Institutional Cleaner Manufacturers

institutional cleaning products Lobby

The Business Of Cleaning

Business office buildings, retail stores, public municipal buildings as the town hall, library, and recreational facilities, public train and bus stations, airports, and large private restaurants can appear eerie, void of the ringing phones, computer keyboard clicking, and printer humming, were it not for those shadowy figures that break through the sparse ‘after hours’ lighting of business buildings. Those ‘shadowy figures’ do the business of institutional cleaning, also called commercial cleaning, of carpets and conference tables, wastebaskets and windows, restroom faucets, sinks, stalls, doors, and floors.  Unified Solutions For Cleaning, an institutional cleaning manufacturer, works ’round the clock’ producing the thousands of cleaning formulas comprised of biocides, surfactants, solvents, and sanitizers — OH MY!

The Cleaning Market Overview

  • While a market data report of April 2020 by MarketResearch.com estimated a 1.6% decline in profit for 2020, the U.S. commercial cleaning industry was still expected to be valued at 117.3 billion dollars. The forecast for 2021 is a market gain of 7.4% as the coronavirus lockdowns are lifted, with 5.4% market gains projected through 2025.
  • The 117 billion dollar revenue from U.S. commercial cleaning businesses comprises janitorial services, pest control services, and in-house building maintenance. The institutional cleaning industry is made up primarily of sole proprietor businesses, 36,000 franchise operations, and large, private corporate businesses.
  • 90% of the commercial cleaning market comprises office buildings. While many of these offices have their workers now working from home, the formal office spaces are leased for at least five-year periods, and will require continued cleaning.
  • As the Covid19 virus continues to decline and business and facility managers continue to be vigilant with office hygiene practices, more frequent ‘deep cleaning’ services are expected.

Opportunities and Challenges

The expected growth of institutional cleaning products presents institutional cleaner manufacturers and cleaning supply distributors both challenges and opportunities for future market growth:

The Challenges:

  • In the past, cleaning was basic cleaning for the sake of appearance, wiping a floor of muddy footprints, emptying wastebaskets, and ensuring the carpet looked fresh by vacuuming. With the public’s growing concern for health and good hygiene, commercial cleaning companies are being held to a higher standard of preventing viruses, infectious diseases, and contamination of public places than in the past.
  • There is the challenge put to cleaning companies to be in compliance with regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as well as meet the health and safety standards from organizations as LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, with the use of proper technology, product formulation and production processes from institutional cleaner manufacturers.
  • The EPA reports show excessive workplace illnesses and absences due to poor indoor air quality (IAQ). These reports have prompted facility managers of office complexes to seek cleaning firms using ‘greener,’ environmentally friendly cleaning products.  Green cleaning solutions do not leave a residue ‘footprint’ with the potential for breathing difficulties to customers, employees, visitors, and cleaning workers.
  • The competition can be said to be ‘keen’ amongst those who clean. With more business offices looking to cut costs, cleaning companies must find ways to add value to their current services, added services, and provide lower prices than the competition.

The Opportunities:

  • Cleaning supply firms can capitalize on the commercial cleaning businesses’ desire to cut costs and remain competitive. Working with a turnkey institutional cleaner manufacturer, distributors have access to certified chemists who can provide a customized product formulation and any size production run. This cuts production costs, which can be passed on to cleaning businesses.
  • The need for commercial cleaning businesses to bring more value to their business allows supply distributors to utilize private-label cleaning solutions. Private labeling enables distributors to ‘own’ the cleaning solution. Choosing the raw materials, the percentage of ingredients they wish in the product mix, and the package size and production volume based on the needs of their client base.
  • Some institutional cleaning companies erroneously fear higher inventory costs associated with ‘greener’ chemical cleaning solutions that reduce surface chemical residue. According to the ISSA, International Sanitary Supply Association, and Sanitary Maintenance Magazine, a magazine for commercial cleaning product distributors, one-third of total sales were sustainable ‘green’ cleaning products and it has been found that green cleaning product production processes save money on energy, water, chemical, and waste costs. Fear not, ‘green,’ aka sustainable, cleaning solutions have significant cost savings.
  • Commercial cleaning firms were hit hard when many of their business clients were forced to shut down operations. With businesses beginning to re-open, there comes an increased demand for cleaning supplies.

Cleaning Product Safety

There are steps that cleaning supply distributors, working with institutional cleaner manufacturers, can do to reassure cleaning firms on the efficiency and safety of cleaning products:

Product Education: Communication is critical in educating cleaning firms on the importance of product terms as CAUTION, the product is safe when carefully used according to application directions, WARNING, the product is moderately toxic and should be used wearing protective gloves, mask, and with proper room ventilation, DANGER, this cleaning product requires protective clothing, shoes, and safety glasses. Use adequate ventilation and follow specific label directions on how long to leave the product on the surface before rinsing with water. Also, instruct what to do if feeling the effects of inhalation of toxic chemical fumes and provide the number of the poison control center.

Storage Instructions: Distributors should include critical storage information of the cleaning product: Information regarding not storing near HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) intake vents, NEVER mix two chemical cleaning solutions, even if it appears the same type of solution, and NEVER transfer the cleaning product from the original packaging to another ‘generic’ container.  Distributors should always package and ship the cleaning product in the proper material.

Provide Material Safety Data Sheets: Each cleaning product should come with Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), which detail hazardous ingredients of a product, chemical character traits, (e.g. flammable, corrosive, explosive) effect on health, other chemicals that can adversely react to the product,
emergency procedures to implement should spills or inhalation occur, and how to prevent excess exposure when using the product.


Safety Signs:
Large printed signage should be provided to cleaning firms to be posted where the products are stored telling what type of cleaning solution it is. FLAMMABLE! EXPLOSIVE! CORROSIVE! HAZARDOUS TO WILDLIFE, PETS, OR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT! HEALTH HAZARD! The best signage would be visual ”universal” symbols to indicate flammable, explosive, corrosive, hazardous to nature, or personal health.

Yellow Floor Signs: Safety Signs should be provided to cleaning professionals and posted where cleaning is in progress.

 
Responsible actions is a must, for institutional cleaning firms, institutional cleaning supply distributors, and most especially institutional cleaner manufacturers. Unified Solutions For Cleaning has been serving the cleaning industry with its turnkey, end-to-end, production experience since 2005!  Come tour our facility!

Thank You - For Message

Thank You!

Your message is on its way.

A specialist will reach out to you shortly.