E Book

Chemicals & Dosing

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Chemicals & Dosing Contents

1. Are You Concentrating Yet?

2. The Key Benefits of Using Concentrates

3. Types of Manual Dosing Equipment

4. Electronic Dosing Equipment

5. Engineering Services Reliability

6. Equipment & Commercial Viability

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1. Are You Concentrating Yet?

Welcome to our latest blog series covering the subject of chemicals and dosing. A hot topic in

the trade press, the six-part series will discuss the most important issues surrounding the

chemical dosing landscape.

Chemical Dosing: A Brief Overview

Chemical dosing systems, whether manual dispensing pumps or electronic dosing units, have

been around for 30 years or so. The core premise of both is the same – the use of equipment

to enable the end user to accurately dose or dilute a chemical concentrate at the point of use,

to give a ready to use cleaning or disinfecting solution.

Active ingredients make up a very small percentage of the composition of ready-to-use

cleaning products – the rest being water. In the past, this meant that large multi-site

organisations were spending a significant proportion of their cleaning expenditure on ‘buying

water’. With water being a readily available and cheap commodity in most developed

countries, the solution lay in pushing up the concentration of active ingredients. This is what

RP Adam has done over the last decade or more by manufacturing and marketing

concentrated chemicals.

Over the last 15 years, great strides have been made by the major dosing equipment

manufacturers. Dosing systems are now simpler to use, easier to install by technicians and

more reliable in terms of lifespan and accuracy of dilution control.

It used to be that only the larger global corporations could afford to supply free-on-loan

equipment and resource with adequate engineering services. This is no longer the case.

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Today, the provision of dosing equipment and associated engineering services is much more

accessible and more affordable to a wider spectrum of businesses.

Customer Expectations

The above has been a positive and progressive trend for both supplier and customer, and has

put economy in use higher up the agenda.

Many customers now expect chemical dosing stations as part of their cleaning package.

Suppliers can sometimes find managing these expectations a difficult task, especially if the

user’s financial contribution (spend) is not in line with the investment required by the supplier

to supply, install and service the equipment on an ongoing basis. We will look at this subject

in greater detail in future posts within this series.

Topics Covered

Key topics to be examined will include:

1. The types of cleaning & disinfection concentrate available and how they need to be

designed properly to make controlled dilution work to maximum effect i.e. in terms of

lowest in use costs and effectiveness of the cleaning and disinfection solutions.

2. The types of manual dosing equipment available including chemical to water types

and water/chemical mixing stations; the things to consider when choosing the right

type of system.

3. Electronic dosing equipment for dish and glass washing, liquid laundry and drain

dosing applications.

4. The importance of effective engineering capability to a) respond to machine

breakdowns, b) maintain/replace equipment parts within a wider preventative

maintenance programme, and c) have the capability to roll out national multi-site

contracts efficiently and on time.

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5. How suppliers assess the commercial viability of providing free-on-loan dosing

equipment and avoid some of the pitfalls when costing out contract investment.

Doing It Right

We believe, to do it properly, supplier businesses should expect to invest up to a double digit

percentage of their turnover in the provision of free-on-loan equipment and professional

engineering services each year.

Clearly, this will vary between business types and the sectors they are active in, but there are

no short cuts – you either commit and resource properly or you don’t. It is critical, therefore,

that there is a solid business model supporting investment in their clients’ operations.

All parties (supplier, distributor and end user customer) need to be clear on who is investing

in what and who benefits from such investment. The supplier and the distributor hopefully

receive a longer-term supply commitment, with the customer gaining the in-use cost and

lower wastage benefits of dilution control.

Chemical Dosing at RP Adam

RP Adam invests heavily in time and money to help research and develop new dosing

equipment technology, collaborating with leading equipment manufacturers to assist them in

bringing new innovations to market. We are frequently asked to participate in Q&A sessions

when the concepts are at design stage and take part in soft launches to ensure these systems

are fit for purpose in a real and demanding working environment.

It is in our interest to ensure that these system innovations can handle the rigours of the

modern cleaning world. Likewise, equipment manufacturers have a high regard for our

concentrated products and use them for upper limit chemical compatibility tests to check that

the dispenser components can handle high chemical concentrations and will not corrode over

time.

