More than just cleaning

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 The range of services offered by the aviation division of UK-based OCS Group Ltd is extensive. It includes terminal cleaning, aircraft appearance, baggage and passenger screening, lost property, assistance for passengers with reduced mobility (PRM), toilet and water servicing, logistics, laundry, concierge services and landscaping. The company lists among its clients over 50 airlines including British Airways and Virgin; and over 25 airports worldwide. We spoke to Mark Walls, Managing Director Aviation & Gateways for OCS Group UK Ltd.

We asked what makes OCS stand out. “Our responsiveness to customer needs,” Walls replies. “We spend a lot of time focusing on new solutions and new technology to support them. We’re still a family business, set up in 1900, demonstrating our long-term approach to business.”

Over the last few years, OCS has retained 100 per cent of its aviation contracts when they have come up for re-tender, which is illustrative of the high customer confidence in OCS: “Virgin aircraft cleaning was re-secured, as well as PRM work at Birmingham, Manchester and East Midlands. Prior to that we had re-bid for aircraft appearance for BA, which we secured, and we have also negotiated the extension of our laundry contracts with Virgin and BA for a further five years. This is indicative of the positive view our customers have of OCS in terms of the service levels they receive and the desire to carry on working with us.”

OCS works very closely with ground handlers too. Walls explains, “On a day-to-day basis we work with Swissport, dnata, Servisair and other handlers. Many airlines will appoint a ground handler under an agreement to deliver all services on the ground.”

As well as maintaining a close working relationship with ground handlers, airlines and airports, OCS also works with equipment manufacturers, to make sure the client gets the best possible service: “The turnaround time on short haul flights is very tight – we’ve got something like 12 minutes to get into the aircraft, clean it and get out again. We can’t start cleaning the aircraft until the passengers have exited, so, for one client, we had some bespoke crew vehicles with integrated steps designed and built for us that enabled us to get up to the rear door of the aircraft while the passengers were still exiting from the front. This buys us an extra three or four minutes to help with the turnaround times, to make sure that delays are minimised.”

In the UK, OCS operates at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports as well as 10 regional airports. At the regional airports, it provides passengers with reduced mobility assistance and additional services such as baggage screening and lost property. Walls says, “At Manchester we provide a wide range of support including aircraft appearance, PRM and several other airport services.

“Gatwick is one of OCS’s major success stories in the UK. We are currently delivering all of the terminal cleaning and PRM work. We also provide a number of additional airport-related services such as concierge, where we give advice to passengers passing through the airport. We also have an aircraft appearance service at Gatwick. At Heathrow we do landscaping work on the airport’s landside.”

Safety is of paramount importance. Walls explains, “There’s a whole range of training on health and safety which our staff are obliged to take, starting with the induction training, which is classroom based, and includes easy to follow handouts . For specialised skills, such as for drivers of ambilifts and highlifts who have to back vehicles up to an aircraft, there is specialist training provided by the manufacturers of the vehicles. We also have our own training teams who go round the country initially training these drivers and then return on a regular basis to provide refresher training and to check their skills and capabilities.”

The OCS group operates worldwide in four regions, which are linked through development groups for each of the company’s service lines. Walls says, “We have an aviation group whose focus is to ensure that we share best practice in aviation services across all of the regions. We’ve been working in aviation in the UK for nearly 50 years now, from when we first started cleaning aircraft at Gatwick. We have provided support to other regions to establish and mobilise new service offerings so, for example, we sent a team to Australia to help to set up the PRM and aircraft appearance operations there. Now we’re delivering services in Mauritius, Mumbai, several airports in Australia, several airports in New Zealand, and Singapore. The aviation team meets once a month via online meeting with representatives from each of the regions, and ensures global best practice is shared as well as adherence to the very highest standards of customer service and innovation.”

OCS is optimistic about the future. “There is a very clear focus on growth within our division,” Walls says.

Mitie: one team

Strategic outsourcing company Mitie provides a range of services at airports across the UK, including cleaning and maintenance, baggage screening, CCTV monitoring, immigration presentation, PRM, compliance, aircraft cleaning, toilet and water servicing, airline laundry, in-transit cleaning, vehicle cleaning, shunting, remote asset cleaning (e.g. bus/tram stops), retail cleaning and trolley management. The company’s wider services include built-in passive fire protection, pest control, energy management, engineering services maintenance, waste and recycling, and winter services.

