Once you’ve decided that an autonomous solution is right for your organization, what happens next?

 

No two implementation procedures are exactly the same, but a few phases are common to most, so we’ll show you how to get started.

The first phase is also known as “pre-introduction,” and the decisions made during this phase influence the success of your implementation. It includes:

 

Define the process: Consider an implementation plan in collaboration with your solution provider, i.e. Nilfisk. Be specific regarding your needs and the expected outcome. Do you want to improve cleaning efficiency, frequency, or both? How will these outcomes translate into value?

 

Map tasks: You may want to list your floor-cleaning tasks, and consider where the autonomous solution will fit best. Will it integrate well with the current manual process, or will that process change as a result? If change occurs, how will it impact other factors, such as the number of operators required in the future?

 

Define responsibilities: Having defined the tasks, clarify who is responsible for what; which tasks are now autonomous, and what is the operator’s responsibility? This lets you plan for changes in cleaning frequency and decide how to reallocate any resources freed up by the new plan.

 

Involve stakeholders: In addition to your cleaning staff, you may need to involve other stakeholders affected by the shift to autonomous cleaning. For instance, if the solution is likely to be used during regular working hours in a warehouse, employees should be informed.

In this phase, you work closely with the ven­dor installing your solution. They train and guide your team of supervisors, and operators, through the various features of the machine, and show how to use it.

 

A key element of this training is showing your staff a new way of working, and introducing the autonomous machine as a new member of the cleaning crew. After this, your team can begin to test the solution with the tasks mapped out in Phase 1. 

Once training and introduction are completed, your cleaning team will begin to trust the machine’s capabilities, and grow more comfortable with leaving the machine to operate on its own.

 

It is a good idea to test the autonomous solution across different tasks, and determine the most effective methods for performing them. For example, try the solution in applications of different scale, and make minor changes to the clean­ing process to see how productivity is impacted. During this phase, you should also expect advice and guidance from your vendor.

In this phase, consider the results so far, and adapt your implementation plan for optimized cleaning. You may learn that the solution meets your expectations, but performs even better if alterations are made to the cleaning plan, e.g. cleaning retail aisles during low-traffic hours ensures smoother operations.

 

This phase gives you the opportunity to fine-tune your implementation, defining the time, frequency, and duration of cleaning, as well as assembling your team of superusers, and thereby ensuring an optimized process for the best cleaning results.

Steps 1-4 should ensure a comfortable introduction, setup, and integration of your autonomous program: you defined all applicable processes, and have identified the optimal methods for using the solution.

 

You also have a dedicated team of trained operators who run the machine, and these users are assigned other quali­tative tasks while the machine operates independently. Any changes to your cleaning process are minimal.