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Stephen Woolmer, CEO of UK based Brightwell Dispensers Ltd says:

“As equipment manufacturers we are under pressure to expand our expertise, product and

service offering in line with emerging customer needs. For decades, RP Adam has collaborated

with Brightwell Dispensers to develop some of the most innovative, reliable and accurate

dosing systems on the market today. Our focus has been to deliver cleaning professionals a

safe, precise and economic chemical management system for a multitude of applications such

as catering, laundry and housekeeping. With a combined experience of nearly 200 years, our

family business shares a vision to offer our customers first class service, support and innovative

products.”

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2. The Key Benefits of Using Concentrates

In part two of our six-part series we examine the stand-out benefits of using a controlled

chemical dispensing system and chemical concentrates and wonder why more businesses are

not realising these.

The cleaning industry has a reputation for being quite innovative, but it is the translation of

these benefits into the B2B commercial sphere where we find some resistance from the end

user; despite compelling evidence that using concentrates and chemical dosing systems can

immediately deliver real businesses benefit in many areas.

There are four key reasons to embrace concentrates and chemical dosing:

1. To reduce the amount of packaging waste and to control chemical consumption

thereby improving a business’s environmental profile and reduce its carbon footprint.

2. To ensure the accuracy of disinfectant solutions so that critical food-contact

equipment and surfaces are disinfected to meet industry standards. Similarly, for

health care and washroom surfaces where there is a potential for cross contamination.

3. To be able to control cleaning costs in a disciplined way rather than rely on end user

free-hand pouring or continued use of expensive and environmentally unsound

readyto-use pre-packed cleaning products.

4. To reduce the risk to users of accidental contact with potentially hazardous chemical

products and thereby improve the safety profile of your business.

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Waste Reduction & Improved Carbon Footprint

The use of concentrates for the environmentally conscious business is a key driver in the

reduction of plastics waste. At RP Adam, we invest significantly in clients’ business to achieve

massive waste reduction targets. A good example would be a large equipment installation

project we implemented for a well-known national budget hotel chain comprising over 500

properties.

We will examine this case study in more detail in a later post, but one of the key factors in

winning the contract was our ability to drastically reduce chemical volume thereby eliminating

30,000 one litre plastic bottles and caps going to landfill each year. This was achieved by

providing a bottle fill dispenser and a toilet cleaner concentrate to replace the ready to use

product.

The benefits are clear. Each 2x2lt pack of our Arpax concentrate dilutes to the equivalent of

264 x 750ml or 400 x 500ml ready to use bottles. This represents a considerable amount of

plastic waste being saved and is one of the main reasons our Arpax range is so popular.

With over 12,000 Arpax dispensers currently in the marketplace, RP Adam continues to

promote this range to the budget conscious purchasing manager with a green heart, both

home and abroad.

We also need to consider transportation and carbon footprint. A typical example is the

company that promotes their trigger pack hard surface cleaner which contains 99% water. A

simple equation follows:

A less active chemical = more bottles of product required = more road miles.

One 4lt pack of RP Adam’s Arpax concentrate is the equivalent of 44 cases of 6x750ml product,

representing a significant saving in this area.

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We focus so much on health and safety and environmental considerations nowadays that

perhaps we are ignoring an equally important issue: wastage. Wanton wastage is a crime,

especially when it can be so easily eliminated at no extra cost through controlled dispensing

systems. There are far too many ready-to-use products being used in today’s professional

cleaning world. As a company, we are very keen to significantly reduce this, but customers

need to play their part too.

Customers need to cast aside the red herring of perceived higher unit price of a concentrate

and focus on the in-use bottle cost instead. Although it may be associated with the old adage

that people are much better at spending other peoples’ money than their own, businesses

need to stamp out wastage and insist on suppliers and staff getting as much out of the bottle

as possible, not as little.

Where we talk about sustainability in environmental terms, on a day to day basis, it is

commercial sustainability that is the key – without it there is nothing left to talk about.

Accuracy of Disinfection On Critical Food Contact Surfaces or Washroom Surfaces

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) Guidance states unambiguously that a two-stage process

must take place – cleaning first with a good quality detergent to remove all visible surface

debris, before then disinfecting the surface in a way that meets either the BS EN 1276 or the

BS EN 13697 disinfectant standard.

In a previous post we highlighted 10 key issues that Food Business Operators should consider

regarding food safety and disinfection. You can view the article by clicking here.

