ISSA Interclean 2016, Amsterdam Cleaning Goes Digital

In the wake of the digital wave that seems to have taken the cleaning industry into its fold, ISSA Interclean 2016 expo was fully charged with innovative products and solutions offered by exhibitors from across the world. Clean India Journal spoke to leading manufacturers from various countries to capture the innovative trends in the cleaning market today. In total 810 exhibitors from 47 countries were exhibiting.

Cleaning Expos globally are witnessing more and more solutions being included year after year. The Show at Amsterdam this time had dedicated halls for laundry and management & mobility solutions besides washroom, steam cleaning and high pressure cleaning.

“As expected the IT developments became much more visible during the 2016 show,” said Rob den Hertog, Manager, ISSA/Interclean. “The InnovationLab and the Management & Mobility Solution pavilion were very busy during the show. Also the Amsterdam Innovation Award honored new technologies like Augmented Reality, Robots and Management Solutions based on The Internet of Things. But also many efficient and green solutions were presented during the show.

“The well-established segments are Machines, Equipment, especially High Pressure& Steam, Chemicals and Washroom. We are exploring new areas related to professional cleaning but for the moment these are only small,” he added.

The digitalization of cleaning is more pronounced at the equipment end with manufacturers focusing on simplifying processes. The most outstanding innovation introduced at this show was Robotic Cleaning showcased by Diversey-Sealed Air, Cleanfix and many others. Other innovations included facilities like GPS tracking, wi-fi enable battery charging, sensor systems, water level indicators and many other innovative systems.

Speaking during an exclusive interview with Clean India Journal, Dr Ilham Kadri, Vice President, Diversey Care-Sealed Air, stated that robotic cleaning will not only enable efficient cleaning but will also reduce the cleaning time that the housekeepers have to put in.

Digitalization, on the other hand, helps to connect with cleaning enabling efficient execution of cleaning tasks as per need rather than a routine schedule, explained Marcus Asch, Vice-Chairman, Karcher.

In recognition of the new systems and products, The ISSA/Interclean Awards too was much in tune and the overall winner award was given to Sealed Air Diversey Care for its product Augmented Reality: Suma Revoflow. Other category winners were: Robot RA 660 NAVI from Cleanfix and the Quick & Easy System from Werner & Mertz Professional. The BRC 40/22 C from Kärcher won the Visitor’s Choice Award.

Besides digitalization, there were innovations such as front brushes in ride on machines with auto opening system to clean more widely, machines that have aluminium construction and are three times much lighter than traditional machines, better filters for long lasting industrial use, sensor based indicators and others.

Smart technologies including multi-facility dispensing system for cleaning as well laundry, chemical containers with bottle-lockout feature, recycling bins, bins with indicators, trolleys equipped with air monitoring devices, smaller machines with long lasting battery life and many more have been showcased in tune with the end user needs.

The main focus of innovations besides cleaning efficiency is on reducing time taken for cleaning & labour and addressing energy costs.
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Amsterdam Innovation Award
The winner under the Machines, accessories and components category is Robot RA 660 NAVI from Cleanfix. The company worked closely with users over many years to develop a machine that is now in use across Europe.. The jury was particularly impressed with its navigation system, which uses laser, and its efficiency in mapping rooms, putting in place virtual walls, and ease of use for the operator. And it can clean to the narrowest of corners.

The winner under Equipment/tools for cleaning, care and safety category is Quick & Easy System from Werner & Mertz Professional. The jury was impressed with the ultimate portability, simplicity and practicality of Quick & Easy. The operator wears the system on a belt and can move from room to room with five different chemicals, interchanging between them quickly and easily. There is no need for installation and the operative does not come into direct contact with the chemical, making it completely safe.

Kärcher won the Visitor’s Choice Award with 45% of the votes for BRC 40/22 C. This is the cleaning sector’s first walk-forward carpet cleaning machine with a 200 degree rotating brush and vacuum head. Traditional carpet cleaning machines operate backwards so this new development brings about significant productivity gains.

The other winner in the machine category is Sealed Air Diversey Care TASKI Swingobot 755, a robotic scrubber dryer launched by the company following its purchase of Intellibot in 2015. Compact and user-friendly, it is designed to cut wastewater and chemicals by 85%. [/box]

While, ISSA/Interclean Shows have been witnessing visitors from across the globe, exhibitors have observed demand rising in new markets. Most manufacturers are catering to meet the existing demand in the European market and are looking at expanding into emerging markets. Some of the major markets are India and China, Russia, Far east and also Africa.

Explaining the chain of trends leading to demand for cleaning in these countries, Marcus Asch said, “Professional cleaning follows a simple trend from age old time and will remain so in the coming times too. It starts with manual cleaning and higher the salary increase rate, more the mechanization. In China, for example, the salaries have increased so sharply that the country is pushing for mechanization.

“Second trend that we get to see in some parts of the world is that the people engaged in manual cleaning are getting old now and need support leading to more and more mechanization.

“Third trend is that some countries are facing labour shortage. For example, Japan and some European countries don’t have people. Even the UK has moved to day time cleaning because it cannot afford people at night. There are trends that further boost the increase of mechanization. These trends apply to every market, including India.”

At one end, as developed markets are moving on to the digital platform for smart cleaning solutions, the global cleaning industry is focusing on inventing and customizing solutions that meet the emerging market demand.