2023 Trends in the Cleaning Industry: Supply Chain, Digital Transformation & Security Assessments

Dealing with Economic Insecurity

In 2022 there were multiple factors that significantly hindered the global supply chain. The re-escalation of the Russo-Ukraine war and renewed COVID-19 lockdowns in China accelerated the already wavering post COVID-19 supply chain into increased hardship.

Since Russia is a huge supplier of global energy, industrial metals, and food/fiber commodities, the cost of these imports skyrocketed.

Additionally, the global effects of these events in Russia, Ukraine, and China resulted in transportation limitations along the Asia-Europe trade lane and reduced the manufacturing of consumer goods.

As inflation drives up energy costs and global supply chain disruptions cause scarcity of raw materials, suppliers established creative solutions to combat the harsh logistical climate. Businesses are turning to consolidation to recoup financially. Company mergers and acquisitions allow organizations to increase competitive competencies while creating room to grow their offerings.

E-commerce has been another focus for organizations to recover from supply chain issues. E-commerce revenue is predicted to reach $1.111 trillion in the U.S. this year, which calls for companies to analyze their digital efforts to optimize online purchases and reduce return rates. According to the Association of Supply Chain Management, 2023 will see the following digital transformation trends:

• Big data, advanced analytics, and automation will be supply chain pillars.

• Increased demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning to process huge datasets in real time.

• Supply chain designs will be created using tools built off the internet of things and next-generation robotics.

The Need for Enhanced Facility Security Assessments

In the United States there have been 67 mass shootings so far in 2023 and a total of 648 mass shootings in 2022. With these harrowing statistics facility managers need to frequently perform risk assessments focusing on security and the safety of building occupants.

Human and Health Services (HHS) defines risk as: “1) the likelihood of a given threat triggering or exploiting a particular vulnerability, and 2) the resulting impact on the organization. This means that risk is not a single factor or event, but rather it is a combination of factors or events (threats and vulnerabilities) that, if they occur, may have an adverse impact on the organization”

Implementing a building risk assessment is a proactive approach to greatly reduce risks from occurring.

The HHS asserts there are many ways to perform an analysis—understanding  your current security measures, levels of risks and threat occurrences, identifying and documenting potential threats and vulnerabilities are great places to start when re-evaluating.

The health and safety of your building occupants are at the forefront of any facility management plan. Remaining proactive and aware of what is going on within your organization can make all the difference in the welfare of your your staff, coworkers, customers, business partners, and others.

WAXIE is committed to helping our customers keep their facilities cleaner, healthier, greener, and safer. That means creating customized cleaning solutions to meet your specific needs, and then providing the ongoing training and support to help you achieve a cleaner and safer building environment. 

Please contact your WAXIE Account Consultant today to schedule a consultation. 

Caitlin Dimalanta is WAXIE’s eCommerce Specialist. She enjoys content creation as well as, researching and implementing various SEO (search engine optimization) strategies to enhance WAXIE’s eCommerce platform Web@Work. Caitlin has a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing from San Diego State University.