The BS EN 1276 standard is a suspension test used to evaluate bactericidal activity of chemical

disinfectants. Four test organisms are used, including E. coli, and to satisfy the test a 5-log

reduction (99.999%) is required within 5 minutes at the recommended dilution rate e.g. 10:1

which means one-part chemical to ten parts water.

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The BS EN 13697 standard tests bactericidal performance on a non-porous surface. The same

four test bacteria used in the BS EN 1276 standard are also used in this test, but BS EN 13697

can also be extended to include fungicidal activity. To meet the BS EN 13697 standard, a 4log

reduction (99.99%) in bacteria is required within 5 minutes. The reputable chemical supplier

should be able to readily produce independent scientific proof (normally a test certificate)

that the product has been tested to the appropriate BS EN standard by a recognised testing

laboratory.

There are numerous disinfection tests for different viruses, bacteria, spores and fungi, outwith

the catering sphere, for example (13697) MRSA; (13704) Clostridium Difficile; (14476)

Norovirus; (13623) Legionella. However, they are all tested within the same parameters of a

dilution (strength) of disinfectant within a certain amount of time. As an example you can

view the disinfection credentials for our Arpax SC super concentrates by clicking here and see

how they stand up, even at very high dilution rates.

It is critical therefore that the sanitiser/disinfectant used in practice for disinfection meets the

required dilution rate stated in the test protocol, and this can only be guaranteed with the

use of controlled dilution systems. The risk of human error is drastically reduced when it

comes to preparing the ready to use disinfection solution.

Cost Control

Until the 1970s-80s, the only chemical format available was pre-diluted, ready-to-use

solutions. The emergence and expansion of chains across various industries coupled with

impetuous economic crashes increased both the buyers’ power and cost awareness. Large

corporates, who spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on cleaning products per year,

started looking at ways to cut costs.

When we speak of cost control, we are NOT talking about the price of the product. We explore

the perceived price v realised cost conundrum in more detail later on in this series. For now,

let’s keep it simple. If the volume used decreases, then so do cleaning costs. How many times

have salesman sat across the table from the buyer and been asked how much does this cost?

Invariably sellers and buyers are not talking the same language at all, partly because it is a

convenient way for both players to play their part, where one talks of cost and the other only

wants to talk price.

We spend endless hours involved in preparing open tenders, where this critical area is

completely lost in translation. If through controlled dilution and the use of concentrates an

end user business (a busy hotels chain for example) can be guaranteed to cut their

consumption of prepared cleaning solutions by 30%, then the focus on the price of the

cleaning concentrate becomes increasingly unimportant.

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“Ah-hah!” says the buyer, “but if I can get the benefit of controlled dilution with manufacturer

A’s concentrates, and manufacturer B’s are cheaper, I get a double benefit don’t I?”

Theoretically yes, only assuming there is a guarantee of control and the products that

company B is promoting are up to the specification required to deliver the lowest in use cost

solutions. Many manufacturers pretend they are selling concentrates, but their tender

submissions ultimately prove that they have very little confidence in the concentrates. Why

would they want to sell them short if they could deliver on their promise?

Health and Safety

Again this is an issue we explore in more detail later, but the additional benefit is improving

staff safety and drastically reducing the chance of hazardous chemical concentrates splashing

into the eyes or skin of cleaning operatives.

Concentrates are more hazardous by their very nature, but rather than shy away from

choosing these types of chemicals, dispense systems should make them safer to use. RP Adam

believes in the concept of “bringing the factory to the end user safely” and we have a number

of innovations which allow users to gain the other benefits of using concentrates in as safe a

way as possible.

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3. Types of Manual Dosing Equipment

Commercial cleaning operatives need to feel comfortable using concentrated chemicals. RP

Adam has always viewed controlled dilution as a key driver in delivering best-in-class results

in the simplest and most economical way possible. The more progressive chemical

manufacturers should be striving to “put as much in the bottle as possible” in order to

maximise positive environmental impact while at the same time making it as safe for the end

user to use.

Manual dosing systems are essentially non-electronic ways to dispense chemical concentrates

into trigger spray bottles, mop buckets, washing up sinks and cleaning machines (such as

pressure washers, carpet extraction machines and scrubber driers). Chemicals are either

manually dispensed into water or automatically mixed using water pressure.

