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34
CM/ Cleanfax
®
SEPTEMBER 2010
CLEANFAX.COM
By Lisa Wagner and Jim Pemberton
TRAININGTRAINING
Is this the industry’s
weakest
link?
T
he free market is alive and well today inourindustry.Each new year brings us innovations inequipment, tools and chemistry to make our jobseasier,saferand,hopefully,moreeffectiveandmoreprofitable.If the innovations don’t create more value,cleaners don’t buy them. There is built-in ac-countability. The new and great products sell,andtheonesthatdon’tcutit…don’tsell.Yet,whiletheadvancementincleaningtech-nologyinthepastdecadehasbeensignificant,ouradvancementincleaningtraininghasnot.A test taken today for certification is notmuch different from that of a decade ago —often with many of the same answers, work-ingtonotoffendanyparticularcleaningschoolofthought,orotherinvestedinterest.The standards written as the foundation ofthese tests have become enormous projects ofinterested, and often conflicted, groups thatcollectively take years to produce a revisionthat ends up being outdated by the time it isreleased, based on the new technologies andresearchoftheday.Thetrainingformatofclassroominstructionwith a structure of having to memorize an-swers to 150 or more questions also has notchangedmuch.Itmirrorsthesameschoolsys-temmodelthatiscurrentlyfailingourchildren.Traditional schooling is no longer a prereq-uisiteforsuccess.Goingtocollegetoearn“bigmoney”isnowthe exception, not the rule, as other ways oflearninghavereplacedtherigid,programmed bureaucracy of our test-centered educationalsystem.
Teaching skills
The central problem to the format require-ments of current training models is that, withsomanyrequiredquestionstoteachto,thein-structormustspendthetimeallottedonteach-ingtheattendees
what
tomemorizetopassthetest,ratherthanon
how
tothinkandhowtoac-tuallyclean.When you ask today’s instructors the mostdifficult part of developing and teachingcourses,atthetopofthelisthastobehowtheysqueezereal,practicallearninginthemidstofall of the laundry-list of miscellaneous, andoftenimpractical,minutiatheyarerequiredtocoverintheircourse.
While,withsomebasiccourses,thismightnotcausemuchharm,withmorespecializedcrafts — in failing to teach attendeeshow to problem-solve on-site —new technicians can walk into a job with a false confidence thatcancostthemdearly.Becausestudentsaregiventheir test scores, but no in-formation on what theymissed and, moreimportantly,
why
,there are al-ways gapsin theirknowl-edge.The question is, do we want to see whocan memorize the most trivia and circum-vent the tricky answers, or do we wantstudents to leave a class
knowing and under-standing
the subject thoroughly so they can bebettercleaners?We both receive pleas on a regular basisfrom technicians who took a tip lightly cov-ered in a rug or upholstery course and felttheycouldapplyitinanysituation.Inparticular,withsuchhigh-liabilitytasks,suchastestingfororpreventingdyemigra-tion, and performing color correction, someinstructors present their own products as“be-all-end-all”solutionswithoutqualifyingthat pre-existing conditions can create ex-pensivenightmaresfortheirstudentsiftheyactuallyapply“tips”inthewrongway.An important skill, such as color correc-tion, squeezed in at the end of a multi-dayclass, whenstudents are tired from sitting and being“PowerPointed” to death, fails everyone —thecleanersandtheconsumerstheyserve.
Service providersversus textile pros
Thecurrenttraininginthefieldsofuphol-steryandrugswithintheInstituteofInspec-tion, Cleaning and Restoration Certification(IICRC) is basic level instruction. It is whatyou need to know in order to keep yourselfout of trouble in most general situations inthehome.Though basic training and typical chemi-calscanservetheon-siteupholsteryandarearug cleaning technician just fine, for hyper-sensitiveand/orheavilysoilednaturalfiberandinvestment-gradetextilesthereneedsto be an in-plant focus, which the certificationcourses do not prepare students for, or evenaddressatanylength.Whattheclassesarechurningoutare“ser-viceproviders”toperformabasiclevel cleaning service toconsumers.
