Silicon Valley Hospitals Improve Cleaning and Landscape Operations Using Processes developed at Hewlett-Packard and Other High Tech Companies in the San Francisco Bay area.

Patrick Dubridge of El Camino Hospital in Mountain View used to react to complaints about curb appeal from upper management with emergency meetings with his landscaper.  Many times, the issues causing the complaints resulted in lost plants and expensive replacements.  Pat was never sure about who or what caused the problem in the first place.  Then one day he received a proposal from another landscaper who proposed using AuditorSoft to document his performance.  Pat was intrigued and ended up changing landscapers and has not struggled with quality or irrigation again.

Don O’Hare of Palo Alto Medical Foundation had the same experience.  He did not hire the contractor who introduced him to the AuditorSoft process but utilized it with existing contractors and found his sites were under performing and had no formal water management process in place.  With AuditorSoft he got control and started documenting water use against a budget calculated on area of landscape.

Gene Ebertowski of Flora Terra Landscape in San Jose has been using AuditorSoft to demonstrate service quality and water conservation to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Gatos.  Gene “sells quality and conservation” to hospitals and documents his performance with objective audits that his clients can spot check for accuracy very quickly and with little effort.

Mike Johnson, while working as Corporate Site Facilities Manager for Hewlett-Packard, influenced the development of AuditorSoft working with suppliers to produce continuous performance improvement using principles he learned while working and studding with Dr. Deming.  Mike saw the need for an easy way to document quality so workers could partner with management and own the performance together.  Mike is a natural leader with an engineer’s practicality.  During the drought of 1986 to 1991, he used the AuditorSoft scheduling process to reduce water use by 40%.  He worked with the energy manager, Bill Elam, of Tandem Computers and they saved 55% on their water use.  Mike trained and helped develop the AuditorSoft process with his custodial supplier and improved performance by over 30%.  During those years he reduced chemical use and cut rework and changes in mind to produce superior grounds and interior facilities conditions.  He continues to be a key person at Green Leaf Mapping & Control Systems.  Green Leaf hosts and supports AuditorSoft’s web-based software for hospitals and other large facilities.

AuditorSoft is endorsed by the California Landscape Contractors Association.  The very first landscapers to receive official certified water management recognition in the State of California use AuditorSoft to meet the demanding budgets required for their certifications.  One of the contractors, Pacific Crest Landscape, was just awarded contracts on two large campuses by Cushman & Wakefield. Pacific Crest received commendations from C&W's facility Managers for rapid landscape quality improvement and significant water savings at both properties.

It all boils down to measure, recognize and reward professional providers.  They can be outsourced or in house personnel.  Mike Johnson encourages us to give them clear expectations, measure improvement and focus management’s time on process and those issues not owned by the service provider but impacting the outcome of their quality results.

Dave McLeroy is the President of Green Leaf Mapping & Control Systems and has been in the auditing and contract performance business since 1965.  He has worked in aerospace, banking, retail, custodial and landscape contracting.  Green Leaf develops software for facilities service provider management, specifications for outsourcing and helps management prepare and process RFPs.