In its most basic format, the simple 5lt pelican pump is a manual dosing system which delivers

a controlled 30ml dose of chemical with each press of the pump. Although it provides some

control over free hand pouring guesswork, the downside with this is that there is nothing to

stop the cleaning operative pressing the pelican pump numerous times – despite the

manufacturer’s recommendations of how much to use!

There are also wall mounted manual pumps out there that look sophisticated, but many of

them are just glorified pelican pumps because there is nothing to prevent the user repeat

dosing. Why pay for this kind of system when a standard pelican pump for around £1 will

suffice?

The solution is to provide a manual dosing unit with some form of delay mechanism which

prevents repeat dosing or to pre-mix chemical and water at source. Let us look at each of

these options.

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Human Power: Manual Dispensing System with Delay Mechanism

Unless there is a way to eliminate or, at the very least, delay the chance of a user repeat dosing

(ignoring the manufacturer’s recommended dilution instructions) there is very little point in

using any manual dosing system. Many users incorrectly believe that as a general rule the

stronger the solution the better it will work. This may be true if we are talking about the

difference between 50:1 and 25:1 dilution but too much chemical in a cleaning solution can

lead to many problems.

Commercial grade cleaning products are specifically designed for economy in use. End users

MUST follow the recommended dilution rates from the manufacturer. Over concentration

and/or over dosing of chemical will often cause smearing on surfaces or leave them tacky to

touch because the surface is covered in chemical residue. Over dosing can also cause

irreparable damage to the surfaces being cleaned.

We have on a few occasions had complaints that our products “didn’t work” and that hot

water cleaned the floors better, only to find that there was so much chemical residue on the

floor surface that the hot water was actually diluting the chemical left on the floor to make it

a more effective cleaning solution!

The Arpax system from RP Adam and its range of concentrates is one of the best performing

ranges of chemical concentrates on the market comprising 13 products to cover most if not

all catering and building services cleaning applications. The bottle, sink and bucket dispensers

have a manual lever which, when pushed to dose the chemical concentrate, will activate a

delay mechanism that locks the dispenser for 30 seconds, thus preventing the user from

overdosing.

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There is still a minor risk if the intrepid user is determined and prepared to wait to dose again,

but when you are filling a 500ml bottle, 30 seconds is a long time to wait, and patience or time

is not something cleaners usually have in abundance.

Some chemical companies out there allow sites to over-ride the delay mechanism by leaving

an over-riding key in or attached to the dispenser, thus enabling users to effectively put as

much in the bottle as they wish. It has never made sense to us and makes a mockery of having

a controlled dilution system in the first place. There can only be two reasons that this is

allowed to happen:

1. The chemical company is not confident that the concentration of their product is strong

enough to produce an adequate cleaning solution at the dispenser dilution rate, thereby

encouraging users to use more concentrate.

Or

2. The chemical company does not want the site to control their dilution (despite spending

money on installing dispensers) and indeed want them to use as much as possible to

maximise sales. It amazes us just how often we come across this when we gain new

business. It’s a waste of time, waste of money and quite frankly incompetent.

RP Adam was the first UK chemical manufacturer to launch the Arpax system over 13 years

ago. Our customers have continued to purchase these products because of their superb

performance and formulation credentials, low cost in use and the environmental benefits of

re-using refillable bottles as opposed to “throw away” ready to use product packaging.

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All our 2lt concentrates are colour coded by label, concentrate and ready to use solution and

are tagged in an alphanumeric format. All products are dispensed through a manually

operated bottle, sink or bucket type dispenser with a timed dosing control mechanism to

avoid repeated vending dispensing and wastage. None of the dispensers require a water or

electricity supply making their installation quick and easy.

Manual dosing units typically offer chemical doses of 5,10,15,20 and 30ml. Water

Power: Venturi or Chemical/Water Mixing Stations

The subject of dosing has been around for a very long time. Indeed, we can go back to the late

18th century to find an Italian physicist and historian of science called Giovanni Battista Venturi

who discovered the “Venturi” effect and as a result he is the eponym for the Venturi tube,

flow meter and pump which are found in many chemical and water mixing systems available

today.

In simple terms, Venturi-Based Dilution (VBD) systems draw chemical concentrate from the

container by vacuum at a pre-set dose into the water stream to provide a ready-to-go

chemical solution from its tap. They need to be plumbed into a water supply and require

sufficient water pressure to ensure that the chemical can be drawn from the container and

mixed with the water to provide the correct solution.

