People rely on facts backed by data. We live in a connected society where data-driven information drives all key decisions for businesses. The ‘Big Data’ movement has allowed equipment manufacturers to get a holistic overview of their products’ use, issue diagnosis and more. Cleaning contractors are also pursuing data-driven cleaning as a result of the movement.
What is data-driven cleaning?
Data-driven cleaning is a methodology of leveraging ‘Internet of Things’ and ‘Big Data’ to improve cleaning operations. According to a white paper, “The Value of Data-Driven Cleaning”, released by Essity, the facility services industry faces numerous challenges, such as low-profit margins, high staff turnover and absenteeism, customer churn and changing workplaces.
Data-driven cleaning enables the facility services industry to use real-time data to empower cleaning teams and contractors to work efficiently and make better decisions. To help facility managers and cleaning contractors overcome some of these challenges, floor equipment manufacturers are investing in smart technology, such as artificial intelligence. Autonomous floor cleaning machines enable contractors to focus on other tasks while the machine cleans larger facilities. This increases productivity and customer satisfaction.
Floor equipment manufacturers are also capitalizing on telematic solutions to help cleaning contractors keep track of their fleets. It provides them with up-to-date machine data that can be used to maximize performance and allocate resources where needed. Essity discusses how “collecting data about visitor numbers, cleaning needs, and refill levels in real-time can improve cleaning operations in three ways: (1) driving operational efficiency, (2) increasing quality and customer satisfaction, as well as (3) boosting staff engagement.” Just as this applies to contractors, manufacturers can also benefit from collecting and tracking similar data to help them with warranty claims, proactively spot product issues and more.
Incorporating Charger Data for Data-Driven Decisions
A telematics system collects an array of data using global positioning system (GPS), sensors and from the components within the floor cleaning machine. Delta-Q battery chargers, for instance, also record and pull a wide range of data, which can be incorporated into the telematics solution.
This feature allows Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and the facility services industry to tap into intelligence sitting right at their fingertips. Data that Delta-Q battery chargers record is voltage, current, temperature, and consistency of usage, which are broken down into days and hours. It can also collect real-time data, such as hourly voltage, while off-charge.
This comprehensive data set allows equipment manufacturers to uncover any signs of “unhealthy charging,” which they can use to prevent expensive service calls and reduce maintenance spending. They can also utilize this data to enhance user experience and vehicle performance and mitigate costs.
Fleet managers or cleaning contractors, alternatively, can use charging data to work efficiently, improve their usage patterns or make better fleet decisions such as:
- Alerting the user to change their charging habits by plugging in the machine for longer periods to avoid machine downtime
- Adding an additional floor machine to their fleet to improve productivity
There is much more that charge data can uncover, which we will dive deeper into during our free educational series, The Charge.
Click here to watch the educational series.
About Delta-Q’s Free Educational Series, The Charge
Hosted by Delta-Q, “The Charge” will share best practices around onboard battery charging and how to leverage software and charger data to maximize machine runtime. Topics will include on how to:
- Design and validate chargers’ onboard electric floor machines,
- Mitigate battery failure and safety risks with charger software profiles, and
- Extract charger data to help reduce maintenance spending and improve overall usage.
The educational series consists of three on-demand educational videos followed by a live webinar on Day 4, which will be a Q&A with Delta-Q’s charging experts, and an announcement on a new solution that will redefine charger expectations for the floor care industry.
