YOU'D CERTAINLY BE FORGIVEN IF YOU TOOK
one look at this headline and thought, “Are you out of your mind — fire customers in this economy?”

But upon closer inspection, saying goodbye to problem or unprofitable clients is often a smart move, regardless of the economic environment.

That’s right: You might be better off not doing business with some of your customers.
Of course, this isn’t a decision you should make lightly. Following is a structured process to help you decide whether to fire any of your customers.

How Profitable Are They?

The first step is to perform a profitability analysis. Determine what you consider to be a minimum level of profitability for your customers, and then have an open and honest discussion among your management team about any that fall below this level. Just because a client is minimally profitable or unprofitable right now doesn’t automatically mean you should fire them.

For example, new customers may start out below your target profit level, but there may be a good chance of increasing your sales to them in the future. Can you cross-sell different, more profitable products and services to these customers to help bump up their overall level of profitability?

You may also have low-profit or unprofitable customers that are kind of like “loss leaders” for your business. For example, having a particular high-profile customer’s name on your client roster might help you get your foot in the door with other clients, even if this customer isn’t one of your most profitable.

Potential referrals are another factor to consider. Low-profit or unprofitable customers may have relationships and influence with other good prospects for your company that make them worth holding on to. For these reasons and more, everyone on your management team—as well as salespeople who may have a personal vested interest in the client relationship—should provide input before a final decision is made.

Other Factors

Profitability (or a lack thereof) isn’t the only reason to consider firing a customer—here are a few other things to think about:

• Does the client pay you on time? The time, cost and aggravation involved in collecting past-due receivables from customers that consistently pay outside your agreed-upon terms may make them candidates for the firing squad. You must create and maintain accounts receivable aging schedules in order to identify these late payers.

• Is the client overly demanding, or even abusive? The old saying “The customer is always right” is only true up to a point. You need to decide what level of customer service demands are within reason, and what level crosses the line. Continuing to do business with customers who are rude and abusive to your employees can send the message that you condone otherwise unacceptable behavior.

•  Is the client a good fit for your business? Businesses change over time, sometimes in ways that negatively affect business relationships. For example, maybe you landed a small customer when you were first starting out whom you were glad to have, but that company now has a different focus that no longer fits with your company’s direction. In this case, you should make every effort to refer the customer to another company.

Sending a Wake-up Call

Sometimes, letting a customer know that you are considering firing them serves as a wake-up call that prompts them to change their behavior or practices.

If a customer voices a sincere desire to change in order to stay with you, it may be worthwhile to set a deadline by which time certain benchmarks must be achieved, such as a minimum level of profitability, on-time payment or treatment of your staff.  

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

If you do decide to fire a customer, do it very deliberately and carefully — in person, if possible, rather than over the phone or in an e-mail.

Keep it professional, and be prepared to explain exactly why you’re taking this action. Try to give the customer some advance notice, so they’re not left out in the cold without a key supplier.

The best-case scenario is to refer them to another company (even a competitor) that is better equipped to help them. You might even be able to collect a “finder’s fee” from the company to which you make the referral.

For more information, please contact Michael Senko at mike.senko@wolfco-fs.com.

Keep Proactive To Keep Your Customers

By Lisa Kopochinski, Services Editor

What may be surprising is the extent that good communication and relationship building plays in keeping a client.

“Relationships have always been important in our industry, and now they are critical,” emphasizes Janelle Bruland, CBSE, president and CEO of Management Services Northwest in Ferndale, WA. “Where we used to have our hand on our client’s shoulder, now we have our arm tightly around them! If you have a positive rapport with your client and they see you as their building partner, they will be more likely to share with you their need to reduce costs before they simply cut services or terminate them.”

With this kind of relationship, she says BSCs have the ability to be proactive and assist their customer in ways to cut costs together.

In these tough economic times, it’s more vital than ever to ensure that you understand everything about your client—their issues, their business, the contract, your competition, and what they bring to the table. As the old adage goes, knowledge is power, and if you don’t know, you can’t correct
and deliver.

“In this time now being called the Great Recession, it is more difficult than ever to retain clients as financial strains are causing companies large and small to cut back substantially, or go under all together,” says Bruland. “Where we didn’t used to worry much about the customer being able to pay, we now watch very closely to see that our clients continue to be financially stable.”

