Under the Hood: Keeping Dot Clean & Organized

A feature on Dot Foods’ Sanitation & Housekeeping teams.

Written by Georgia Kassing, Customer Analyst and Kayley Koch, Information Systems Analyst

There are a lot of parts and tools used to keep our trucks moving—but what about the people and teams who are behind those parts and tools? For this “Under the Hood” feature, we took an inside look at just a few of the Dot Transportation, Inc. (DTI) departments that help keep Dot trucks moving. Whether the department touches the trucks directly or they help provide employees with safe and organized work environments, all of the teams play an imperative role in supporting our company.

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Cleanliness is one of the first things you notice about a room—or a warehouse—when you walk in. A well-ordered space at Dot is more than just pleasing to look at; it also helps ensure the integrity and safety of the food products within it. 

At our distribution center (DC) locations, the Housekeeping and Sanitation departments work side-by-side to ensure all areas of the facilities are cleaned and maintained. By maintaining that cleanliness, our Sanitation and Housekeeping teams play a vital role in Dot’s success and our customers’ satisfaction.

Sanitation

Sanitation is a support group of the operations team. Its staff removes debris from the aisles and from under the racks. Sweeping and scrubbing the floors, dusting the racks, and cleaning spills are just a few of the many things they do to keep our facility clean and safe. 

Thanks to their hard work, we scored a 100 percent last year on Dot’s Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) audit! This ensures our food is safe and it keeps our customers happy.

Sanitation also plays a role environmentally by facilitating a recycling program that keeps waste out of landfills and by looking for opportunities to reuse materials.

Housekeeping

Dot Mt. Sterling’s Housekeeping department is responsible for cleaning 242,734 square feet per day—that doesn’t even include the space in the warehouse. It takes six to seven employees per shift to clean every square foot of the 13 buildings. It takes a full week for all the carpet to get vacuumed one time, with someone chipping away at the task every night.

Non-carpeted floors are cleaned every day. The walls, air vents, stairs, and windows are cleaned once a week. Your cube, office, bathroom, break room trash and recycling? Taken care of by housekeeping. Clean and stocked bathrooms? Housekeeping. Clean conference and training rooms? Housekeeping. 

Cleaning stations around the office areas are set up by housekeeping to give employees the tools to clean their cube and office space. 

“Our housekeeping team accomplishes all their tasks on a daily and weekly basis with a positive and caring attitude,” said New York Sanitation Lead Tammy Lattin, “They could never be thanked enough for giving 110 percent every day.” 

“Housekeeping is so important to an organization,” said Idaho Sanitation Lead Jen Bloomquist, “Everyone notices when the housekeeper is gone.”