Rajesh Wariar, Deputy GM-IPC India, said: “The manufacturing industry is hungry for heavyduty vacuum cleaners, particularly the food and pharma sectors. There is a huge untapped cleaning potential for this segment, and it will be our focus in the coming year.”
“But”, he continued, “45% of our turnover comes from the FM segment, which is very demanding. It wants highquality products with prompt servicing and quick turnaround time for tasks. Which is why we are exhibiting products that are increasingly designed for a specific task, like a vacuum cleaner that can clean up to 40 feet high, while the operator stands on the ground.”
Madhavan offered more examples of machines designed for efficiency: “Conventional cleaning with water overloads the ETP plant, but iceblasting does not leave behind much residue. For long platforms and metro stations, we have designed a battery operated ride-on machine, with brush-width 90cm, meant specifically for India.”
Robotics
While this made an appearance at the last show, this year, it snagged the interest of buyer after buyer. A&S outsourcing exhibited a robotic duct cleaning machine which is already in use by the Indian Railways. Its founder Akash Chhabria said: “The Railways was facing two problems because of unclean AC ducts: passengers were following sick because of debris, mold and bacteria in the circulated air, and the life of the AC machinery itself was getting reduced.”
His company has deployed robotic cleaning machines in four major railway workshops: Matunga (Mumbai), Ajmer, Ponmalai and Mysore — where the AC ducts of 120-400 AC coaches are cleaned every year. The service provider has the capacity to increase this 3-4 coaches per day. Their robots are also being used by hospitals, hotels and large manufacturing facilities such as Volkswagen.
The company does not sell the robots, but offers their capabilities as service. AC ducts were simply never cleaned until now, because it was dangerous to send a man up into them for manual cleaning; oxygen levels could drop dangerously low. The company’s clients are already reporting better indoor air quality, fewer employee sick days and more productivity.
Clever innovation
Instances of products designed sensitively in response to customer needs abounded in every nook and cranny of the Expo. If on one side, Fiorentini showed off its litter-picker which sprinkles water on what it collects to make the dust settle, elsewhere, Devendra Singh, National Business Manager-Kimberly- Clark was proudly talking up the patented technology which prevents his company’s hand towels from tearing even when wet. While Paolo Scapinello, Export Manager, Filmop (Schevaran) was demonstrating a double-mop that reduces cleaning time and labour, Joseph George, Regional Manager-Unger was describing how colour coding cleaning cloths for various situations prevents cross contamination, the company’s new technology to clean solar panels even 60 feet above the ground, and a revolutionary sting-ray system that enables glass to be cleaned without water!
Hygiene solutions
Perhaps at no other time in recent times has this section been more relevant. Ankit Shah, Director-Askon Hygiene showcased a futuristic hand-dryer which sucks air in via HEPA filters on both sides, and then pumps it out in a V-formation through a motor that works at 30,000rpm motor, drying both hands in 12 seconds. At 1250 W, it is energy efficient; it does not have a separate heating element and uses heat from the motor itself. Independent laboratories have certified its 99.9% kill rate for germs.
Abbas Contractor, Director-Jade shared that a time when the fear of hand-to-hand transmission of diseases is at its worst, sensor-based dispensers are most in demand.
