Chicago advances green products and management systems

Dateline: 22.10.2009
Author: Bill Griffin

In many ways it was a new show at ISSA INTERCLEAN this year in Chicago. The make up of the attendees is changing; more women and a younger more blue collar crowd, in that people who do the cleaning are actually attending the show. In talking with John Garfinkel, ISSA’s executive director, he explained that more than 30% of the attendees this year have never been to an ISSA show before.

There was a wide variety of activities to keep attendees busy at this year’s show. Educational events of one type or another started a day or two before the actual show and ran almost hourly throughout the entire week. There were free seminars, paid classes, exhibitor booth events, round table and networking lunches, demonstrations, and the list goes on. There was definitely something for everybody at this year’s show.

Cleaning Industry Comes Together

The ISSA INTERCLEAN Show is becoming a rallying point for the entire cleaning industry, the International Executive Housekeepers Association (IEHA), Association of Residential Cleaning Services International (ARCSI), and other groups are holding their conventions and events in conjunction with the ISSA INTERCLEAN Show. Next year in Orlando, FL. the Building Service Contractors Association International (BSCAI) joins the party, which marks a major turning point for the show and the cleaning industry.

Although everyone I talked to thought it was a good show, most commented that they felt that the numbers of attendees was down from previous years. And this would be in keeping with what is happening at trade shows in other industries, with some being off in attendance and exhibitors by as much as 40%. With this in mind, I think the ISSA INTERCLEAN Show did an excellent job of holding its own and moving forward in the quality of the event, during tough economic times for everyone...

Chicago: A Great Place for a Show

Lot’s of hotel and restaurant choices. Good transportation options. Nice weather, well most of the time, it did rain a bit on several days. I found that I could go from McCormick Place to my hotel on a train or bus for around $2:00 instead of taking a cab which ran around $8.00. On Thursday, after the show, the line for both cabs and the show buses were very long, with the city’s public transportation turning out to be the best option.

Green is Hot and Growing

The emphasis this year was definitely on green products. Although Green wasn’t the official theme of the show, it certainly was the unofficial theme for a majority of the exhibitors. Nearly every booth has something to offer that was being promoted as green or environmentally friendly.

The exhibit hall was on one floor this year which makes it convenient and easy to get around. To me the show floor seemed smaller than last year; although there were many booths and quite frankly with all the other activities going on, I didn’t have time to get by to see them all.

CIMS Generates Excitement

Approximately two years ago the ISSA launched its Cleaning Industry Management Standard know as CIMS. This year a Green Building component was added which makes the standard even more useful to building service contractors and in house cleaning departments. The ISSA has trained roughly 500 consultants to assist firms who are interested in becoming CIMS certified.

So far approximately 40 firms have become certified and another 60 are in the process of preparing for the required onsite assessors visit to confirm compliance.

What caught my attention was the interest in the standard by attendees. I hung around the CIMS information booth for several hours and at times people were backed up three deep wanting to get more information or to ask questions about how they could get their operation CIMS Certified.

CIMS has tremendous potential for contractors, suppliers, manufactures, in house cleaning departments and building owners as well as the cleaning industry as a whole. CIMS is a certification process that assures that a department or contractor has in place and uses the key elements that make an operation successful. In my opinion, it’s not really about the CIMS logo or the documents that are created, but what going through and operating by the CIMS process can do for an organisation, its employees and customers. If a company did half the thing that are required for certification they can’t help but have a more effective, smoother operating and more profitable or cost efficient operation. CIMS is the future.

Technology Evolves

As for new technology, I was impressed to see three firms exhibiting cleaning robots, with the most impressive to me being a clumsy and oversized robotic arm on a Brute Barrel in the Rubbermaid booth. If you leap forward 10 to 15 years and use you imagination, you can see that even the future of the janitor, is not immune from automation. In the past we have said that there will always be a need for a janitor. I wouldn’t make any bets on that one.

One green product that caught my eye was bio-bags that actually break down over time in the land fill. Other exhibitors were showing bags made of recycled materials.

Energized Water Makes a Splash

Tennant, Kaivac and Activeion were all talking about processes to eliminate the need for detergents and in some cases even disinfectants by energizing and oxygenating the water as it enters the cleaning process. Needless to say, this idea makes chemical manufacturers nervous. Seeing this as a trend, I would expect to see bucketless mopping systems, carpet cleaning and other equipment using the same technology within a few years. Now that is green.

A Good Time Was Had By All

I didn’t hear any complaints at the show. Everyone was in a jolly mood and busy trying to get around to all the activities that interested them.

ISSA INTERCLEAN 2010, Orlando, Florida. 9 to 12 November. The BSCAI joins the party with its 2000 building service contractor members.

* Bill Griffin is president Cleaning Consultant Services, Inc. To give the author a bad time, visit: www.cleaningconsultants.com or write: wgriffin@cleaningconsultants.com

Check out Bill's photos at www.picasaweb.google.com/incleanmag

Chicago advances green products and management systems