Logistics is all about efficiency. While a focus on optimisation is frequently found in other parts of the logistics process, such as in loading and route planning, cleaning is something that’s often left behind.
As in many niches, a clean environment is absolutely crucial in the logistics industry. It helps to enhance efficiency, providing a clean and distraction-free work environment for workers to thrive in. A clean environment is also crucial in terms of avoiding certain accidents, by ensuring that there are no unnecessary slips, trips or falls on spilt liquids or bits of clutter.
Clearly, choosing the right logistics cleaning service is important, and it deserves some careful attention. They’ll be able to provide assistance with a lot more than ‘just’ cleaning, from regulatory compliance advice, to giving tips on how you might be able to optimise various processes that are central to your overall business.
The right service provider will be able to create a tailored plan according to your unique needs, whether that’s providing daily warehouse cleaning or disinfecting regularly used machinery. Here’s what you need to look for during your search.
Before you can start your search, you need to have a basic idea about what a logistics cleaning service actually is in the first place. Companies that provide this type of service will typically do a lot more than just wipe down some dirty surfaces and sweep up bits of dust.
Specialist logistics cleaning services will be able to provide customised cleaning solutions for those in the logistics industry, with a special focus on the unique demands of warehouse environments, distribution centres, transport vehicles, and the facilities necessary to organise all of these different functions.
It’s important to note that logistics cleaning services are different to regular cleaning services. While ‘normal’ services will be able to clean offices and other relatively safe and easy spaces, logistics cleaning services will be well-versed in the risks associated with warehouse environments.
Their staff will be specially trained to be able to handle and clean specialised equipment and materials, and to abide by the stringent health and safety regulations in place in these kinds of environments.
This is one of the main things to understand before starting your search – that you’re not just looking for a bog standard service. There is a difference, and it’s crucial that you start with this in mind.
Before you can start looking, you need to assess what it is that you need help with. The logistics industry consists of multiple different processes, from warehouses and packing areas to planning centres.
While many logistics providers will need help with all of these, it’s possible that you only run, say, warehouses, and as a result, you don’t need a provider that specialises in deep cleaning lorries.
Think about what it is that you need help with, being as specific as you can and taking notes as you go along. These notes will be essential later on, when it’s time to start asking potential options if they’ll be able to help you out with your cleaning needs.
Once you understand the very basics of what a logistics cleaning service should be able to provide, and you know specifically what it is that you need help with, you can start your search. Here are some of the most important things to look out for.
The single most important thing to look for is whether or not they have experience in the logistics industry. It doesn’t matter if the service you’re looking at has 80 years of experience – if all of those years were spent cleaning office buildings, they simply won’t have the skill set to work in the logistics industry.
While they might state that they’ve worked with logistics providers on their website, don’t take this at face value. Try to look for reviews from prior customers that needed a similar kind of service to the one you require. Ideally, you’ll be able to reach out to your professional network to see what cleaning providers they use, but online reviews can be equally insightful as well.
Once you’ve ascertained their reputation in the industry, you’ll need to look at what services they offer in particular. Common services might include deep cleaning of warehouse environments, consultations on how to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance, and many others.
Obviously, these need to match up to your specific requirements as closely as possible. It may be the case that none of the providers can provide a complete match – as long as they can cover the majority of your needs, you should be good.
While the stereotypical image of a cleaner is someone with a mop or sponge in their hand, technological advances over the previous decades mean that the modern cleaner has access to an incredibly wide range of different tools.
You need to look for cleaning services that invest in their equipment. You can start to assess this through their review; past clients will likely comment on either end of the scale, noting when they see either excessively old equipment or impressively new technology. Obviously, you know which to steer clear of and what to go towards.
You don’t just want inexperienced people bumbling around your warehouses, potentially damaging things. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, you need to look for cleaning services that actually invest in their cleaners.
This means that they should be provided with plenty of high-quality training on an ongoing basis, to ensure that they’re able to work to the highest standard. You should also consider asking about whether they conduct background checks, especially if they’ll be in contact with valuable or sensitive items.
While you do need to find a service with prior experience in the industry, it’s important that the option you go with recognises the importance of complete customisation. They’ll need to start off by assessing how best to provide a service that caters to your specific cleaning needs, not providing the same service that they provide to the rest of their clients.
Early on, the cleaning service provider should ask you detailed questions, such as where accidents often occur, higher than normal traffic areas, and any specific chemicals or toxic substances that may require a more focused approach.
