DIV16/20: Plymouth University Standardises on Exact Ultra-Concentrates (3 November 2016)

Issue Date: 3 November 2016
Ref: DIV16/20

Plymouth University has standardised on ultra-concentrate cleaning products from Diversey Care. With 27,000 full and part time students, Plymouth University is one of the largest academic institutions in the UK.

Plymouth University Standardises on Exact Ultra-Concentrates
All daily building care tasks completed with just three core products

Plymouth University has standardised on ultra-concentrate cleaning products in the Exact format from Diversey Care for all non-residential areas because they offered the right combination of simplicity, performance, sustainability and low cost-in-use.

“We have achieved our aim, to standardise and reduce the number of cleaning products in use across the campus,” says Sarah Haywood, Campus Services Co-ordinator at Plymouth University.

With 27,000 full and part time students, the University is one of the largest academic institutions in the UK. The building care team is responsible for the interiors of all non-residential facilities including lecture theatres, teaching rooms, laboratories, workshops, offices and public spaces. 

These sites are dispersed throughout the city and the cleaning operation is divided into seven areas based on geography and staff numbers. Each area is looked after by a Supervisor who reports to the Cleaning Team Leader. Cleaning generally takes place early in the morning and late afternoon, except in buildings such as the main library which are open round the clock and cleaned accordingly.

The University had used Diversey Care dosed concentrate products successfully until a decade or so ago but the operation had since become fragmented. Each area was making local decisions and using a variety of products, often in ready-to-use formats.

“We wanted to standardise the operation across the campus and reduce the number of products we use,” says Sarah Haywood. “This helps us improve safety, simplify training processes and work more consistently. We were also hopeful that moving to an ultra-concentrate dosing system would save money.”

The University worked with its cleaning and hygiene partner Bunzl CHS to identify and assess potential solutions. This led to the selection of Diversey Care’s Exact platform during 2014. Exact is one of Diversey Care’s four ultra-concentrate platforms and was chosen because it was the most cost effective for the variety of sites at the University. Its easy-to-use innovative cap design ensures the correct amount of colour-coded ultra-concentrated product is always dispensed into a spray bottle, toilet bottle, bucket or cleaning machine for optimum cleaning consistency and performance with reduced wastage.

“Buying ultra-concentrated products has led to fewer deliveries, less storage requirement and with reusable bottles, less waste and less packaging,” says Sarah Haywood. “Using Exact dosing removes the variations of product use which prevents wastage, saves product and is sustainable."

The University specified three building care products: TASKI Sani 4in1 washroom cleaner, TASKI Sprint 200 for general surface cleaning and TASKI Jontec 300 neutral which is used mainly for floors. All of these are multipurpose formulations, which means they alone support all core daily cleaning operations. The University sources a small number of Diversey Care’s “problem solvers” for exceptional tasks.

Bunzl CHS and Diversey Care demonstrated the Exact system to the University team, explained how it worked and conducted a short-term trial to gather feedback before the final decision was made to switch. 

“We have an extremely good working relationship with Bunzl CHS,” says Sarah Haywood. “We explained what we wanted to achieve and they brought in Diversey Care. It was very much a partnership between the two.”

The roll-out of the new products was planned well in advance to ensure a smooth transition. Diversey Care account managers provided on-site training for Exact and the specific formulations for the majority of staff to coincide with some pre-arranged floorcare training to make the best use of time and resources. An important aspect of the training was to explain the benefits the new products compared with ready-to-use.

“It takes a bit of time to prepare solutions each week, which places a small additional burden on the Supervisors but we focused on the overall benefits and any potential issues settled down very quickly,” says Sarah Haywood.

The standardisation involves more than the choice of products. One of the key requirements was to simplify health and safety processes as all staff must receive training for all products in use. Reducing the number of products has simplified training and lessened the number of data sheets held in each cleaning cupboard across the campus. As part of the contract Diversey Care supplied a quantity of pre-printed, colour-coded spray and toilet bowl bottles which staff must use for their cleaning solutions. 

“Fewer products mean training is simpler,” says Sarah Haywood. “Properly marked bottles ensure a much safer way of working. We have achieved our health and safety objectives.”