The need to work with clients during these tough times is more imperative than ever. Make them know that beyond any doubt, by your actions, that you value and appreciate their business. While certain circumstances can and will take place that may cause customers to leave, these fundamentals still provide the best defense.
Martin Benom, marketing director with WSA Services Inc. in Los Angeles has been in the cleaning business since the late 1950s. This veteran says networking is still the most effective way to hold onto your clientele.

“Lunch, dinner, breakfast, sporting events, and common interests,” he suggests. He also says that joining social groups such as the Chamber of Commerce and fraternal organizations, making donations when asked, “and presenting your cleaners in discussions as people (i.e. Barbara works with the Girl Scouts), as well offering additional services, honestly reviewing complaints and quickly rectifying them,” are all successful ways to keep customers.

Dick Ollek, CBSE, a cleaning industry consultant based in Camdenton, MO, concurs and says many customers are lost today because they don’t feel the BSC is communicating with them. This is why he is such a strong proponent of online quality-control monitoring, 24/7-customer-call-centers, the bundling of services so the customer becomes more tied to your organization, as well as customer-only e-mail addresses, and regularly scheduled partnering meetings with a formal agenda for discussion.

“Not a cursery ‘how we doing?’ lunch,” he emphasizes, “but a formally scheduled meeting. Invite customers to company training and educational sessions. If you have an ongoing dialogue with the customer, you will be aware of any bumps in the road that may occur, and if you fix them, they have less reasons to want to replace you.”

Few customers will leave solely because of price. While price is important, it does not top the list.
“The number one reason is that the vendor does not have a relationship with the client,” says Benom. “Price is not the first reason ever. It may be an issue, but with a relationship, it can be solved. Most frequently, when we negotiate a reduction in price, and it’s a commensurate reduction of service, we end up with an identical amount of profit, or in some cases, a greater profit on a smaller revenue.”

It is frequently a chore for customers to change contractors and many are reluctant to do so unless the communication and service delivery is poor. If this is the case, then it’s time to examine how you are providing service. Are you so focused on growing your business and securing new customers that you are not properly taking care of the existing ones? Growth is counterproductive if you are merely replacing lost business.

“If we clearly understand our customer, their needs and expectations, we will keep them satisfied,” says Bruland. “However, in this recession, even a happy customer can be lost because they have been required to bid out the services in order to cut costs.  If we can be proactive and assist them in reducing their services and costs ahead of time, it may prevent an unnecessary RFP.”

Ollek agrees and says while there is no question that in today’s tough business climate customers are more price-conscious than ever before, he also believes that if you are communicating with them, you will be more inclined to retain them on pricing issues.

“This is because with ongoing communication you will have a ‘heads up’ if the customer is going through tough economic times,” he explains. “And with you being the incumbent, you should be the first one in their office saying, ‘I understand the issues that you are facing today and I want you to know we stand ready to help in any way we can.’  You can then provide them with alternative cleaning schedules that encompass reduced dollar amounts. Yes, you will have less volume, but you retain that customer before they decide to bid out the job.”

Conversely, customers must also realize that for a contractor to deliver good service, he must produce certain margins. Generally it is known among contractors which customers change for price only. If a customer has no regard for your margin, then it may be time to be more selective in developing your customer base. Find customers that want and appreciate value and then deliver it to them.

SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS WITH A FINANCIAL FOCUS

By Lisa Kopochinski, Services Editor

Due to feedback from the recent International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA/Interclean) show in Chicago last October, Services magazine is proud to feature another technology article and matrix. This time we are focusing on the financial aspects of software programs that are available to building service contractors.

Services Editor Lisa Kopochinski recently talked to five software professionals—Jill Davie, vice president of sales and marketing for TEAM Software; Donna Hopkins, director of sales for ExpressTime; John Graham, president and software architect for MITC; Michael Jenkins, president of CleanTelligent; David Esquivel, AVP National Accounts for American EPAY Inc.,  and Patty Laarveld, Business Development Manager for American EPAY Inc.—and asked them to provide information on the software they offer that BSCs will find beneficial, particularly in today’s tight economy. Here are their thoughts.

