Sanitation Processes Perfected with Analysis and Training

What can the right cleaning processes and aligned training mean to your bottom line? For Jennifer's food processing facility it meant over $170,000 in annual labor savings. By spending eight nights observing, analyzing, planning and training the sanitation team …Jennifer helped the facility save significantly on labor dollars from ineffective procedures and rework. Nichols sales executives consider themselves part of your team. Our goal is to provide consultative solutions that can have a significant impact on your bottom line.

Getting Started

Effective cleaning has four components: time, temperature, mechanical action/agitation, and the chemical being used. How these four components work together is critical for ultimate efficiency. The simple solution is to follow manufacturer directions on the chemical. However every space is different. Variation in facility layouts, square footage, surfaces, and machinery require experienced insight and expert planning.  

Tuning the Process

Let's say you have a very large manufacturing plant with lots of food contact services. Typically you're going to apply the chemical, allow proper dwell time, agitate the chemical and rinse. Then you can sanitize the properly cleaned surfaces. You are likely using a sprayer of some sort. If you have a space of about 1000-3000 sf, this may work well. If you are spraying down a surface and then just continue working through larger spaces before you circle back to agitate the odds are pretty good that the chemical you applied will simply dry up before you return. First take the time to evaluate the space and the action required within that space. Then track how much time it takes to get that done. Now you can really define the best cleaning methodology for your exact process.

As a sanitation manager of a large manufacturing plant, you are very busy checking off all of the boxes in the day-to-day activities that have to happen. Rarely do you have the time to really step back and analyze potential issues right? Jennifer paired up with our Spartan Chemical representative to help this sanitation manager do the analysis. By taking the time to observe the process, identify downtime and analyze struggles, the team was able to fix the specific pain points and craft a better solution. The expert team designed and deployed a new “Block” cleaning process. Simply put, given the chemicals in use, this specific facility needed to break down the space so that product was agitated before drying and before rinsing. By keeping the cleaning range to a 5-7 minute distance and implementing a type of modified team cleaning, the sanitation process reduced labor and increased the team's success. 

What is documented cost savings?

In its simplest form documented cost savings is a process where the Nichols team quantifies the solutions we provide to our customers; details that information in our documented cost savings agreement; and obtains the customer's signature on the form verifying its accuracy. Nichols has historically provided cost savings for our customers trending it over 1.5 million per year. In 2020 we formalized the process to ensure consistent delivery of this core you first deliverable, and we were able to document almost $5,000,000 in savings for our customers.

The Nichols documented cost savings program provides best practice scenarios that save our customers not just on the price of the product but more importantly on the cost of doing business. By obtaining customer’s signatures on our cost savings agreements, we ensure strong partnerships and strategic alignment. One more way we put “You First”!