These types of VBD systems are usually installed in high-traffic businesses that consume large

quantities of cleaning chemicals and have sufficient space to install the equipment, such as

in-flight/large commercial kitchens, hotels, airports, shopping centres and holiday resorts.

VBD systems are also particularly suited to users filling larger cleaning vessels like buckets,

sinks or floor scrubbing machines. The effect is a bit like filling your car up with petrol.

Whilst many chemical suppliers provide so-called “concentrates” with dosing systems, it is

clear that, on closer inspection, many of these chemicals are what we would describe as

“normal-strength” or “me-too” products, providing only one part of the benefit equation –

control – and ignoring the key aspect that higher concentration = massive waste reduction.

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The Arpax SC system utilises five authentic “superconcentrated” detergents and disinfectants

under the Arpax SC banner. Each 2x2lt pack will yield a minimum of 400 litres of ready to use

cleaning and disinfection solution. The 2lt concentrates are dispensed through a bottle and/or

bucket fill water and chemical VBD system which we call ECOPAX. There are two products for

housekeeping and building services and three for catering areas.

That’s 400 litres – or 800x500ml bottles of ready to use solution – with 100% guarantee of

performance, and control of waste and costs. Why? As the product dilution is controlled and

pre-mixed and it is impossible to put 1 litre of solution into a 500ml spray bottle, then the

user cannot in any way double dose or alter the pre-set dilution of the chemical solution.

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Although the super concentrates are “hazardous”, all ready to use solutions are classified as

non-hazardous in use and each 2lt container is fitted with SafeLink™ to provide an ultra-safe

system for dosing chemical concentrates safely.

The safety mechanism in the neck of the 2lt flask forms a leak-proof connection between the

chemical flask and the Ecopax dosing equipment, eliminating the chance of hazardous

chemicals coming into contact with the user. The super concentrates are also locked inside a

bespoke Ecopax 2lt cabinet so the end user cannot access it without a key. Did you know that

Ecopax and the Arpax SC concentrates have been recently nominated for the Tomorrow’s

Cleaning Awards 2016?

Venturi dosing units offer a far wider spectrum of dilution rates than traditional manual

dispense systems, and can be used to dose at extremely high dilutions in conjunction with

high quality concentrates.

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4. Electronic Dosing Equipment

Previous posts have focussed on chemical concentrates and the benefits of businesses moving

to these types of products through manual dispensing systems. Here we turn our attention to

technologically superior electronic dosing equipment focusing on three core areas –

automatic dish and glass washing, commercial liquid laundry and drain cleaning.

Automatic Dish and Glass Washing Dosing Units

Outside of swimming pools, water treatment and cleaning in place (CIP) industrial cleaning,

mechanical dishwashing has the highest volume products which are auto-dosed electronically

in the commercial cleaning sphere.

To achieve the best results, the majority of large commercial dish washers are fitted with

electronic dosing pumps to automatically dispense two main liquid chemicals: the dish washer

detergent (which cleans the dishes) and rinse additive (which helps dry the dishes). Both are

metered precisely and consistently into the wash and rinse cycles. Reputable chemical

manufacturers who install their own external, wall mounted dosing units usually provide them

free-on-loan and will install the equipment and programme the dose rates for their specific

chemicals.

We discuss the issue of free-on-loan dispensers as a separate topic in our final post in this

series. This equipment can be relatively expensive and there needs to be a conjoint

understanding between supplier and customer to ensure that the supplier’s investment is

protected.

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There are different types of electronic dosing systems available but most chemical suppliers

use timed (or cyclic) dosing to inject controlled amounts of their products into the wash tanks.

Calculated chemical dose levels are pre-set by the chemical manufacturer to ensure the

optimum concentration of chemical is used in each wash cycle, taking into account the

capacity of the wash tank and the volume of water added in the rinse cycle. The pumps are

then calibrated and the appropriate dose levels programmed into the memory of the dosing

unit to ensure that the correct amounts of chemical detergent and rinse aid are added every

time.

The other primary method of dosing chemicals into a dishwasher is through the use of

inductive or conductive probes fitted into the wash tank and which measure the level of

alkalinity in the tank. Historically these have proven to be unreliable because they can be

adversely affected by lime-scale and organic matter in the tank leading to variable results

through under/over dosing.