What applications does your software program offer—from a financial perspective—that would be of benefit to building service contractors, especially in this tough economy?

TEAM: TEAM’s core management system, WinTeam, includes financial management modules built specifically for building service contractors. It includes accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, financial statements, payroll, job costing and fixed assets. These financial modules are tightly integrated with labor and operations management modules so that time-intensive processes such as payroll and billing are easy and accurate. For example, because our accounts receivable module integrates with our work scheduling module, any extra billable project work is flagged for billing and easily populated to an invoice as soon as the work is complete. This ensures that items get billed in a timely manner. It also ensures that extra work over and above the contract gets billed to the customer. TEAM’s On Screen Job Costing module is also a very powerful tool for analyzing profitability. It allows you to view profitability at each account based on a particular time frame. It takes all revenue and expenses into account, including labor, materials and any other direct costs you may have. You can drill down to see the details of each revenue or expense item so that you can get a good handle on which accounts are the most/least profitable and why. By understanding your best and worst performing accounts, you can make adjustments so that all of your accounts are very profitable.

MITC: The most important task for any business, especially in a recession, is cost-control. Building service contractors can control their biggest cost by tracking and managing time and attendance and payroll. This represents 50 to 75 percent of their cost structure. This has always been important. Now it is a survival issue.

MITC’s best-selling product in 2009 was Time and Attendance. Growth came from building service contractors who switched from systems found to be ineffective or expensive or from contractors who realized that the hidden costs of continuing to use paper timesheets and outsourced payroll was undermining their competitiveness.

ExpressTime: ExpressTime has many features that just make good financial sense. The accountability of time worked using our system has saved our customers thousands of dollars vs. time sheets or other timekeeping methods. Payroll dollars are saved by accurate timekeeping of employees and payroll does not take days, which is time that can be used growing your business. Payroll dollars saved also lower your general liability and workers’ comp insurance. ExpressTime also has some great budget features to help you stay on track.

CleanTelligent: Client retention is the very basis of a financially sound business. CleanTelligent offers a client communication system that has proven to increase customer satisfaction time and again. Joseph Jenkins, president of BearCom Building Services of Salt Lake City, Utah states, “Since implementing CleanTelligent, our client retention has improved by more than 300 percent!”

CleanTelligent turns client complaints directly into work orders. If the work order is not completed in a given amount of time, it is escalated to management. Nothing slips through the cracks and everything is clearly documented for review.

CleanTelligent also offers inspection and tracking tools proven to increase productivity and reduce costs. Tim Conn, director of operations for Anago Cleaning Systems said, “The productivity of our operations personnel has increased by 25 to 30 percent through their use of CleanTelligent.”

The number one expense in the cleaning industry is labor and no one can afford to waste time. CleanTelligent gives companies the ability to easily measure performance through handheld devices and a Web-based interface. With a few clicks and/or barcode scans, you can measure time, quality and quantity of performance. Not only can companies correct deficiencies as they are found, but they are able to monitor performance over time. With this solid information readily available, inspectors know which buildings need the most attention and cleaners know on which to focus. With CleanTelligent, productivity goes up and costs go down.

Another major financial benefit of CleanTelligent is the edge it gives to companies during the bidding process. Numerous companies have reported that CleanTelligent has been instrumental in winning big contracts. Scott Murray, with BG Service Solutions said, “Total revenues within our division have more than doubled in the past two years, and we credit our success to CleanTelligent.”  According to Murray, the company spends about one-third of their proposal time explaining how CleanTelligent will resolve the ongoing problems that the customer has experienced with past cleaning companies. CleanTelligent has been called a “huge selling piece” by many of our clients, putting them far above their competition and making their bottom line a lot more appealing.

