The First Facility Management Blog

Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) wins 2008 ISSA product innovation award for its new DVAC™ 1-Pass cleaning solution. Pictured from left to right; David Dixon, RCP Southwest regional manager; and Patrick Noonan, RCP strategic account manager.

The ISSA Product Innovation Awards were judged by the cleaning industry’s distributors, building service contractors, and in house service providers attending this year’s ISSA show, who cast their votes for the most innovative products in five different categories: chemicals, paper/plastics, power equipment, supplies & accessories, and other products—services & technology. Of the numerous products displayed, show attendees selected Rubbermaid’s new DVAC as the most innovative product in the services & technology category.

“We’re proud and honored to be recognized as the leader in product innovation for the fourth consecutive year,” said Larry McIsaac, global president of Rubbermaid Commercial Products, LLC. “Being voted by our customers in the services & technology category tells us that we’re on the right track when it comes to providing easy, smart and powerful solutions to key cleaning challenges.”  

The DVAC™ 1-Pass cleaning solution is a dolly integrated vacuum that allows cleaning professionals to collect waste and recycling, dust and vacuum in one pass, optimizing both productivity and cleaning quality.

Zep Inc. recently announced the launch of its new Zep Professional product line focusing on the industrial distribution market and revealed its alignment with distributors that serve targeted market segments.  

Zep Professional

A few months ago, Zep Inc. announced its goal of obtaining 10 to 15% of its revenue from sales of product through industrial distributors.

“By focusing on the voice of the customer, it became clear that nearly 40% of the U.S. customer base prefers the services that industrial distributors have to offer,” commented John K. Morgan, chairman, president, and CEO. “We are committed to developing products and services desired by customers and making them available in ways most appropriate for the customer.”

The strategy began earlier this year with market studies, a new product strategy, and the creation of the Zep Professional brand. These new products will be marketed with the support of field training, logistics, customer service, marketing, toll free technical support, and electronic ordering tools to enable exclusive distributors ready access to the services of the newly formed Zep Professional organization.  

Chemists and segment specialists will also be available to Zep Professional authorized distributors serving a wide range of markets, including:

• Manufacturing
• Hospitality
• Government
• Health Care
• Schools
• Food Service

The initial Zep Professional products are professional strength formulations developed for a variety of applications, including:

• Bathroom Care
• Disinfectants
• Drain Care
• Floor Care
• General Purpose Cleaners
• Grounds & Building Maintenance
• Industrial Degreasers
• Industrial Hand Care
• Lubricants & Penetrants
• Odor Control

“I am very pleased with the progress William A. (Bill) Holl, our chief operating officer, and the entire distribution team under Philip Snellen’s leadership have achieved in such a short time frame,” Morgan continued. “With only a few months in the planning and development stage, we began pilot production of our Zep Professional product line in late August. It was a great team effort, and it was exciting to see the new product line flowing through our factories.” 

Zep Inc. Industrial Distributor Partners

Zep is also pleased to announce that it has entered into agreements with a select group of distributor partners focusing on strategic market segments to the company.  Distribution agreements have been reached with W.W. Grainger, Inc.; Lab Safety Supply Inc.; Graybar Electric Company, Inc.; R3 Reliable Redistribution Resource, a division of Bunzl North America; and VWR International, LLC to offer the new Zep Professional product line to their customers. A distribution agreement has also been reached with SP Richards to distribute select Zep Commercial products. These new partners, along with Zep’s existing partner, HD Supply, will expand the company’s customer reach in the industrial maintenance, electrical, food service, jan-san, and broad line scientific market industries.

Barry Hentz, senior vice president, redistribution, of R3 Reliable Redistribution Resource, says, “Zep is a well established, highly recognized brand that offers R3 Reliable Redistribution Resource a unique opportunity to further penetrate and grow its core customer base.”

“The entire team at Zep Inc. is excited about the opportunity to support these new distributor partners to the benefit of our customers,” commented Holl.

“The distributors we have partnered with to gain access to our target markets are some of the finest in the world,” added Morgan. “We are proud to have our brands associated with distributors with such fine reputations. While we do not expect an immediately significant impact on sales volumes, we are very optimistic about the long term benefit these agreements will have for our business and our customers.”

A recent survey sent to approximately 5,000 subscribers of DestinationGreen, the monthly newsletter of The Ashkin Group, indicates the prospect of a recession will not pose a serious blow to the “Greening” of the professional cleaning industry.

Based in Bloomington, IN, the Ashkin Group is an international consulting firm working to green the professional cleaning industry, as well as schools, medical facilities, offices, and other facilities.

Although the majority of respondents reported a cooling economy will cause some end customers to be more concerned about the cost of products rather than whether they are green, the majority do not believe the slowing of the U.S. economy will have an adverse impact.

