Clean 2011 was generally claimed to have been successful. Total visitor numbers were up by 13% on the 2009 event. All 50 states in the USA were represented while 1,978 international visitors from 87 countries underlined the show’s broad appeal.
The increasing environmental influence made itself felt across the laundry sector with water- and energy-saving technology well to the fore but the need for high productivity was also an influence.
Pellerin Milnor made its PulseFlow Technology CBW tunnel washer the centrepiece of its exhibit. Karl Schubert, general manager of Milnor International, explained that the company had shown a precursor of this machine and its water-saving technology at the 2009 event.
Since that time the concept has been developed and the company now has around 40 installations in place. These are mainly in the USA. However towards the end of last year, having gained the Hohenstein Institute’s certificate for innovation technology, Milnor has started to promote PulseFlow in Europe.
The system uses an intermittent counterflow combined with “true top transfer”. Hohenstein’s extensive testing in Europe and the USA confirmed that it can achieve standard soil removal and rinse results using just 2.5 – 3.5litres of fresh water per kilogram.
The company also used the Clean Show to introduce its 60lb high-speed rigid-mount 3022V8Z washer to an international market. The machine, already established in the USA, is equipped with the company’s MilTouch Touchscreen control.
However, introducing visitors to the benefits of PulseFlow Technology remained the company’s main objective. In addition to seeing the machine on the stand, visitors also had an opportunity to view installations in Las Vegas and Schubert reports that several hundred did so.
Summing up, Schubert said the constant flow of people to the stand was “testament to the excitement the industry is feeling about this truly innovative process.” He added: “The dedication of the extended Milnor family made this one of the best USA shows in recent history.”
The Kannegiesser stand demonstrated the company’s expertise in washroom, flatwork and feeding technology.
Martin Kannegiesser talked to LCNi about the company’s approach. He said that Kannegiesser wanted to demonstrate its product developments to its customers. He said that in future it will be even more important to develop an understanding of the machines.
“We need not only to optimise the performance of individual machines but also to regard them as part of a system,” he said.
He explained that Kannegiesser aimed to integrate individual machines into the workflow and provide a steady stream of information, data and also the supporting logistics.
He said that the Clean Show is an important meeting point, especially for American customers although there are also some Europeans.
Speaking early in the show, he said there had been interest from the American market but that the economic climate had made customers more careful with capital expenditure. “But now we see a revived interested in modernising and improving quality,” he added.
Customers needed to have an overall picture so they could see what is possible now. “Progress starts with information,”concluded Martin Kannegiesser.
The company’s display underlined its ability to supply advanced equipment that helps both productivity and quality. Its 59kg, nine-compartment PowerTrans tunnel washer was specifically included to show the American market that there was a tunnel washer that could handle high volumes.
Now well established in Europe, the Clipmaster EMX high-speed cornerless feeder was making its entry into the North American market and was demonstrated with the Foldmaster CFM.ll large-piece folder.
The Combi-feed EM, a four-station feeder for large- and small-pieces, could be seen in action with the SFM.ll Foldmaster, which demonstrated that high-quality table linen could be processed at high-speeds. Kannegiesser also introduced the FA-X 900 garment-folding robot, a concept that was ”totally new for North America”.
In addition to these live demonstrations, the company showed it was keeping up with developments in IT. Apple I-Pads showed videos of equipment at work and each machine exhibited had QR codes so that visitors could use their smart phones to gather information.
On the Girbau stand, water- and energy-saving equipment was well to the fore and attracted much attention. Antoni Rubiés said that the show was very important for the group as it has a big subsidiary in the states.
Continental Girbau has been growing steadily, said Rubiés and has opened an industrial division.
The Clean Show was also important for the Girbau Group’s worldwide network of dealers including its Asian network. Rubiés said that the network is essential to support Girbau’s global strategy.
Girbau is doing well both in its home market, which is growing, and on the global scene, with a steadily expanding network. Within the past two years it has opened an office in India and it has recently opened offices in the Dominican Republic and in Italy.
Rubiés said that the stand aimed to highlight the importance of saving resources both from an ecological and economic point of view. The two influences are complementary. “The best way to save the planet is to cut consumption.” The Eco Tunnel was particularly important in this respect. The PB flatwork ironers were also seen as a highlight.
Continental Girbau was sharing the stand with its parent company. President Mike Floyd said that the American market has been recovering steadily from the 2009 crisis. In 2010 Continental Girbau’s sales figures showed almost a full recovery and figures for 2011 were already well ahead at the time of the show.
He believed that the USA’s industrial linen service sector was showing the fastest recovery, followed closely by the coin-op market. The industrial division is also doing well, particularly with its tunnel washer installations.
Jensen celebrated its 50th anniversary in style at Clean Show. The company held a press conference detailing its achievements and hosted a gala party in the evening.
The company’s stand aimed to demonstrate Jensen’s comprehensive portfolio of machines and its ability to use these to devise solutions for customers worldwide.