American EPAY: Capturing employee time and attendance is still a manual process for many building service contractors today who have distributed labor forces. According to the American Payroll Association (APA), 21 percent of payroll errors are attributed to time reporting, and tracking employee’s time can help cut overtime costs by 70 percent.  The benefit of implementing products from Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) organization offering time and attendance solutions, such as American EPAY, greatly impacts the accuracy of reporting time and this benefit can be measured by the ROI, which provides profits on a company’s bottom line. Our solutions illuminate BSC’s time and labor management with reduced cost, increased revenue and improved efficiencies. American EPAY offers a Web-based workforce labor management system called Blueforce.com.  This Web-based software package not only includes the normal time and attendance package (timecards, timesheets, integration with payroll providers and GLs), but American EPAY also offers useful tools for managers on the go and in the field. Real-time budget reporting, alerts, work orders, and messaging work together with all of American EPAY’s products. In addition, scheduling and time-and-materials billing modules are new features we released in 2009.  

Blueforce.com’s dashboard offers a quick snapshot of timesheets, who is punched in, who is late, if a site is on budget or over budget, which employee is approaching overtime, and the Dashboard will display many alerts, messages or action items. It’s a business-intelligence tool at your fingertips, saving the BSC time, which equates to bottom-line net profits.

Our real-time alerts provide our clients with many financial benefits. Alerts can be sent to an e-mail address or as a SMS text message to a mobile phone. By receiving an alert, a BSC can be “proactive” and make adjustments—e.g., when an employee doesn’t show up or is late, when labor budgets are exceeded, or if an employee is about to reach overtime, to name a few. Having these alerts in place affords our clients to be more profitable, competitive and keep their promises to their clients.


Why should BSCs purchase their software from you?  

TEAM: TEAM has 20 years of industry experience. The software was designed for the unique challenges BSCs face. From working with companies for 20 years ranging in size from 25 employees to 50,000 employees, we have learned how to assist companies gain efficiency to help them grow and attain maximum profit. By offering a completely integrated labor, operations and financial management package, our customers have the convenience of working with one vendor for their software needs. We take great pride in the excellent level of customer support we provide and the willingness of our customers to share information and ideas among themselves at our user conference and other industry events.

MITC: MITC’s global reach and depth of expertise guarantees access to an unrivalled range of affordable and effective software and services. MITC is a world-leader in providing software to building service contractors in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United States and United Kingdom. MITC is an independent software company with no associations or financial arrangements with any provider of building services.

More than 1,000 companies worldwide, with five to 10,000 employees have selected MITC to control costs, save time and improve competitiveness. We provide modular solutions to support all the needs of a building service contractor—timekeeping, payroll, accounting and operations—with integration technology for all other software from QuickBooks to Great Plains. Building service contractors can use an individual MITC software application to address a particular need or an integrated system from time and attendance to general ledger.

ExpressTime: We understand the needs of the building service contractor because the software was designed out of need for our own local janitorial company. We keep up with what is going in the industry and make every effort to accommodate the needs of the building service contractor. We have great customer service and keep our product affordable by not charging for unnecessary features that some of the other generic timekeeping companies do. We were literally made for
this business.

CleanTelligent: CleanTelligent has been developed over the past 11 years with more than $2.5 million invested into its continued production. Due to the importance of the confidentiality of data, all programming and customer support is held within the walls of our offices in Provo, Utah. With thousands of users across several countries, CleanTelligent is growing fast and supporting many BSCs in their financial stability and growth.

CleanTelligent is more than just software. When you sign up with CleanTelligent, you receive support from a personal trainer who is a CIMS-ISSA-certified expert, a marketing consultant assigned to help you win bids, and a Web site design programmer who assists in branding CleanTelligent to your company. Our industry experts will assist you in reaching the financial goals of your company.

Companies using CleanTelligent have reported greater increases in revenue, more reduced costs and better client retention than with any other janitorial software on the market. Whether a company wants to become CIMS-certified or land that million-dollar contract, CleanTelligent helps companies reach all major financial objectives.

American EPAY: American EPAY is a well-known service provider to many of the top BSCs in the industry. Our
installations include janitorial service contractors, property management, healthcare, retail, hotel, universities and the like. Janitorial is our niche.  We focus on providing time and attendance solutions for distributed labor so BSCs can focus on what they do best—providing building services to their book of business.  American EPAY partners and integrates with brand name payroll and accounting providers such as ADP, Ceridian, StratEx, JD Edwards/Oracle, and QuickBooks, which are well-known to the BSCs in addition to any other payroll providers. American EPAY is ISO 9001:2008 certified and is a member of the BSCAI, ISSA, and the APA.

