Winter in the Midwest can bring many challenges for commercial cleaners. Keeping spaces clean and fresh while heat units are blasting and snow abounds is not always the easiest task.In this issue of SERVICES, we will tackle some of the challenges commercial cleaners in the Midwest face while updating you on all of the noteworthy news from the past year.

Looking Forward For building service contractors, advancements in technology, safety and training have all been important this past year. Tradeshows, which convened all over the country in 2017 to bring together the industry’s top professionals and distributors, honed in on the advancement of automation technology.

The potential of automated cleaners, specifically floor cleaners, in the Midwest is almost limitless. Cleaning in the winter in the Midwest creates a unique nemesis for janitorial workers: snow. The constant presence of snow means that foot traffic is bringing in water, dirt, mud, slush and road salt.

Keeping floors clean is laborious. It can take up a lot of your team’s time and resources. But with the prospect of automated floor cleaners becoming more prevalent, this advancement in technology could allow winter work in the Midwest to become much more efficient.

It is estimated that the robotic cleaning market, which encapsulates all manners of technological advancement from automated floor cleaners to self-driving cars, will grow from 2.09 billion in 2018 to 4.34 billion by 2023, according to Markets Insider of Business Insider.

THE POTENTIAL FOR AUTOMATED CLEANERS…..ESPECIALLY IN THE MIDWEST, IS ALMOST LIMITLESS

What this means is for BSCs in the Midwest is that, in the face of rising labor costs, they can more effectively allocate their human capital to tasks that require a person to be present, while monotonous, time-consuming and laborious tasks are done automatically.

While automated floor cleaners are relatively wellknown in the residential arena, the capabilities of automated commercial cleaners are continuing to be developed. Through a combination of the increased rise in use of automatic household appliances, an increase in labor costs and an increased emphasis on safety, the perfect foundation has been laid for this technology to flourish.