the back pack vacuum suction technology gave us less operator body stress, lowered the fatigue factor, greater particle capture through improved filtration, easier access to hard to reach areas and improved production capacity. Where in the past most general cleaning personnel had to vacuum as part of their duties, we now have made that a Specialist resulting in what we call a team; one starts the cleaning process by removing dust, collecting trash, etc. followed by another who vacuums and performs quality checks on the first Specialist.
This comprises the key team in Team Cleaning. The Light Duty Specialist (starter) is followed by the Vac Specialist (closer) over approximately the same assigned square footage. Here is where the system shines. Depending upon the type of facility there is a queuing gap that needs to be determined. For example, in an office building the Closer will produce about 30% more SF/HR than the Starter, therefore the queue gap is one to two hours depending on part time or full time shifts. In the school classroom environment it is reversed, the Starter will produce 30-40% more SF/HR. In the school example the gap may be as little as 10 minutes and will grow. These estimates are based on assigned duties and frequencies.
There are some unique tools that aid in the management of daily work and support efficient workflow; Quadrant design and Job Assignment Cards. Quadrants are utilized to rotate detail cleaning and other less than daily frequencies. Monday through Friday has a detail quad and the 1st through the 4th Friday is used for some type of project cleaning.
The Job Assignment Cards are a critical communication tool for the Specialists and management. The cards should contain information as to exactly where the Specialists go, what task to perform and how long it should take to complete a quad (25% of their total assigned SF). There is an actual room by room or area by area routing specified on the card.
There are four Specialists disciplines:
- Light Duty Specialists (Starter*)
- Vac Specialists (Closer*)
- Restroom Specialists (Sanitor*)
- Utility Specialists 1 . 2 . 3 . 4
(* these terms are used for training purposes)
This is a brief introduction to High Performance Cleaning Utilizing Team Specilists