Are there different functions required depending on whether the cleaning company is small or large?

TEAM: Because our software was designed for the BSC industry, we have solutions for any size company. It is up to the customer to decide which functions within our software they choose to utilize.

MITC: All cleaning contractors need to focus on controlling payroll costs. MITC offers scalable and modular solutions for any size of contractor. For larger building service contractors, integration becomes more important.

ExpressTime: We offer ExpressTime online or you can host it yourself. These versions work the same except where your data is being stored. We have large and small companies using it both ways. We also have an Enterprise version if you are a nationwide corporation and would like to track all of your locations.

CleanTelligent: CleanTelligent is scalable enough to completely satisfy the needs of a one-man operation up to a worldwide company. Small companies using CleanTelligent have the ability to grow and become more competitive. Large companies using CleanTelligent have ability to easily manage quality and personnel throughout their organization and across multiple states and countries. With the proprietary way we organize information, CleanTelligent is a great fit for everyone. 

American EPAY: Oftentimes it depends on the client vs. the size. Going to an automated time and labor system from a manual one requires ownership of the project from the top down. To us, whether the client has 4,000 sites or 40 sites, it all boils down to following a set and defined implementation process. Doing so delivers a positive outcome for all parties involved.

2009 has been a tough year for our industry? What do you foresee for 2010?

TEAM: We are very excited about 2010. The tough economy has forced companies to take a hard look at their processes, specifically, what they can do to save money or add profit to their bottom line. TEAM has many tools to help companies in both of these areas and we have seen a recent increase in sales activity of these software programs.  Although 2009 has been a tough year for many BSCs, moving forward, we feel that BSCs will be more efficient and customer focused because of it.

MITC: 2010 will be an opportunity to reposition and restructure. The unprecedented economic problems that first arose in 2007 will continue. The federal government stimulus plan will keep major elements of the economy afloat in 2010. The critical time will be 2011. Then the current stimulus ends and everyone from state governments to banks will have to stand on their own feet. 

Certain sectors of the economy and certain regions are stronger than others.  Building service contractors looking to expand will focus their energy on the stronger market sectors and regions.

ExpressTime: I think we will continue to grow. Now, more than ever, companies are realizing that our system can really help make them more efficient and save them money. ExpressTime will solve a lot of problems whether we are in a recession or in a thriving economy.  As our economy is not going to change overnight, we have to be the ones to change the way that we do things.

CleanTelligent: Economic hardship is the time when excellence is recognized and rewarded. While many companies have buckled down to “wait out” the recession, others have been aggressive in their marketing, innovating and positioning in the industry.  Companies that have innovated by using CleanTelligent are thriving during this recession. I believe the gap is quickly increasing between companies that use technology and those that don’t.

American EPAY: American EPAY attended eight tradeshows in 2009, and the attendees are looking for products and services that help companies cut down overhead costs. Specifically, labor is the largest expenditure in overhead. That being said, in order to be competitive today, organizations are turning to technology to streamline processes and increase productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. We foresee building service contractors embracing and utilizing technology, in order to stay competitive in the market in 2010 and the coming years.  

What are your company’s plans for 2010 when it comes to software? What, if any, changes will you be making?

TEAM: We have many changes and additions planned for 2010. We will be completing a major upgrade to a new programming platform for WinTeam, which includes powerful new reporting features, a brand new look and feel for all of our screens and enhanced customizable billing options. We will also release brand new versions of eHub, our employee and customer self-service program. The customer self-service program will include automated work-flow features and will also allow you to provide your customer with easy access to their invoices through an e-mail with a link. All the customer has to do to view and print their invoice is click on the link. The employee self-service module of eHub will also take on a completely updated look and feel with user-friendly features that allow supervisors to review and approve timekeeping records for payroll. 

MITC: In 2009, MITC introduced new software and services to directly help customers manage the recession. For current customers, MITC now provides a free annual cost-saving audit to help them benefit from 20 years of experience working with building service and security contractors. MITC hired additional staff from top quality business schools in the United States and the United Kingdom to provide this service, helping building service contractors identify hidden costs in their organizations. To complement this service, MITC created new software using powerful financial graphs to identify adverse or positive trends within customers’ businesses. This service and software portfolio will be expanded in 2010. MITC wants to help customers be the most competitive in their markets. That way, we all prosper.