CLEANFAX.COM
SEPTEMBER 2010
CM/Cleanfax
®
35
COVER
STORY
LisaWagnerisasecond-generationrugcareexpert,NIRCCertifiedRugSpecialistandanownerofK.Blatch-ford'sSanDiegoRugCleaningCompany.Shewasrec-ognizedasthe2006CleanfaxmagazinePersonoftheYearforherindustrycontributions.Foracopyofherlat-estfreereport"Top10RugDisasters-andHowToAvoidThem"sendane-mailtorugwarrior@gmail.comwith"rugdisasters"inthesubjectline.Anindustrytrainerandconsultant,JimPembertonispresi-dentofPemberton'sInterlinkSuppliesinMcKeesport,PA.JimistheCleanfaxmagazine2007PersonoftheYear.Hehasmore than30yearsofexperienceinthecleaningandrestorationin-dustry.Youareinvitedtovisithiswebsiteatwww.ecleanadvi-sor.com,ore-mailhimatJimpem2@comcast.net.
What they are failing to do is develop themindsetandskillstocraftrealprofessionalsinthefieldsoffinefabricandspecialtyrugcare.
On-site versus in-plant
The biggest textile disservice the educa-tional bureaucracies have done to consumersistoimplythroughtheirstandards,andtheircourses, that on-site cleaning is interchange-ablewithin-plantcleaning.Becausefewofthecontributorsofmuchofthis material have actually operated success-ful in-plant upholstery or rug facilities, theygenuinely do not have the depth of knowl-edgetoconveythiseffectivelyintoacourse.Questions created by committee fall to thelowest common denominator to create theleastamountoffriction.Thegoalistoplacate,nottoeducate.What has resulted is competent on-site ed-ucationforfabricsandrugs,with“safe”skillstaught to simply help keep cleaners out oftrouble.
What has not resulted are courses to trainspecialistsineitherfieldonhowtobeexcellent“textileprofessionals.”Theproblem,however,isthatthe IICRCdoesnotexplainthistoclean-ersorconsumers;theorganizationjustimpliesthatanyonecertifiedintheRugCleaningTech-nician (RCT) or Upholstery and Fabric Clean-ing Technician (UFT) are well-trained in theircraft...evenwhentheymay,infact,notbe.
36
CM/ Cleanfax
®
SEPTEMBER 2010
CLEANFAX.COM
COVER
STORY
IN-PLANT TEXTILE TRICKS AND TIPSFOR FINE FABRICS
Testing and inspection:
Alwaystestforthe fiberfamily(natural/synthetic/blend)andforcolorfastness.Identifying sensitive textures,such aschenille orvelvetmadefromnaturalfibers,isimportant,ascleaning and grooming processesshould restore thefabricto the most“nextto new” condition aspossible.
Pay attention to preconditioning products and techniques:
Whatyou use toloosensoilismore importantthan whatyou extractitwith.With in-plantsituations,you havegreaterflexibilityasto the typesofproductsused,asyou can assure more thoroughrinsing and drying in an in-plantsetting.
Choose tools for texture retention issues:
Minimizing texture distortion duringcleaning makestexture restoration lesstime consuming later.The righttoolsand tech-niquesare criticalhere.
Extract cleaning agent residues thoroughly:
Few cleanersare aware ofhow muchresidue theyleave in fabrics.Cleaning agentresiduesmaycontribute to colorbleed-ing,browning and a stiffhand on softtextures.Such residuesalso maycontributetoskin and respiratoryirritation,and often preventthe bonding offabricprotectors.
Dry quickly:
Fastdrying ofnaturalfiberfabricsisyourbestprotection againstcolorbleeding and cellulosicbrowning.The abilityto controlthe drying processisanotherreason to considerin plantcleaning ofnaturalfiberfabricupholstery.—
Jim Pemberton
Circle 202
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