It should be noted that the detergent used in dish and glass washing is normal a corrosive

liquid and real care needs to be taken when handling such a product. Improper use can cause

severe skin burns or irreparable damage to the eyes.

It is in this area where a system such as Duotek 4 should be used. The system utilises a

revolutionary safety mechanism in the neck of the 5lt flask forming a leak-proof connection

between the chemical flask and the electronic dosing equipment. By choosing cleaning power

and this unique safety feature, users can be confident that the possibility of coming into

contact with corrosive chemicals is minimised.

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Automated Liquid Laundry Chemical Dosing

By comparison to dish washing liquid, laundry is a more complex area to successfully get

autodosing right. The premise, however, is the same – electronically controlling the dosing of

liquid laundry detergents to ensure that the correct amount of laundry chemicals (detergents,

destainers, fabric conditioners and finishing products) are dosed at the appropriate stage of

every wash cycle.

Done right, this will yield the best possible wash results as cost effectively as possible.

Because the dosing systems are pre-set and automated, there is minimum manual handling

of the chemicals, little chance of human error and less chance of chemicals being wasted

unnecessarily.

The sophisticated equipment used is highly flexible and can be programmed to dispense all

laundry chemicals at whatever dose levels required for each wash programme selected. With

most modern commercial laundry machines having up to 20 different wash programmes, this

level of flexibility is essential.

For example, different levels of detergent can be set depending on wash load types; softeners

can be added at different levels or not added at all; and specialist chemicals such as

emulsifiers or starches can be programmed as required. The number of dosing permutations

caters for every launderers’ requirements.

The volume of chemical concentrate delivered by the pump is dependent on pump size or

capacity, tubing diameter size and the length of time that the pump runs. Generally, a pump

should be capable of delivering the required doses of chemicals within a 45 to 60 seconds

window whilst the water flush valve is open so it is important that the correct sizes of pumps

are chosen in relation to the demand/size of the washer extractor machines.

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The programming of dosing equipment is extremely important and must be carried out by

experienced chemical laundry technicians otherwise the system will be compromised and the

laundry may not achieve optimum results.

Chemical dosing within a laundry environment is far more complex and sensitive than in

mechanical glass and dish washing. Only reputable chemical suppliers will have the knowledge

and know-how to do this properly. Once everything is calibrated and set-up, the laundry

system will be strictly controlled to dispense precise doses of laundry chemicals into each

wash programme.

Drain Cleaning & Electronic Dosing

Smelly or blocked drains can cause serious problems for the commercial caterer or hospitality

business. However, premises can easily keep drains flowing freely with the use of specialised

biological products that digest organic matter.

These products are made up of a concentrated blend of natural micro-organisms and

biodegradable surfactants designed to digest fats, grease and organic matter in an

environmentally sensitive way. They are designed to be drip fed through an automatic dosing

system.

When dosed into the drainage system the ‘friendly’ bacteria create enzymes to accelerate the

natural degradation process, turning potentially drain blocking fats into harmless simple

sugars, carbon dioxide and water. The concentrate is dosed into the drain or grease trap at a

time when the site is less active (generally at night).

In a standard hotel/restaurant, a daily dose rate of 150 – 200mls is sufficient to maintain

drains and grease traps, yielding between 100 – 133 days treatment from a 20lt container.

Larger commercial properties with industrial sized grease traps may require stronger

solutions of specialised drain chemicals and more powerful equipment to dose larger

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quantities of chemicals. In such premises, it is critical that accurate dosing levels are

maintained to ensure that water regulatory guidelines set by local water authorities are not

breached. Continuous breaches can lead to very hefty fines and in extreme cases

imprisonment.

In our next post, we examine the importance of chemical suppliers being able to provide

effective, reliable and professional ongoing engineering support for their customers. Without

this, it is impossible to achieve consistent, quality results when using controlled dilution

systems (electronic or manual). In simple terms, there is clearly little point in having a modern

dosing unit fitted if it is not installed, maintained, and programmed correctly.

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5. Engineering Services Reliability

So far in this series, we have looked at two of the three key parts to the chemical dosing

equation: the importance of robust cleaning/disinfection chemicals that can be diluted cost

effectively and technologically advanced dosing equipment capable of accurate chemical

dosing to keep costs and consumption down.

In this post, we look in detail at the unsung heroes – the fully trained technicians who install

and maintain this equipment.