For potential new customers, MITC has developed new services and software that helps identify the real costs of current operations, the potential savings of change, the software and services to manage the transition and secure a full return on their investment.  MITC will expand these services in 2010 via free regional workshops .

In 2010, MITC will expand its financial services. Cash flow is always an issue for building service contractors. The unprecedented financial crisis has restricted access to home equity lines of credit, credit cards and bank financing. MITC appreciates that having identified potential cost savings, finding the financial and human resources to make the transition is not straightforward. In 2010, MITC will be offering customers new financial options to spread the costs of a transition over the return-on-investment period. That way, any investment in new technology is cash-flow positive from day one.

CleanTelligent: CleanTelligent is continually built upon the needs of our customers and automating their business processes so they can realize the financial benefits they desire. We have open communication with our customers on new features they would like and what will benefit them the most.

A few of these new features include an enhanced Blackberry device interface for quality inspections and picture capture (including the new touch screen Blackberry devices),  barcode scanning for time tracking on stand-alone devices, additional bidding, estimating, workloading and proposal generation features, additions to reporting with new and improved custom report writer options, and more customized field options for each module. Most importantly, instead of having to change your business processes to use CleanTelligent, CleanTelligent is designed to wrap around your business processes and automate them so you can achieve greater financial stability.

ExpressTime:  We are very close to having our inspection piece done and should be rolling it out this year. We think this is going to be invaluable for our customers. We have also been beta testing our texting feature and very soon it will be released to everyone.

American EPAY: With the help of our clients, we have identified areas where we will make enhancements on our biometric device called the Walter™ T6.  Scheduled to be released by the first of the New Year. Some of the features that sets it apart than any other biometric device; the T6 can display multi-media with its large 10-inch oversize LCD screen, with built-in speakers and headphone jack, which can be used for onsite video training. We are the only company with a patented printer built into the time device. The thermal printer saves companies money by printing pay stubs, work orders, and messages on site. The Walter™ T6 can replace the need for onsite computers, laptops or handheld devices to access the Blueforce.com to submit timesheets. Additionally, it has a Web camera to verify along with finger image reader that the correct employee is punching in and out, as an extra validation, which will provide a BSC to process I-9s (hiring in the field).

Later in 2010, American EPAY will be releasing new software for the Walter™ T6, which provides employee self-service and the ability to provide BSCs to process I-9s (patent pending); hiring in the field. Our dashboard Blueforce.com will have enhancements added to our scheduling and billing features, along with accruals, absence management, and budgets.

Lastly, iPunch™ provides employees the ability to punch in and out on site through a PC or laptop. However, our very robust Fonen™ (telephone application) is still the most widely-used product that building service contractors use today.
     

The information contained in the above matrix/chart in this article was compiled on the basis of software functions that TEAM, ExpressTime, MITC, CleanTelligent and American EPAY provide.  Additionally, we reached out to other companies in the industry and requested they submit information. We thank the companies listed for their contributions.

Paper Product Innovations

Focus on the Environment

 By Lisa Kopochinski, Services Editor

For 2010, there are a number of new paper products on the market for building service contractors, which have hygiene and the environment at the top of the list. Three companies at the forefront of the green cleaning movement are Cascades Tissue Group, Georgia-Pacific, and Wausau Paper.

Cascades’ newest innovation for the industry is its Tandem high-capacity bath tissue system, which offers either a two-roll system or a four-roll carousel system. Made of 100-percent recycled fiber and a minimum of 80-percent post-consumer content, Isabelle Faivre, marketing director for USA Cascades Tissue Group USA, says, “Many coreless systems tout complete paper usage, but our market research shows that the end user has waste in that the stub falls out of the dispenser and is often found lying on the floor. Our innovative design offers a system with complete utilization of the primary roll and keeps the second roll completely covered until the first roll is consumed.”

The Tandem towel and tissue systems offer the end user a cost-saving option that minimizes labor, maximizes sanitation, and is a welcome complement to any décor.

