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General Business Tips |
Roundtable Discussion NPE West 2003by Ranger Kidwell-RossThe following is a synopsis of what took place at the 2003 NPE West Sweepers' Roundtable Discussion. 
At the National Pavement Expo each year a roundtable discussion is held where attendees can talk about the current 'hot items' in the sweeping industry. This year, the event was moderated by Gerry Kesselring, new president of the North American Power Sweeping Association (naPSa). Gerry requested that people in the audience suggest ideas for future seminars and discussion topics. One man wanted more items for smaller contractors. He felt the seminars at NPE were pointed toward larger firms, not the person with just one or a few sweepers. Another audience member said he wanted more on how to market effectively, as well as information about what he called 'consolidators.' These are, he explained, the companies that are now representing the interests of the national retail chains when it comes to buying sweeping. For example, Dentco and US Maintenance. This latter topic generated a lively discussion, and it appeared that most in the room had had some contact with consolidators in their marketplace. Target store stories were the most prevalent. One contractor said he had been sweeping Targets for $40 a sweep, and Dentco had given account in his area to another contractor who is located much farther from the store locations, without giving him a chance to even bid on it. And, the other contractor is now sweeping the Target stores in his area for $18 a sweep. He added that he wouldn't have done the work at anything near that figure. There was a general discussion of what to do about these types of situations, the consensus of which was to "just say no to low, unrealistic prices and wait for there to be a shakeout showing that the job couldn't be done profitably at that level." Another couple of bidding models were talked about. These involved large chain stores that had started to use Internet bidding for their contracts as a way to reduce the price. Contractors would have an open window in which to bid on sweeping a group of stores, for example, with the low bid at the end of the 1/2 to 1 hour long bidding window getting the work. At least one of the websites hosting the bidding apparently charged a percentage of the work for hosting the service. Another idea for a seminar was to provide ways to measure productivity, e.g., sweeper/operator productivity measuring and how to reward it, for example with a bonus or other reward scheme. One person spoke about his company's recent use of Nextel's GPS tracking phone. He said they'd seen a huge increase in productivity: "We learned a Schwarze 348 could go 80 mph down the freeway!" he said to general laughter from the crowd. The Nextel system, one of many on the market, can pull data from a variety of items. For example, the owner can see every time the sweeper direction changes at a 45-degree angle, and when it's operating or not. Some of his clients, another contractor said, are now requiring a GPS printout with their invoice. With the system he uses, he said, the printout is so good you can draw the building location in around the sweeper's sweeping pattern. GPS is also great for verifying that someone didn't 'midnight dump,' or was actually at the lot, what parts were swept, and for how long. Historical report can show items like mph and heading in second increments. Consensus was that whatever someone used needs to be capable of adding the route info all up so you know how long sweeping on each lot, spent loading water, transit, dumping, etc., so it can be used in determining pricing and profitability as years go by. There was then a brief discussion on the topic of screening of sweeping debris, which reduces dumping cost. Here's an overview of that: Jim Dodson, of Mid-State Industrial Service in Eugene, Oregon, said he is a long-term screener. In his case, the dirt goes to sand-and-gravel company to fill in their pit. They have to pay only for trucking it to the site. The rest is disposed of normally at $45/ton. However, Jim went on to say, Oregon now requires that screenings don't run off into storm drains, but rather into an oil-and-water separator. As a result, they're having to build a separator facility where they can store the debris as it's screened, etc. Someone else said they've had to place containers strategically around their route, since it's too far from base to come back to dump centrally. In their situation, they opined, they wouldn't be able to use screening as a way to cut costs. An attendee comment was made on the topic of noise: "I am considering putting a 'noise premium' onto places where there are hour restrictions due to noise. There is a cost to us for having to re-route our sweepers, and the clients need to bear those costs." There was also a request, followed by sounds of general agreement around the room, for naPSa to put a list of sample forms onto its website. A list was then made of the top topics of interest to those in the room. This is shown below:
The picture below shows a few of those who attended the Roundtable Discussion, talking together in groups around the room after the meeting was adjourned. Although a wide range of information was covered during the meeting, I've always felt that even more information of value is probably gained in the one-on-one conversations attendees have with each other while they're at the show, at dinners, etc. I hope you found this article to be of interest, however be assured there is much more to gain in your personal attendance at the show. 
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