There have been some industry sectors which intelligence system is directly targeted to, like the food safety monitoring and management in India.

Food safety is now changing from just being a commodity checklist. Almost all players for decades have been focusing on customer inspection and compliance check. What we are bringing into the market is from a very different perspective. Food poisoning has to be prevented before it happens. Once it happens, it is too late. One may have already lost customers and lost reputation. So, we have the intelligent and smart consultancy systems – IntelliConsult – which not only conducts smart and safety inspections but also ensures food waste management from farm to fork. For example, when highly perishable commodities such as cheese, ham, food or meat received in large portions are further cut down to smaller portions, no one gets down to check the expiry date of these portions. This is what we are proposing with IntelliConsult.

We allow the chef, kitchen crew and regular food employees in the retail stores to actually manage their food. The foremost thing is to manage inventory because the big bill in retail store comes from food waste. Today, with all the scarcity of food and water, it is a shame to waste. There should be zero tolerance for food waste like zero tolerance for food poisoning.

[box type=”shadow” ]How do you see these intelligent systems fit in the Indian marketplace?

The Clean India movement started by the government is amazing and it gave me a tipping point in the way I looked at cleaning business, as the standards of hygiene and cleaning in emerging markets like India can be up to 1/10th of what it is in Europe and the US. So there is room to do better. When I see the society now embracing Clean India, there is a shift in the outlook towards healthier and cleaner future. India is now interlinking cleaning, hygiene and health. You cannot have a sustainable and healthier life without good cleaning and hygiene practices. So this is a beginning driven with a purpose in a society and it can thus happen. We directly identify with it, as Diversey is already present in India and catering to thousands of customers.

One of our biggest R&D centers is in Mumbai and we are turning it from being India’s local innovative center into a global one. The Mumbai facility is now exporting innovation and technology to other sectors around the world. India firstly is an opportunity because it has human capital and we have the know how and expertise to invest and export from India. [/box]

There have been some industry sectors which intelligence system is directly targeted to, like the food safety monitoring and management in India.

How are you planning to provide intelligent training in India?

We have developed e-learning system for illiterate people or employees, who do not speak their native language. The e-learning is available in 27 languages sector wise for hospitality service contractor, for kitchen or food service sector, etc. We also have sector based video from 30 second to less than a minute shot in
the perspective of the cleaner or the facility manager and in their language. This has won us the Augmented Reality prize.

Augmented Reality is about looking at your equipment as it appears in 3D and learning how to troubleshoot your equipment, eventually turning an unskilled person into a skilled professional. Augmented Reality has been used in many industries like automotive and aeronautic. When we brought the concept into the cleaning industry three-years ago and started working on it, some people thought that it is a science fiction and not something for hygiene and cleaning as people are very conservative and may not pay for it. But now Augmented Reality is here and is going to cater to many sectors in the cleaning and hygiene industry. In a way it will revolutionise our space and training methodology.

You have turned a fiction into reality. What is the next fiction that you are working on?

For me, it is all about understanding the ‘why’ factor – the purpose of why we are in this business; who are our employees; why are we doing all this. It is not about selling chemicals, machines, tools or equipment but it is about saving lives, about preventing food poisoning in the restaurants or about labour productivity for our building service contractor because 80% of the cost is labour and there is a scarcity for cleaning resources. So the ‘why’ needs to be kept in mind. We will develop more technologies and intelligence systems that will work hand in hand with the cleaners. The robot is going to work with the cleaners and allow the cleaners to do more value added activity. We are going to unveil other opportunities in the cleaning industry.

[box type=”shadow” ]e-learning is available in 27 languages sector wise for hospitality service contractor, for kitchen or food service sector, etc. We also have sector based video from 30 second to less than a minute shot in the perspective of the cleaner or the facility manager and in their language. [/box]

All industries in the world be it automotive, marine, aeronautic or the paint or clothing have gone through that evolution. I believe now comes the time that the cleaning industry and hygiene sector re-imagine itself and create more value for customers and their customers and for ourselves to prepare better and healthier future for our kids and future generation.