Write the task down as work steps, not as a job title
“Cleaning the line” is not a task you can cost. Break it into the steps a worker actually performs, and count the minutes each one takes on a line that is stopped for cleaning:
- Moving barriers, covers and parts out of the way, then putting them back
- Loosening baked-on oil, cutting-fluid residue and dust before any liquid touches the surface
- Applying the cleaning medium and working the soiled surfaces
- Handling what the cleaning produces — rinsed-off liquid, oily water, wet swarf, dirty wipes
- Drying the machine enough to restart, and confirming that sensors, belts and guides are clear
- Waiting: for the machine to cool, for floors to dry, for the next shift to be allowed in
Teams disagree because they count different sets of steps. Maintenance counts the scrubbing. Operations counts the restart delay. Both are right. Put every step in the worksheet, and let each method carry its own waiting time — a method that scrubbing is faster at may still cost more if the floor has to dry before anyone can walk on it.
Score each method against conditions your plant actually has
Labour hours only mean something inside your constraints. List these conditions first, then rate each option against them:
- Power at the point of use. A fixed unit that runs on 220V steam cleaning machine installations needs an outlet and a water feed near the machine; a mobile unit needs charging or a cable run instead. Which one your line already has decides a lot of setup labour.
- Floor space and access. Narrow aisles and indoor bays favour compact, mobile equipment; open bays with a fixed wash area favour installed units.
- Water handling. Wash-water collection, drainage and oily-water disposal are real labour. A method that uses less liquid still requires disposal, but usually less of it.
- Downtime window. Cleaning done in a 40-minute changeover needs a method that leaves surfaces ready to run, not one that finishes wet.
- Skill level available. Some methods need a trained operator to set pressure and temperature correctly; others need only a brush and a bucket.
Where heat and pressure change the labour picture
Most manual cleaning labour is scraping, wiping and re-wiping, because the soil has to be broken loose by hand. A heavy-duty steam cleaning machine moves that work to the machine: high-temperature steam softens grease and oil, and pressure carries it off the surface, so the operator spends time directing a lance rather than scrubbing. The published figures for the PowerDe HW02 fixed unit — 6 kW heating power, 160 °C steam temperature and 0.8 MPa vapour pressure, on an 80 L stainless tank — describe the range a fixed installation can hold at the point of use, which is what lets one worker cover a machine without pre-soaking parts in a bath.
That shifts, rather than removes, labour. Someone still inspects, still handles the runoff, and still checks the machine before restart. What usually drops is the number of people needed at once, and the amount of disassembly required. The comparison sheet should record both: workers per shift, and parts that no longer have to come off.
Run one clean on each method and record it the same way
Estimates argue; one measured cycle settles it. Pick one machine, one soil level, and one shift length, then run it with your current method and with the alternative. For each run record:
- Start and stop times, including waiting
- Number of workers present for each step
- Materials consumed: water, chemicals, wipes, energy where it can be read off the meter
- Time between end of cleaning and start of production
- Re-work: any surface that had to be gone over again
Then divide total person-minutes by the number of machines cleaned, and put that figure next to your cleaning frequency. That is the number both teams can compare, and the one worth taking to a supplier. If you want a quote built around your measured cycle rather than a generic one, describe your line, your power and water situation and your downtime window, and ask the supplier to size the equipment and the utility requirements against those facts — for installed options, see the PowerDe HW02 steam cleaner listing and the customized steam cleaning equipment service page.
