The New Year is a time for resolutions. Forecasts for 2010 suggest that markets worldwide might see a slight improvement.

While economists take a broad view, my suggestion is that individual businesses concentrate on their specific situation and resolve to make improvements in as many aspects of their operation as possible.

This need not necessarily mean huge investment – just looking at each department to see if some small adjustment could make the business more efficient.

This month, I have been seeking views on how businesses can use energy more efficiently. While manufacturers have been developing technology to this end, they also suggest that the first step should be good housekeeping measures – use washers at full capacity wherever possible, clean lint traps on dryers, don’t let trolleys of work form a queue, check that ironer clothing is in good condition and change where necessary, check steam traps and air vents.

All these are relatively inexpensive measures that will improve the business, cut long term running costs and help to produce a better result for the customer.

In another article, Randy Stiver advises on machine maintenance. Regular planned maintenance is the best approach. It may take time but in the end produces a better result than waiting for problems to occur. Planning saves money by cutting the need to take machines out of production for extensive periods.

An even better approach is to use a mixture of planned and predictive maintenance. In planned maintenance, managers use their five senses to look for early warning signs that a problem might occur in the near future. Predictive maintenance enlists the help of technology to spot those signs before our senses can detect them. Technology can even cut out unnecessary task by identifying opportunities for extending the period between routine tasks without affecting machine performance. This saves time, energy, labour and costs.

Every business has its strength and weaknesses. Each member of staff will have some skills but do they have all the skills they need and are their skills kept up to date?

Investing time in staff training is good for everybody. Staff are more confident and do their job better, the business produces a better result and the customer receives a better service.

Attention to detail is essential, for it is in those small points that the route to improvement and a more successful business lies.

Janet Taylor – Jtaylor@laundryandcleaningnews.com