Gerda Jank, head of marketing, pointed out that laundry is a growing market. With the rapid expansion in travel and the increase in modern resorts, this service industry needs to find solutions that can be adapted to the different international markets and that have minimal environmental impact. Jensen’s innovation therefore covers all aspects of the heavy-duty laundry sector.
At the Clean Show, the company particularly wanted to promote machines for the American markets. The SenkIng Universal XL tunnel washer is one example as it meets the demand for larger batch sizes with a nominal drum volume of 220lb (100kg). The Archimedean helix has been modified to improve the filling ratio while a 285degree rotational angle ensures that the wash action is extremely efficient, even in cases of overloading.
The 14-compartment machine on the stand was loaded via the Jensen Futurail loop, described as the GPS system for heavy-duty laundries, which accurately guides the linen to the right compartment. The Futurail system has been redesigned and now uses stainless-steel rails so that it can meet the demand for handling heavier batches.
Another innovation here is a maintenance package that includes a vacuum rail cleaner to keep the system free of debris, one of the biggest maintenance tasks, explained Simon Nield, who heads the division.
The Jenfeed Express shown on the stand was a prototype of a development that will initially be introduced in the USA but will eventually come to Europe.
It is simple to operate, allows cornerless feeding at two stations and is designed to maximise the operator’s production rate.
The USA market is based on the number of pieces per operator hour, said Jank, hence the emphasis on high capacity and high productivity.
With the environmental influence also increasing, Jensen’s CleanTech steamless concept is attracting interest and has already been installed in one USA laundry, with the Cockpit software to control and monitor the line. Jensen also stresses its international credentials.
As a group it has a wide range of language skills and understanding of local markets. Local contacts for the individual markets are very important, said Jank.
Lavatec Laundry Technology was making its first appearance at the Clean Show. Wolf-Peter Graeser said he was impressed by the number of people and had been able to meet both customers and potential customers. He also said the company had made substantial progress since exhibiting at Expo Detergo last year, taking on more staff. It now has 70 employees in Germany and 123 worldwide, excluding distributors and the sales network.
It had re-established a dealer network and, even more importantly, has built up service and spares so that all customers will have the support they need.
The company’s European sales have gone well with orders in Britain, Finland, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands.
It manufactures all the equipment types that the old regime had produced and will eventually develop the range. Summing up, Graeser said: “It was very important to differentiate our company. We have shown we are the real German Lavatec.”
Ecolab’s Textile Care Division was focussing on the development of its utility- and resource-saving PERFormance systems. Jaap van Amerongen, regional director corporate accounts, describes PERformance 40 as a range of chemicals developed to bleach, wash and disinfect linen at 40C.
The system has been developed to reduce consumption but processing work at a low temperature also reduces textile damage, so prolonging its life.
PERFormance 40 is very important for Ecolab as its fits in with its environmentally friendly strategy, reducing its carbon footprint. The development is intended for healthcare establishments and also for hotel laundries and the fast-growing care home sector. The system is being initially introduced to Ecolab’s European customers. It will eventually be introduced to American markets but the plans are yet to be announced.
Volker Burkhard, managing director of the Merz Textile Services in Wurmberg, Germany, has been working with PERFormance 40 since March.
The laundry takes a forward thinking approach – it claims to be the first to go totally steamless. The company serves hospitals, care homes and some hotels.
Burkhard said that disinfection is very important in Germany. PERFormance 40 produces very good wash results at 40C. The system has the necessary approvals from the Robert Koch Institute and the Hohenstein Institute that allow it to be used to disinfect hospital linen. Burkhard says that in addition to its disinfection function, PERFormance 40 reduces textile damage, prolonging linen life. Tests have shown that textile damage with PERFormance 40’s low temperature disinfection process is just 3.6%, compared with 12.1% for a chemo-thermal disinfection process carried out at 75C.
H J Weir Engineering established a USA subsidiary earlier this year. So far most of the work has been planning. The stand had been booked by the UK company and Ross Weir said the main aim at the Clean Show was to achieve brand recognition in the USA.
Jason Gerling has been appointed as vice president sales for H J Weir USA and was also on the stand talking to visitors. The stand featured a selection of the H J Weir range, including the Autoprep, the Vacfeed LowLine and the Foldmaker with a small and large piece stacker.
Olma, the Netherlands-based specialist in flatwork folding and garment handling equipment, introduced the Obifold Premium towel folder. This machine will suit a range of applications as it can fold blankets and garments as well as towels. It sorts the textiles into four categories and can handle pieces up to 2.3m long.
Jan-Willem van Doornewaard, managing director, said that the Clean Show had gone well for the company and feedback had been positive. He had also taken orders at the show.
Erwin Vanspauwen was launching Texfinity, a partnership between his company Almeti and MMB, which will handle second hand/reconditioned machines and also act as a distributor for new machines. It is a distributor for Olma in certain markets. Texfinity combines the databases of both companies and has set up its website, which has a section where it will show new equipment.