A company that considers the preservation of the environment a corporate initiative and commitment, Faivre says that sustainability is more than a line of products made with 100-percent recycled fiber.

“We have always been one of the greenest paper companies in North America and will continue to raise the bar for our facilities to go beyond the requirements of the third- party certification systems,” she explains. “Many manufacturers have recognized, as of late, the customer desires and requirements to offer a sustainable towel and tissue system.  Manufacturers that have, in the past, sold against the grain and offered hype are now listing some of their products with the third-party certification organizations such as Green Seal and EcoLogo. Even while these manufacturers are certifying part of their line as “green,” they are being accused by other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for raping our forests and continually receive fines and violations from the Environmental Protection Agency.”

Georgia-Pacific is another company that takes the environment seriously in its manufacturing of products. Since the 1930s, it has pioneered systems that reduce waste. The company produces 200 away-from-home products containing 95- to 100-percent recycled fiber and 40 products that help companies earn Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. It also works closely with its affiliated recycling company, Harmon Associates, which facilitates the brokerage of six million tons of recovered paper each year.

In 2007, Georgia-Pacific Professional began labeling the environmental benefits of its products using the Green by Design designation. Green by Design-marked products follow the EPA’s 3 R program of reduce, reuse and recycle. Georgia-Pacific Professional labels the packaging for its Green by Design-qualified products with seals that designate which of the 3 Rs the product satisfies and how the particular product satisfies the relevant environmental criteria.

As part of the company’s goal to create products that are cost-effective and increase both hygiene and environmental awareness among consumers, it has introduced the enMotion® with Lotion towels, an innovative hand-drying solution that is the only moisture-activated lotion towel in the away-from-home market.
“Georgia-Pacific Professional recognized the skin problems healthcare employees endure from frequent hand washing, and it used this feedback to develop solutions to address this common issue,” says Craig Yardley, vice president and general manager—towel category. “We are hopeful that enMotion® with Lotion towels will be a key pillar as we work to promote better hand-hygiene compliance and improve the experience of healthcare professionals.”

enMotion® with Lotion towels were designed with softness in mind to help protect hands from the signs of dryness, cracking and scaling that accompany frequent hand washing. Release of the lotion applied to the towels is enhanced when in contact with water.

Meanwhile, Wausau Paper recently announced the introduction of Dubl-Nature® and EcoSoft™ Green Seal™ 1,000-foot hard wound roll towels.

“These exciting new products are the first Green Seal™ certified extended-length roll towels on the market and illustrate Wausau Paper’s continued commitment to providing high-quality products with a sustainable market advantage,” says Mark Stanland, vice president of marketing for Wausau Paper Towel and Tissue.

Ideal for schools, universities, stadiums, office buildings, public facilities and other high-traffic areas, these attractive roll towels offer greater capacity for reduced maintenance time and costs. Designed for use in Wausau Paper controlled-use dispensing systems, the Dubl-Nature® and EcoSoft™ Green Seal™ 1,000-foot hard wound roll towels provide excellent customer value and are made from 100-percent recycled fiber and meet or exceed the U.S. EPA guidelines for post-consumer waste content.

In addition, they are made with de-inking and bleaching processes that are free of chlorine and other harmful chemicals, and utilize environmentally preferable packaging.

“Offering choices with two brands and two paper grades, along with Green Seal™ certification, these products help building service contractors that have mandates to be green,” explains Stanland. “The extended capacity of these roll towels combined with our controlled-use dispensing systems will reduce maintenance time and costs.”

The Future of Green

With cleaning such an essential activity to create healthy indoor environments, Stanland says that, “Today, the development of new paper products and dispensing systems has resulted in green products that perform as well, if not better than their traditional counterparts.”

As we enter 2010, Cascades’ Faivre emphasizes the company’s mission to continue with sustainable innovations. This applies to not just the final product, but also in the way it manufactures products and the resources used.

“We want to keep minimizing our environmental footprint,” she says. “Our children are growing up and seeing the impact that we have had on the world and are demanding changes for their future and the future of their children. It is all about responsibility. We can use a tree to manufacture bath tissue and then flush it down the toilet, or we can use that same tree to make a sheet of printing paper, bring it back, and then make it into toilet tissue.”