They also need to be adaptable in this regard. Your logistics business will almost certainly change over time, and with it, your cleaning needs. The provider you go with needs to be able to adapt to changing schedules, fluctuations throughout the year in terms of cleaning needs, and other non-seasonal changes.
Failure to identify a cleaning provider that can adapt can have significant negative repercussions, especially if it results in disruptions in the supply chain. As a result, it’s crucial that you identify this capacity early on, before you fully engage their services.
When engaging any kind of external provider, it’s essential that you choose a service that’s able to communicate clearly and effectively. This is especially the case with logistics cleaning services, where even a minor delay could potentially have significant further ramifications.
Gauging this will mostly be down to your own personal judgement. Even during the early consultation stages, you should be able to get some kind of idea of how quick they are to respond to queries, and whether they dodge questions or are happy to answer them upfront.
You’ll need to be clear about what communication channels you’ll be using, and what kinds of processes will be put in place to alert them of both urgent and non-urgent cleaning requirements. There should be a way of logging everything on a database that all relevant stakeholders have direct access to. There should also be regular assessments, where the service seeks feedback from you, the client, on any areas that you’d like to see improvement in.
While these kinds of things won’t be problematic when everything is going well, there will often be incidents that need rapid responses in order to ensure operational continuity. If you’re not able to get in contact with your service provider, it’s easy to see how this could pose issues.
Specialist cleaning services aren’t cheap – that expense often can’t be avoided. What can and should be avoided are any hidden costs that aren’t clearly communicated to you beforehand.
You shouldn’t have to chase your cleaning service for quotes. They should be upfront from the very beginning, providing you with a relatively detailed estimate once they know the scope of the project.
The logistics industry is subject to a wide range of stringent regulations, and hiring the right logistics cleaning service is paramount to achieving ongoing compliance. You’ll potentially need to inquire about their familiarity with certain specific regulations, depending on the kinds of materials that your logistics business tends to deal with.
The provider’s ability to adhere to these regulations will hinge on the kind of training they’ve provided their employees, combined with real-life experience. You need to ensure that they’re committed to adhering to HSE best practices, and to going beyond those basic requirements.
Additionally, it’s worth inquiring about their approach to sustainability. While not a regulatory requirement in most cases, using sustainable cleaning products and employing sustainable waste disposal techniques can be beneficial in other ways.
It can help to minimise any cleaning product-related illnesses, especially if any staff have certain allergies, and it can also boost your brand’s genuine claims to achieving a high level of sustainability. In the current world, this is something that a lot of businesses and consumers care about, making it an issue to keep in mind at all times.
While we mentioned them already, it’s important to state just how important legitimate reviews are when it comes to assessing the competence of a service, especially with logistics cleaning services.
The most reputable source will typically be an industry contact that you know and trust, who has prior experience with the service provider you’re looking into. While this is best, it won’t always be possible.
The next best are reviews and case studies, preferably from other key players in your industry that you know and trust. You should be able to gain a significant amount of insight into their practical ability to operate in the real world. By going over a larger collection of reviews, you should be able to achieve a high level of confidence that you’re making the right choice.
While this might be a lot to take in, the repercussions of getting the right (or wrong) cleaning service provider for your logistics company can be significant. The right option will allow you to operate seamlessly throughout the year, ensuring that your workers have a consistently clean and safe space to work in, while also minimising any environment-related damage that could occur to stock.
The wrong option, on the other hand, can result in significant delays to the overall supply chain, hurting both your short-term ability to run your business and, more significantly, damaging your brand name in the long run.
There’s a lot to look out for when searching for the ideal cleaning provider, but it’s important to be diligent. By starting with a clear assessment of what it is that you actually need help with, and then identifying potential options that provide services which are able to fully cater to those demands, you can get yourself off to a solid start.
Make sure that you don’t just take cleaning services for their word. Look at the reviews left by prior customers in the same niche as your logistics business, and try to reach out to your professional network for any recommendations. When searching for professional service providers such as this, it’s always worth putting in the effort early on. It might seem like a lot to deal with, but it has the potential to save you a lot of issues further down the line.
Contact our team today if you require professional support in relation to cleaning and facilities management services for your logistics business.
SMC Premier Group Ltd
117 – 119a Stockport Road
Stockport
SK3 0JE
0161 282 6444
Other Offices: Liverpool
Monday – 9am-5pm
Tuesday – 9am-5pm
Wednesday – 9am-5pm
Thursday – 9am-5pm
Friday – 9am-5pm
Saturday – Closed
Sunday – Closed
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