February 4, 2019

The commercial floor cleaning and care metrics every facility manager must track

When developing and building cutting-edge commercial floor care technology, engineers and futurists invest considerable time envisioning and testing the features they think will resonate with customers in the distant future. When we started work on the Neo floor-scrubbing robot, way back in 2014, we thought facility managers would be wowed by features like intelligent mapping, automated obstacle avoidance and a cool 10” color touchscreen that made operation simple.

Five years later, it turns out those features are appreciated, but they’re not at the top of the “wow” list. Thanks to technologies like GPS and Roombas in the home, the combined concept of automated navigation and floor cleaning is understood and warmly embraced. However, when we talk to customers about how their deployment of automated floor scrubbing is going, one topic consistently dominates the conversation: metrics.

No matter the facility — airports, hospitals, warehouses, retail malls and more — facility managers tell us the ability to monitor, measure and optimize cleaning performance KPIs are breakthrough features in commercial floor care.

Before deploying a cleaning robot, operational performance was highly subjective. Whether you’re cleaning manually with a mop and bucket or expensive, legacy ride-on scrubbers, tracking cleaning performance was almost impossible. Which areas have been cleaned and what was missed? Are those areas cleaned every night? Importantly, was it cleaned well?

With the Neo autonomous floor-scrubbing robot, commercial floor care performance is clear and objective. Here are some of the measurements and facility management KPIs you should be tracking:

1. Cleaning coverage

Sophisticated sensors and a 3D camera array allow Neo to track and plot the areas it cleans, in real-time, during every operation. Visual coverage maps clearly show where Neo has cleaned and, if a temporary obstacle impacts coverage one evening, it’s a simple job to spot and send a manual operator to zap the gap. Reports sent to facility managers after each operation detail the cleaning area covered (in square feet or meters, as preferred) and if performance is outside the usual parameters, you can be sure to receive an instant alert.

sample cleaning report from neo

Avidbots Command Center Cleaning Coverage Report


2. Cleaning duration

In busy, 24-hour operations like airports and hospitals, understanding and optimizing the time required to clean floors can be critical. Again, manual cleaning can incur significant variations in cleaning time, depending on a particular operator or resource available. With the Neo floor-scrubbing robot, the cleaning duration is clear and far more consistent.

Avidbots Command Center cleaning reports detail the duration of every clean, allowing facility managers to tweak and test alternative routes to optimize operating times.

cleaning details of the NEO

3. Cleaning productivity

With metrics like floor area coverage and cleaning duration available, calculating productivity (coverage over time) becomes a very simple job. Especially when your floor scrubber does it for you!

cleaning productivity metrics

Productivity reporting

With on-board location maps of your facility as well as precision sensor telemetry, Neo can calculate more accurate productivity metrics than, for example, ride-on scrubbers or walk-behind scrubbers. True performance metrics report the actual floor area covered during the clean (not the gross area listed on the architect’s plans), the total cleanable area available (excluding floor standing obstacles and other no-go zones), and the total time spent actually cleaning (no breaks or chats about last night’s TV required).

4. Water consumption

Increasingly, the world is looking to facility managers to save the planet. Environmental concerns, including water consumption and safe detergent use, are important considerations for every operation. Neo’s twin 112 liter water tanks can hold a significant amount of water, and facility managers receive reports of actual water consumption and flow settings after every clean. Whether you’re seeking to save money, save the planet — or both — managers and operators can easily test and analyze setting tweaks to optimize consumption.

water consumption of neo

Cleaning sector-level reporting.

5. Cleaning score

Life as a facility manager is becoming increasingly hectic. It’s fantastic to see the world of connected buildings generating an incredible amount of performance data for operators. But who has the time to analyze it all?

For us, measuring and reporting data isn’t the goal. It’s about delivering insight and boosting productivity — that’s as much about cleaning performance as it is about saving management time and effort! So, our engineers built an online insight portal called Avidbots Command Center that provides facility managers with a comprehensive suite of reports, including a simple, at-a-glance view of cleaning quality that we call “Final Score”.

cleaning score

An at-a-glance view of monthly cleaning performance

We assess the performance metrics of every clean, by every robot, in every sector and provide an overall star rating based on floor coverage, cleaning productivity and water usage. If we detect an issue with a cleaning operation, it’s flagged for quick and convenient investigation by a manager, supervisor or operator.

cleaning commentary

Insightful commentary is provided to support performance data.

…and much, much more.

If these metrics have you salivating, we’re just getting started! Avidbots Command Center includes Advanced Reporting that allows facility managers to perform comprehensive analysis across multiple robots, cleaning plans, operators and locations, identify trends over time and much more. Stay tuned for a deep dive into advanced reporting in a future blog post.

Avidbots Command Center advanced reporting.

Avidbots Command Center advanced reporting.

Five years on from those first floor-scrubbing prototypes, we’ve learned a lot about commercial cleaning technologies. But our most significant lesson has been how the power of robotics can expand human potential. The insight we receive from facility managers around the world each day drives us to deliver more actionable insight from our technology. 

If you’re struggling to shine a light on cleaning performance at your facility, enlightenment is just a click away. Contact us to find out more about the Neo floor-scrubbing robot and Avidbots Command Center. We’ll show you how some of the world’s leading facilities are driving significant productivity gains through unparalleled insight.  

Related articles

Subscribe to the Avidbots blog!

Stay in the know about all things Avidbots plus the latest industry and technology insights.

Subscribe