Schevaran enters cleaning equipment segment

Schevaran recently announced its partnership with Cleanfix at a wellattended Conference on ‘Wellness in Workplace’ at the Taj Airport Hotel, Bangalore. Leading FM companies and FM heads from IT and other industries were present at the conference.

Speaking at the conference, Sam Cherian, Managing Director of Schevaran, enumerated the wellness in workplace as a 3600 holistic approach to maintaining the facility clean and microbefree which leads to a healthy mind and increase in work productivity.

“Cleaning was very new when we started 30 years back. Nobody wanted cleaning. We have been selling the concept since then, and that is the reason of our sustainability and success.

Going forward, India is going to be the largest market in the world for cleaning. India will take time as it requires a change in mindset and that too in large numbers. If all the stakeholders in the cleaning business take this as a priority and work towards it, then in a decade’s time we can bring about changes.

“Today we are on a continuous investment process to take business on the next level. One of the most pathbreaking initiatives has been the Schevaran Innovation Centre, probably the only lab of its kind in the country which purely does research & development in cleaning.”

Some of the innovations from Schevaran include automation and reduce in use of chemicals in cleaning, reduce the impact of chemical on cleaning and reduce the cost of cleaning. “Ultimately you need a good workplace which would be safe for the health. And health should be a priority. We need to take this message across.”

Excited with the newly formed partnership, Felix Rüesch, Export Manager of Cleanfix AG, said, “We are extremely happy to partner with Schevaran as we share the thoughts. Both Cleanfix and Schevaran are family owned and we can work together with trust. As partners our approach to the customer is fair and we are looking at moving powerful forward.”

Explaining the range of machines, Felix affirmed that they are suitable for Indian conditions and usage not requiring customization. “Our goal is to produce machine in a perfect quality and a machine which can be used all over the world. The Swiss quality machines are already in use in the auto market in India.

“I think we have a chance of selling the whole range in India, especially, the scrubber dryer machine which has a huge market potential. A market that largely uses single disks, can do vacuum cleaning and scrubbing & drying in one machine with more efficiency and perfect cleaning results. The robotic machine is another machine which has been much appreciated. We have sold over 300 robot machines in the world.

“These machines are going to be a big hit in India because the technologies are so good and robust where the service point is very less, and the life of the machine is threefold and four-fold compared to any other machines. Cost is going to be lower than most of the expensive machines in the country.”

The marketing strategy for India become simpler with the perfect Cleanfix machine, said Felix. “The rest works itself. If the operators and customers are happy they order again.”

The one-day conference was attended by who’s who in the facility management industry, including Keith Monteiro, VP-Central Administration, Reliance Industries; Anil Pandita, Associate Director- Procurement, JLL; C Anand, CEO-IFM Business, Quess Corp Ltd; Rajesh Vaidya, Senior Director-Asset Services; CBRE; Gobind Srivatsa, Associate VP-Operations, ISS Facility Services; Jolly Kochery, CEO, SMS Integrated Facility Services; E S Chakravarthy, Center Head, TCS Bangalore and Mahender Singh, Director-IFMA among others. A gathering of over 60 officials attended the conference of panel discussion and presentation on creating clean and safe workplace.

The highlight of the event was Cricketer Javagal Srinath, the Swachh Bharat Ambassador, speaking on his journey on cleanliness.

B2C segment

Schevaran has also expanded into the B2C segment with cleaning products for the retail market. Heading the business, Hemant Hardikar, is aiming at “tweaking the formulations for the consumer market. We have some unique products to offer to the consumers which is not being offered currently by any of the other companies. And as the awareness on these lines is increasing, we want to give a better product to consumers.”

The Clean India Movement with the support of PM’s office and State Government has had a definite build-up of awareness. “People are cautious of it and want to have a clean environment. They want to believe that clean environment will lead to Swachh Bharat and lower the chances of illness.”

Initially Schevaran will be present in self service outlets to let consumers give it a try. “We want consumers to pick up whatever is promised in the package and thereafter build on it after the initial offtakes and responses. Also, we are looking to associate with Clean India Ambassadors and promote it through them. We will build our brand equity with a lot of on ground activities around the brand.”

The products, popular in household cleaning, include float cleaners, dish-wash, toilet cleaners & glass cleaners which will be ready-to-use. “Apart from that we also have products which are very niche and currently not available in the market.”

Schevaran Innovation Centre

Dr Bhavani Shanker, scientist at the laboratory, said, “The focus of SIC is mainly on innovative research. We do ‘Re-Search’ on what is already there, and we reinvent. So, it is not just reinventing the wheel, but we want to do innovative and creative research. That’s it is why we call it “Innovation Centre” and not research centre. We have developed it as independent autonomous body.

With a focus on developing eco-friendly products, Schevaran has made demonstrations in rural and urban areas. “We are ready to take up any R&D project in any segment. We are creating a new centre with the latest Nano Technology to train people who want to learn about cleaning and hygiene practises. Now we are using the micro technology. This will improve the efficiency of any product, he added.”