Benefits for building cleaning
All of these ideas ultimately benefit building cleaning: here, active fleet management already offers numerous benefits today. The starting point for the use of machine-to-machine communication in building cleaning is the question where precisely individual cleaning machines are located in an object. In addition to localisation, factors such as the maintenance condition (e.g. charging state of batteries, detergent volume used, mechanical or electronic problems) and operating status of cleaning machines (how long and where the machine was used) are also of decisive importance for optimised fleet management. Role-based evaluation systems allow selective access to this data in order to answer specific questions such as capacity utilisation, meaningfulness of the use of certain machines or contractual implementation of cleaning tasks. And that is not all: if repairs are necessary, the service technician knows in advance which spare parts are needed. Some issues can even be resolved through remote maintenance. Software updates will be remotely installed – and much more.
Markus Asch,
Deputy Chief Executive Officer and
Vice Chairman of the Management Board, Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG, Germany
These possibilities ultimately result in a
considerable cost reduction through increased capacity utilisation, lead to increased transparency for all those involved and benefit sustainability. In connection with future scenarios such as the “Intelligent Building”, there are many more far-reaching possibilities. If, for example, the floor of a building communicates with the cleaning machines and signals its degree of soiling, the detergent volume can be dosed as required instead of working with standardised parameters. And machine settings, such as the contact pressure for scrubber driers, can be adapted to suit the particular situation. Automatically. Where heavy soiling needs to be removed quickly, e.g. large liquid spillages, the building can even direct the cleaner to the location where cleaning is required. Whether dusting, window cleaning or floor care, wherever cleaning still takes place today based on defined intervals and without ascertaining actual demand, optimisations without compromising cleanliness and hygiene are possible. At the same time, the utilisation of machine and personnel capacities increases.
Internet of Things – perspectives for building cleaning
Permanently increasing demands on cleanliness and hygiene with a simultaneous pressure of costs – building cleaning finds itself in a dilemma. The Internet of Things with its intelligent, networked objects and spaces will provide numerous optimisation options, whereby these conflicting requirements will be aligned. Everyone profits from this silent revolution: contract cleaners, facility managers and building users.