Professional Engineering Services

Too many suppliers have one or two of the above factors covered, but by neglecting or not

investing in professional engineering services, the offering fails to deliver on its promises.

Some chemical suppliers may “talk the talk” about regular service calls, but these claims need

to be substantiated. We at RPA “walk the walk” by continuously checking the integrity of

tubing, dosing pump calibrations and pump heads as part of our regular service calls; changing

them as and when they begin to show signs of wear and tear.

By adopting this proactive approach to engineering support, we reduce the incidence of

breakdown call-outs and cleaning downtime.

Dosing Units

Chemical dosing units in a busy professional environment work hard – very hard – sometimes

24/7. As such, there will be wear and tear on equipment.

With constant dosing, the chemicals eventually put severe strain on the pump tubing which,

if left unattended, would eventually lead to tube failure or inconsistent dosing.

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Regular service calls and preventative maintenance checks can highlight impending problems,

be fixed on the spot and avoid problems further down the line.

Lana Turner, who leads RP Adam’s engineering services says:

“We have a dedicated engineering helpline, a team of administrators and field service

operatives (CSR’s) who are all trained in troubleshooting and preventative maintenance. Our

CSR’s are despatched to our customers’ sites using an automated planning system managed

at HQ. This enables us to see who is closest to a call out and how quickly we can attend site.

All calls are logged on our customer database and reported back using real time reporting so

we can monitor the jobs and ensure they are followed through to the customers’ satisfaction”.

Engineer Options

Typically, engineers are either directly employed or contracted by chemical providers. Either

way, it is a big financial commitment to get the job done properly. For the smaller provider

who may operate within a tight geographical location, employed technicians may offer a

viable solution. For companies operating across a larger geographical area and who require

effective and efficient national engineering coverage, contracting out is usually the best

option.

As with dosing equipment manufacturers, the quality and choice of engineering contractors

is far better today than say 20 years ago, with many businesses offering consistent, reliable

and quality services throughout the UK. By paying fair rates, respecting the value of the

contractor and providing work on a regular basis, true partner relationships develop and

suppliers/contractors can share in each other’s success.

For a fully national chemical supplier with thousands of end user sites on their books, a full

time employed engineering team is neither financially viable nor effective, simply because the

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work cannot be 100% guaranteed and the supplier cannot predict where or when the work

will need to be done.

Customer Expectations

Customers will not live with a two or three-day lead time to attend broken or faulty equipment

and will invariably look for an alternative supplier if the response times are not sufficiently

good.

RP Adam offers a market leading engineering service, led by an experienced in-house

engineering team who liaise directly with customers and engineers to ensure a prompt,

reliable and professional service for both our end user customers and distributor partners.

Lana adds:

“Over the years we have built great relationships with our contractors and as a result have

access to over 30 engineers throughout the UK. I suppose it helps when we constantly are

giving them work! They are briefed to ensure they work to our Code of Conduct and the process

works very efficiently from logging the initial call, despatching the engineer, to completing and

closing off the job within as short a time-scale as possible. We all work hard to provide a

fantastic service and it helps to cement customer loyalty.”

Wasted time is wasted money; therefore, a prompt, reliable, efficient and professional

engineering service from your chemical supplier is essential in maintaining the operational

efficiency of a commercial operation where dosing equipment is on site and in-use. Customers

need to know that, if a breakdown is reported, it is dealt with in a prompt and efficient manner

to minimise the downtime for the operator.

RFID Tags

It is important that, as part of the regular service visits, the chemical supplier visually checks

the location, condition and operational efficiency of all dosing equipment provided by the

company. Far too many times this is forgotten or avoided by the supplier, because all they are

interested in is getting an order.

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To ensure file personnel focus on this area, RP Adam now affixes specially encoded RFID tags

to all free-on-loan electronic and manual chemical dosing equipment. There is also a welcome

tag at each site which maintains a log of all equipment on site and gives the CSR a site map of

all areas where tagged equipment is located. This is particularly important for larger sites as

this ensures that we check all critical areas of our customer’s premises.

Our CSR then scans the encoded equipment sticker and reports on any material deficiencies

with the equipment – they will either fix it there and then or process an engineering request.

All jobs are recorded, photographed and emailed via iPad to an appropriate person at our

Head Office in real time, and immediate steps are taken to rectify the problem.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the wireless use of electromagnetic fields to transfer

data, for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. The

tags contain electronically stored information. RP Adam integrated this technology into its

business in 2013 to enhance its customer service quality and operational efficiency.