“Perhaps it’s because most end customers now know that green cleaning ultimately translates into increased value and benefits for consumers,” says Stephen Ashkin, president of The Ashkin Group and executive director of the Green Cleaning Network. “This in turn can lower operating costs and has helped lessen the respondents’ concerns.”

The results bode well for those advocating green cleaning. Some of the findings include:

• If the slowing U.S. economy does in fact make end customers more hesitant to select green items, most of the manufacturers surveyed say they will take steps to “push” the sales of green products—more specifically, clarify, and promote the message that green products are healthier for the environment and building occupants.

• In yet another response that would suggest the unwillingness of some manufacturers to recoil amid economic woes, about half of the manufacturers surveyed reported that a slowing U.S. economy will not impact the amount of resources, engineering, and time committed by their companies to develop green cleaning products.

• The survey also reported that the majority of the manufacturers will not stop having products green certified by certification organizations attributable to costs incurred in the process. Distributors responded favorably in the survey as well. If faced with a slowing U.S. economy, more than 54% of the distributors indicated they would promote the benefits of green products over conventional products when marketing green cleaning products.

• Additionally, more than 50% of the distributors indicated a slowing U.S. economy would lead them to increase their green value added services.

“It is important to note that just over 62% of respondents indicated their belief that private businesses might become the most hesitant to select green cleaning products in an economic downturn,” says Ashkin. “But many of the respondents also indicated that government, education, and health care sectors—all large sectors served by jansan distributors—will actually increase their purchasing of green cleaning products regardless of the state of the economy.”

ISS Facility Services, Inc., a national provider of facility services has signed an agreement to acquire building services provider BGM. The closing is expected to occur today, March 31, 2008.

BGM, which does business as BG Service Solutions, has revenues of $105 million and provides cleaning services in six states including Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Florida and Utah. BGM was founded in 1972 by Ron Baker and Ron Goldsmith, and Goldsmith says, “Ron Baker and I are very pleased to place our company and dedicated employee team with the leading cleaning company in the world.”

Sonny Price, current president of BGM will remain with ISS as the president of the Midwest Region and will be responsible for the operations of the region within the ISS corporate structure.

“We are very excited to team up with BGM. I have known both Ron’s for a long while and have always admired the management team they put together and their approach to the business in building a great Company,” remarked Darrell Glover, CEO of ISS Facility Services, Inc., on the deal. “This acquisition is a great fit for ISS and gives us a very strong presence in the Midwestern states. It also gives us a strong presence in the Aviation sector which is important to us,” says Glover. With this acquisition, ISS Facility Services will have over 14,600 employees.

ISS Facility Services, Inc. is the United States company of ISS and offers a range of service solutions, from single services to fully Integrated Facility Services (IFS) that combine all of the customers’ service and support functions into one solution.

About the ISS Group
The ISS Group is a facility services group, providing integrated service solutions based on the core business areas of cleaning, catering, office support, property services, and security. The ISS Group had annual revenues of almost USD $13.4 billion in 2007 and employs more than 440,000 people in 50 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Australia.

About BGM Industries
BGM Industries has its headquarters in Kansas City, MO, and is a leading provider of cleaning services in the Midwest. In addition to cleaning services, BGM also provides property services such as building maintenance and landscaping as well as security. The company has more than 1,000 customer accounts, the largest of which are office properties and airports. BGM Industries generated 2007 revenue of about USD $105 million and has some 3,600 employees.

Last night on the TV program, 60 Minutes, Leslie Stahl presented this article on the drug resistant “superbug,” MRSA (Methicillin-resistant staph aureus). The outbreak among members of the Mt. Lebanon High School football team spread to several students and created concern among parents. Facilities staff and administrators were clearly frustrated in terms of cleaning and maintenance, and even now, there is uncertainty regarding best practices on how to respond to a MRSA outbreak.

MRSA caused nearly 19,000 deaths in the United States in 2005, according to the most thorough study of life-threatening infections caused by these bacteria, experts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report. Due to the serious nature of this occurrence, Mark Warner, international director of certification for Airx Laboratories, national sales manager for the Bullen Companies, and president of LMCCA has taken it upon himself to dig deeper into the MRSA situation.

“I’ve personally fielded numerous calls over the past several weeks — calls from Fortune 500 Companies, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, colleges, building service contractors, and more” says Warner. “There’s a lot of misinformation given to end users when it comes to cleaning standards in our industry. . .and with a little bit of knowledge along with the right specialty cleaning products, any organization can greatly reduce its chance of a MRSA outbreak.”

For more information on how to handle MRSA, click this link from the CDC.