For Mitie, it’s all about the people. Director of Transport, Colin Marshall, says, “They’re motivated, keen to challenge and learn new things, and passionate about what they do. They’re totally committed to doing everything they can to improve the passenger experience, which is the ultimate aim of every aviation operator.” The company has a stringent recruitment process. The dedicated MiTec centre in Northern Ireland carries out all security clearance for both airside and landside, so all Mitie staff are screened before they start work. Marshall continues, “We then invest in our people, providing extensive training to enhance their skills on both a personal and professional level, in all aspects of our work. That includes tailoring training so that our people are properly prepared for the particular environments they are working in, for example complying with Department for Transport regulations in the aviation sector. As a result, our people want to work for us and are inspired to do a good job.”

Marshall explains, “We work towards a ‘one team’ ethos with all of our clients. That means aligning our goals with our clients’, and tailoring our services to deliver what is best for them. A great example of this is our commitment to improving the passenger experience at Manchester Airport where we’ve empowered our team to take part in the client’s own customer service standard programme. As a result, the team is aware of the role they play in protecting the client’s reputation; they ensure each passenger receives an exceptional service at every touch point throughout the airport. Often that means going above and beyond in service delivery, dealing with a whole host of situations including locating missing children and helping people who are taken ill at the airport. Our team of ‘cleaners’ in Manchester are now officially known as ‘Airport Service Assistants’, giving them an even greater sense of purpose and belonging.”

Mitie provides in-house airside ramp safety training to its staff. Airside driver training and manoeuvring around the ramp, with an emphasis on approaching aircraft, is provided by specialist training companies. “We have implemented a comprehensive safety management procedure – incorporating policy, training, auditing, and risk management – to ensure this training transfers into practice,” says Marshall.

The company’s ‘one team’ culture extends to its working relationships with ground handlers and equipment manufacturers. “We liaise very closely with ground handling companies on a daily basis to ensure the security and safety of the aircraft, and to plan our own operational priorities, such as stand planning, aircraft washing, and engineering. It’s a two-way working relationship, and important that we manage it effectively,” says Marshall. “We have forward-thinking relationships with all of our equipment suppliers, from large scrubber dryers to smaller cleaning carts. We are passionate about continual improvement and have built up a good relationship with all of our suppliers to keep up to date with the latest innovations available. We also regularly invite our manufacturers along to our sites to take part in ‘innovation days.’ We find these are really useful to talk through the latest equipment on the market and help our team learn about the best and safest way to operate the machinery.”

The main challenge facing the aviation services industry is how to create an efficient and pleasant passenger experience, without sacrificing safety and security, in an environment of tightening budgets and with increasing passenger numbers. Mitie is using its ‘one team’ mindset to tackle this challenge. “We’re always on the look-out for smarter ways of doing things, without impacting the quality of the service we provide,” explains Marshall. “By training our managers in lean principles for example, we can deliver a more efficient cleaning process than ever before. This has created significant savings for a wide range of clients despite increasing passenger figures. By adopting a lean approach to cleaning, we can reduce staffing levels – and have done by up to 12% with some of our clients. What’s more, by multi-skilling our team and being smarter about how we utilise their skills, there has been no adverse impact to service delivery.” He goes on, “We are also often faced with challenges out of our control e.g. weather, delays etc. Although we have planned contingencies in place, it’s our ‘one team’ ethos that really helps us overcome the challenges. Working in true partnership, we react quickly and efficiently and have often assisted with security alerts, flooding and baggage handling to support the client on top of our contracted services.”

Mitie’s clients are certainly happy with the service they receive. Andrew Boyd, Head of Terminal 3, Manchester Airport Group, says “We’ve made great strides in picking up faults, reviewing standards and progressing with remedial action thanks to the focus of the team on T3, both inside and front of house.” This sentiment is echoed by Lisa Sheil, Customer Services Liaison Officer, Manchester Airport Terminal 2: “I am very impressed with the high standards of cleaning, which I know have been maintained for some time. The team’s hard work is certainly paying off.”

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