Our last post in this series focuses on the affordability of the chemicals, equipment and

engineering services support. If the commercial model does not support this kind of service

and investment, then the house of cards begins to fall.

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6. Equipment & Commercial Viability

In our last post in this series we focus on commercial viability.

Make no bones about it, the provision of free on loan equipment can be an expensive business

if not managed properly. Chemical suppliers (distributors and manufacturers) can get badly

burned financially if they get their account viability equation wrong.

The assessment as to whether a dosing system installation is suitable or commercially viable

needs to be well thought through, otherwise the customer may be receiving a Rolls Royce

system when a Mini Cooper one may fit the bill better.

There is a graveyard of suppliers who have tried to be just a little too smart by offering dirt

cheap concentrates and expensive dosing equipment (which needs fitted by qualified

professional technicians) only to find that the investment they have made in capital

equipment and engineering costs has taken a significant chunk out of the available profit and

has rendered the potentially profitable account into a break-even account at best.

In certain quarters of the cleaning industry there is a difference of opinion about the relative

price charged for chemical products suitable for controlled dilution and the actual cost-in-use.

The reputable suppliers’ chemical price quite simply should support the cost of the associated

equipment and engineering support, and yield a reasonable profit, whilst delivering savings

to the client. Getting the balance of this equation right is not as simple as many people think,

and can be financially disastrous through inexperienced assessment or a blind commitment

to give the customer whatever they want – at any cost.

It is important to remember that the cost of the initial investment and the associated costs of

maintaining chemical dispensing equipment in good working order throughout the duration

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of a supply contract remains the responsibility of the chemical supplier, not the distributor or

the customer. As such, the equipment remains the property of the supplier at all times.

This title of ownership of dispensers can sometimes become a hot topic when customers or

distributors misguidedly believe that a combination of making profit on product sales and the

writing off of the equipment over a period of time in some way magically transfers the

ownership to them. At no stage is there any legal transfer of ownership. Free-on-loan means

exactly what it says, and by lending the equipment, the supplier always retains ownership no

matter how long the equipment has been in-situ, unless there is a written agreement whereby

the supplier confirms the sale/transfer of the equipment.

Can you remember the conversation Trigger had with Del Boy and the boys in the local pub in

a classic “Only Fools & Horses” episode where he declared to Del that he had used the same

broom for 15 years? It was only when he mused that he had gone through 14 broom handles

and 17 brush heads over that period that he had in fact had 15 brushes not one!

Over the period of a contract, dosing equipment can be viewed in exactly the same way. It

may be perceived as the same original piece of kit and perceived as old with little or no value,

but over the years it will have had many pump heads, tubing or component replacements to

keep it in working order – as such, the equipment always maintains a real value. Whether it

is one-year-old or ten years old, as long as it is in working order and is fit for purpose it still

has a meaningful value, and is still provided free-on-loan from the owner.

For any supplier, return on investment is the key consideration – there seems little point in

installing expensive dosing equipment on a free-on-loan basis, if the chemical product is being

sold at a nominal commodity price to the end-user. It is not because manufacturers are greedy

or trying to pull the wool over unsuspecting customers eyes, it is simple maths.

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A genuine concentrated product sold at £12.50 per litre which dilutes to 100:1 equates to just

over 6p per 500ml of ready to use solution. The misconception regarding the definition of

PRICE and COST allows some chemical suppliers to try and talk about these two in the same

breath and to offer a mythical double benefit of cheap concentrates at lowest in-use costs.

If the same concentrate was sold at £2.50 per litre, (1.25p per 500ml bottle of ready to use),

how does this work as a commercial model bearing in mind there are 50 x 500ml bottles

available from that litre of concentrate? The customer basically gets free chemical and the

supplier gets no repeat sales whilst funding the provision, the installation and maintenance

of the dosing equipment – no wonder some companies get cold feet!

Some notable chemical suppliers have moved away from chemical concentrates because they

don’t see regular repeat purchases. Likewise, their sales people don’t like selling them

because they don’t get regular orders and in their minds are missing out on sales commission.

It does make you wonder just how many products are being sold by these suppliers on a daily

basis and then being wasted through lack of controlled dilution.

We hope you have found this six-part series useful and informative and look forward to talking

again with you all very soon.