The future is coming on fast. Rapid developments in AI and robotics promise to transform the world of work within the next decade. While it’s hard to predict exactly what this means for the cleaning industry, new tech is already opening up opportunities for efficiency and data collection. Smart buildings can ensure facilities are always well-stocked with supplies, reduce labour costs and identify potential risks to staff and visitors.
During the panel discussion ‘The Future is Here’ at the recent ISSA Cleaning & Hygiene Expo, three experts discussed what smart building technology might mean to cleaning professionals and facility managers in the years ahead.
Badi Noble, CEO at Bold Futures said smart networks were already being deployed across a number of his company’s sites, with sensors that could monitor consumables such as jumbo rolls of paper towels.
“They get down to 20 percent and a notification gets sent through for the cleaners to replace them,” Noble said.
This update doesn’t just make the system more efficient, but also brings costs down. If cleaners are manually checking the paper towels throughout a building, they will tend to replace them when there is between 30 or 40 percent left — knowing the towel might run out before they have time to check again.
“You end up with a storeroom filled with a bunch of jumbo rolls that still have a lot of paper left on them,” Noble said.
Dan Graoroski, manager of strategic partnerships at iQCheckPoint, said these kinds of buildings — which autonomously manage the supply chain — were already becoming commonplace in other parts of the world, such as Europe.
“We’re seeing dispensers that will tell you automatically when anything needs to be refilled… and liquid sensors that will tell you if there is water on the bathroom floor.”
Tom Culver, founder of The Robot Factory, said the ability for buildings to monitor activity within their walls — using technology that might already be installed — could help make them safer.
“Every camera you have can now be turned into a lifeguard that can sit there and monitor just about anything you want,” Culver said.
“It’s like having Albert Einstein sitting there monitoring whatever you want. They can be much smarter than a human because they’re collecting a lot more data and processing it quicker.”
The panel also spoke about smart building technology that could see robots or drones sent to clean dangerous and inaccessible areas – such as exterior windows on high-rise buildings — which would then cut down on operating costs, as there would be no need for the expensive insurance required whenever humans are at risk.
While the next decade is likely to bring sweeping changes, Noble said he saw an immediate future where the human element remained important, working in collaboration with smart building technology.
“It’s inevitable that some areas of the facility management sector will be replaced by automation, but we still feel fundamentally at heart, it’s about people and the engagement that you have,” Noble said.
“I see technology as being a supplement for what we do, not a formal replacement of what we do. But at the same time, at some point, we’re going to have a reckoning where we see what the balance is between tech and human.”
Photo by Joppe Beurskens on Pexels.