As well as the leading names in industrial laundry equipment, the show also attracted manufacturers more concerned with commercial laundry sectors including coin-op and OPL machines.
“We had three main aims to achieve at the Clean Show,” said Kathryn Rowen, director of marketing at Alliance Laundry Systems. The first was to attract visitors’ attention to the Speed Queen and UniMac exhibits. Both these are premier brands, Speed Queen in the vended sector and UniMac in OPL equipment.
The second aim was to demonstrate leadership in controls by highlighting the UniLinc and Heubsch Galaxy systems and by launching Ipso’s Cygnus controls.
The company also wanted to show that its customer support was unmatched. To achieve all these aims the company used a large number of interactive displays, live and video demonstrations as well as machine displays.
As customers entered the stand they saw a display for the Alliance Services University which trains both sales and service staff. The Speed Queen brand has been going for a century, so a touchscreen-operated video showed plans for the next 100years. Machines have now been redesigned with cleaner lines and they are now backed by a guarantee on bearing and seals that lasts for 10 years, or 25,000 cycles.
The UniLinc controls are now being used on dryers as well as on washers. An interactive demo explained the benefits of its Optidry feature available on UniMac dryers from 50 – 170lb. The company estimates that 79% of OPLs over-dry by around 8minutes per cycle. An interactive display revealed the savings that Optidry could bring. A laundry using a 75lb dryer 10 times a day would save $833 in utility costs and $4,866 in labour costs. In addition, preventing overdrying could reduce fibre loss by 31%.
Rowen said that although the show largely attracted North American customers, regulars from other markets had also visited the stand. The North American market had seen a strong decline in the construction sector leading to a tendency to repair rather than replace but overall the view was positive as the international market was still growing.
John Balman, sales director for Ipso, said that the innovations on display would also be marketed in Europe. From his point of view the show had been good and had given him a chance to catch up with European distributors and introduce them to the innovations.
Domus, the Spanish manufacturer, was exhibiting at the Clean Show for the first time. The company had only held ETL approval, which it needs for the USA, for two or three years. “We are now seeing how we should approach the market, said area export manager Gemma Colomer.
The show was interesting as it attracted visitors from South America, Asia and the Middle East where the company is well known and so Colomer could introduce them to the “new look” Domus machines.
The re-styled machines have technical improvements but also a more “serious” look. Washers have an exterior completely made of stainless-steel not just a skinplate. Ironers have stainless-steel side panels and white collecting tables. Dryers have a grey skinplate but as an option can have either the full housing or the front panel in stainless-steel.
Electrolux Professional launched its own brand in the USA in 2009 to sell alongside the Wascomat brand. The Electrolux name is used for premium equipment and technical innovation while Wascomat continues to represent traditional benefits of good performance and reliability.
The highlight of Electrolux branded exhibits was a new generation of dryers, T5000, which is claimed to reduce drying by an average of 10minutes compared to the previous generation and to use about 20% less energy. Electrolux barrier washers are also being introduced to the USA. This category was not available under the Wascomat brand.
Danube International is represented in the USA by the Alliance group but the company had its own stand for the sole purpose of meeting dealers. Bénédicte Haladyn felt the show was going well for the company. Personally she felt that although the number of visitors to shows in general was declining, it was a good opportunity to meet the company’s dealers.
American Dryer Corporation manufactures dryers both under its own name and for other brands. Rudolf Roosli, director of international sales said that the company’s dryer sales were being driven by the Clean View Media (CVM) digital display, which is available on the company’s Ecodry ES dryers.
A monitor is built into the double glass door and provides a wi-fi-enabled display on which the launderette can sell advertising space to bring in extra income. It can also be used to show local news, weather and the laundry’s latest promotional offers. ADC’s Ecoline dryers are also said to be 15 – 18% more efficient.
LG Electronics was already established in the commercial laundry sector in Asia and Europe but was at the show to launch its commercial laundry range to the USA. The range includes high efficiency washers and dryers. Its washers meet Tier 3 standard in the Energy Star system.
Podab, the specialist in drying cabinets, tumblers and accessories such as plinths, was showing a selection of its cabinets on the stand of its USA distributor, B&C Technologies.
The cabinets, which dry solely with warm air, are available in sizes from 4 – 16kg. There is also a special model for use in fire stations, which is designed to dry firemen’s uniforms and other safety clothes from both the inside and outside. It has a sensor which detects when clothes are dry and also has a program to restore special coatings.
Podab was established in 1945, originally as manufacturer of washer-extractors, although it no longer produces washers but is a distributor for other companies.
Sanai, the Japanese manufacturer of ironer springing and accessories, was introducing an improved version of its Tapematic Mini, a miniature ultrasonic welding machine.
This portable welder operates from a 12V battery and as it uses ultrasonics does not need to be warmed up and provides a convenient method of mending ironer tapes. The latest version has a redesigned gun and the trigger has been built into the gun handle. It is therefore more ergonomic, being easier to use and also lighter to carry. Futoshi Motoda said that the company had enjoyed a good show and seen many customers from the USA.
