Kelsey Hargreaves, Assistant Technical Specialist at BICSc, reports.
A couple of years ago my father asked me to order him some equipment for his butcher’s shop. Cleaning products, PPE, bags, and some knives, you get the gist. I thought nothing of it. The price looked good, a lot cheaper than it usually was and with a click, click, click, and a whoosh, Royal Mail delivered the items a few days after.
A few weeks passed, and I started to notice that things had gone missing from home. The stockpile of cloths and gloves that were kept under the sink, and the set of butcher’s knives in the kitchen drawer had all disappeared.
Thinking that my father had simply had to dip into the stockpiles at home I asked my father whether he would like me to order more equipment for him, to which he replied: “Absolutely not!” It seems that, in my cost-effective prudence, alongside my finite knowledge of butchery equipment, the equipment I had ordered wasn’t ‘very good’ and was a ‘complete waste of money’.
Why?
- I looked simply at the cost, not at the quality of the equipment.
- I didn’t understand what the different pieces of equipment were or what they were capable of doing.
- I didn’t understand how different designs of different equipment helped complete different tasks in different environments.
What ended up happening?
- Suitable/more effective equipment started to get brought in from outside of the business (home).
- There was a waste of money on unsuitable equipment that needed replacing very quickly.
- I wasn’t trusted to help again!
What should I have done?
- Admit that I do not have omniscience when it comes to the world of butchery and ask what the person who is using the equipment would like me to order!
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of attending a cleaning roadshow, where suppliers exhibited, and cleaning operatives had their say! They were able to vote for exactly what equipment they wanted to see on site. They tried, tested and asked questions relating to the equipment, with not a single question about cost. They asked relevant questions, the length of battery life, how long the chemical could be stored for, whether the trolley could lock, and whether it worked.
When we buy equipment, why aren’t we asking the cleaning operatives? After all, they are the experts.
The biggest argument against this is that cost is the bottom line of everything we do. Every decision we make holds cost as the central driving force.
So, let’s look at cost:
- If your equipment isn’t fit for purpose, you are going to have to spend more money replacing this equipment with equipment that does.
- What is the cost of incompliance to legal requirements? If you don’t supply your operatives with the equipment they need, they will source other equipment from somewhere! Are you covered for this?
- Companies outlay a lot of money trying to create happier working environments, ensuring that all employees feel heard: having a say in the tools you use to complete tasks you spend 1/3 of your day doing can do that!
Cleaning operatives and their voice are underestimated and underused in almost every part of our industry. Let’s get back to basics.
What do you need to run an effective service?
www.bics.org.uk
About the contributor
Kelsey Hargreaves
Assistant Technical Specialist
BICSc