People and machines
Cleaning as a profession has a long history and involves physically demanding tasks. 4Service has a clearing team working at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences which is being supplemented by four employees who love repetitive tasks. Together they constitute a great example of the interactions that can occur between humans and technology.
2022
A couple of the most important things required for succeeding in business are cooperation and team spirit. One adherent of this concept is Patrick Malnes, the Divisional Director for Cleaning and Maintenance at 4Service.
– We're a group that loves winning and hates losing, grins Malnes.
Last year Malnes' division had a lot to smile about.
– Since the pandemic we have been doing very well and we have also continued to grow.
Malnes says that having well-oiled machinery is the key to success.
– Being allowed to manage hundreds of people who do their utmost for our customers every day is something that makes me proud.
All aspects of HR, finances, sales, tenders and the actual services provided to customers need to play their part in ensuring a successful working day and optimal functions.
– A lot of people get up early and go to bed late without receiving the praise they deserve. I would therefore like to thank everyone who has contributed so that we can look back on last year with a sense of pride.
In addition to working well together, our willingness to take up a challenge is part of what makes 4Service unique. Malnes elaborates:
– In order to continue winning exciting assignments in the future, we need to be the best at innovation. We need to understand and benefit from new technology. Not because it is new and exciting, but because it increases the quality of the services that we provide to our customers. Connecting needs with opportunities is crucial to putting together the best offers.
4Service and Malnes put together such an offer when they won one of last year's most exciting contracts: cleaning at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL).
HVL
When HVL announced a tender for cleaning services, 4Service decided that they would like to win it. The question was how?
– We have been working actively with technology and robots for many years, says Kenneth Glesnes.
He is the Operations Manager at 4Service and currently has operational responsibility for cleaning services at HVL.
– We quickly understood that we would need to draw on all the experience we had acquired and use it to think ambitiously on behalf of both the customer and ourselves, he explains.
The 54-year-old from Bergen has been working at 4Service since 2017. In his job as Operations Manager he starts at six o'clock every morning and often does not finish until twelve hours later.
– The best thing I know is human contact. We are a tight-knit team. I often say that if you order a bread roll with cheese from us, you get a shrimp sandwich in return.
Glesnes laughs and continues enthusiastically:
– The results we have achieved at the University are due to the fact that we all stand up for each other.
Succeeding at HVL is important, not just for Glesnes and his team, but for the whole of 4Service. The HVL building is a so-called landmark building which serves as a major showcase for what the company can deliver.
– People like us from Bergen like to lead the way. The same applies to technology and using robots. I hope that what we do here at the University will inspire other great institutions to try the same.
JonnyJonny
HVL covers an area of 50,000 m2 and has 2,100 doors, 170 toilets and is home to 6,000 students who live in 2 large buildings, as well as a few other small locations. 4Service has 15 cleaners and 4 robots who take care of the cleaning.
– An IKEA shopping centre is like a hot dog stand in comparison, Glesnes chuckles.
The large floor areas are ideal for using robots. The largest and most important of these robots speaks English and has been named JonnyJonny.
– Not only is JonnyJonny extremely hardworking, he's also incredibly reliable. We have zero tolerance for accidents, which is why OUR robots are equipped with a number of safety features. These include strong sensors that enable JonnyJonny and his other robotic colleagues to detect you long before you see them.
JonnyJonny is particularly effective on the University’s numerous white tiles.
– The quality of cleaning has improved with the use of the robots. Jonny Jonny takes care of the large surfaces, one particularly quiet robot cleans the floors in the library and the other two work in the communal areas which are spread over four different floors.
Although the robots have their advantages, they are not completely flawless just yet.
– They're not good at taking care of details and can't be used everywhere. In order to ensure top quality services, the interaction between man and machine is therefore important. It is also a bonus that our robots can perform those tasks that have traditionally worn out people's shoulders and backs. This gives the rest of us time to do our other tasks, Glesnes explains.
The expert
Eivind Brevik, a senior lecturer on information systems and Vice-Dean for Society and People at Kristiania University College, agrees with Glesnes.
– On their own machines are actually quite stupid, but if you combine them with humans, you can achieve amazing things, says Brevik.
He holds a Master's degree in business administration with additional education in organisational psychology and has worked for a long time on understanding how people and technology work best together.
– The robot that 4Service uses at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences is a great example of how this interaction works in practice. The robots deal with the large areas while the warm hands, i.e. the humans, work in the nooks and crannies. Taken together this constitutes a more efficient use of resources.
Brevik does not believe that the machines of the future will replace humans, but rather some of the tasks that we spend time on today.
– All innovation involves a degree of simplification. By letting robots do some of the tasks we have today, we humans can devote our time to other things. I think that this is true regardless of whether or not you are involved in education, care-provision or cleaning.
As a self-proclaimed technology optimist, Brevik is naturally positive about the future.
– There are a lot of exciting things happening on the technology front, but we have to use our heads. We first need to understand things in order to interpret the results that machines provide us with. When calculators first appeared, many people were worried that we would no longer be able to calculate in the future. But the important thing is not whether or not we can calculate by hand, but whether or not we understand what the machines' calculations mean and what opportunities they can give us. Today, some people are sceptical about ChatGPT and other AI solutions. I think the secret to mastering tomorrow's technology is to understand and be curious.
Curiosity is Brevik's recommendation when asked about how companies should relate to future technological opportunities.
– Put the technology to use. Try and learn. Don't drag your feet and allow your competitors be the ones who are curious and hungry.
As far as 4Service is concerned, this challenge will not be hard to take up.
– The use of robots at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences shows that 4Service is already thinking this way. If I was to give them one direct challenge, it would be to make even more use of them, he concludes.
Patrick Malnes at 4Service is ready to take up Brevik's challenge.
– We are embracing his kind words and are looking forward to challenging technology even more in the time to come. The interaction between man and machine is exciting and this development will only continue. In the future we will certainly look back on our current practices and be happy that our future deliveries involve an even better interaction between people and technology.