PULIRE 2015 lived up to its reputation as the largest professional cleaning trade show in Italy, a traditional home of cleaning machine manufacturing, with crowds of visitors lined up outside the doors of VeronaFiere each day. Totalling more than 15,000 visitors – 26 percent of those from foreign countries – this year’s event was held from 19 to 21 May and boasted 270 exhibitors across five exhibition halls.
Known as ‘The Smart Show’, PULIRE’s delivery of innovative systems, industry networking sessions and a focus towards new perspectives and possible shared solutions for the cleaning industry’s future didn’t disappoint. Also, a number of additional events provided visitors with even more variety; including the launch of the European Cleaning Days campaign and Forum PULIRE – a meeting place for the entire integrated services industry.
Innovative trends
Innovation at this year’s show saw a strong focus on battery technology with lithium ion batteries being the talk of the town, that technology featuring among the Innovation Award finalists and a hot topic during the Forum PULIRE conference ‘The Internet of Things’.
The Li-ion technology sells convenience and increases productivity by reducing or even eliminating the down time between cleans, as it can be charged several times a day and usually on the go with portable battery chargers. Although this technology isn’t ‘new’ in the market, manufacturers have learnt to better utilise its undeniable efficiency and effectiveness in changing the way we clean.
Another trend was the move from bigger is better to light and compact with many manufacturers launching smaller, condensed machines while promoting the same quality of workmanship and cleaning results, however targeted to smaller work areas.
Examples included Fimop’s two innovations, the Genie XS and the Fimop, both powered by lithium ion batteries for convenient rechargeable use. Both scrubbers are also compact and lightweight offering easy manoeuvrability and storage.
Adiatek also introduced its single disc multi-purpose Baby Plus Li, combining both trends using Li-ion batteries to power the small, compact machine weighing only 65kg. The Baby is marketed to suit interior cleaning for confined areas with a work time of two hours thanks to the high battery capacity.
The up-and-coming innovative trend seems to be the use of sensors, which offers cleaning machines autonomy, negating the need for operators. This technology has already been seen in robotic machinery, however, the prediction made by Karcher’s CEO Markus Asch is that sensors will also be used in ‘smart buildings’ as well as ‘smart machines’.
PULIRE Outdoor and PULIRE Clean
While throughout its 30 years PULIRE has always been geared to providing solutions for indoor cleaning tasks, since the 2013 event PULIRE has also developed the brand ‘PULIRE Outdoor’, dedicated to sweeping and urban decor and therefore pertinent to manufacturers of road sweepers and cleaning machines for road maintenance.
This year’s PULIRE Outdoor theme was ‘Clean city for Quality of life’. The opening conference took place with a panel of speakers: the mayors of Curitiba in Brazil, Singapore and Copenhagen, as well as mayors of important Italian cities, for a discussion on the relationship between the cleanliness of the city and the satisfaction of its citizens, with international best practices shared.
PULIRE 2015 further expanded with the introduction of a new element: the PULIRE Clean project, which addressed the needs of the fabric care and laundry equipment market. Pavilion 1 was dedicated entirely to this market segment, bringing the equipment and product manufacturers from this sector into the professional cleaning industry fold with which it holds much synergy.
PULIRE 2.1 App
The ‘Smart Show’ delivered once again on the digitisation of navigation for exhibitors and visitors alike with the PULIRE App – this year’s version titled 2.1. This concept began in 2013 and this year’s app had been enhanced to not only aid navigation, but enable visitors to plan their visit to the exhibition due to a system of match-making that allowed them to book appointments with exhibitors. All information about the exhibitors was available on smartphones and tablets, while exhibitors could receive real-time information about visitors, their origin, their role, and more.
“This represents a significant advantage for exhibitors,” said Toni D’Andrea, CEO of Afidamp Servizi, organiser of PULIRE. “The fairs are the best meeting point between supply and demand, the place for excellence where you find the most important news, and where you will experience innovation and sharing of prospective future scenarios.”
European Cleaning Days – spreading the word about professional cleaning
EUnited Cleaning, the association of European cleaning machine manufacturers, has launched a new initiative called European Cleaning Days (ECD), which aims to highlight the importance and the benefits of professional cleaning in areas like offices, hospitals, airports, train stations, etc. The first of these campaigns was held on 19 May at PULIRE 2015.
With the support of the European Federation of Cleaning Industries (EFCI) and the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (AISE), the plan to educate the public about the importance of professional cleaning for public health, comfort and well-being was achieved during a four hour conference at PULIRE 2015.
Speakers at this event included managing director of EUnited, Peter Hug; director of EFCI, Andreas Lill; CMS Berlin’s Heike Hemmer; and director of FACOP, Cassia Almeida. They discussed the Italian market and intellectual property focusing on the campaign’s four key areas: detergents for cleaning and disinfection; floor and high pressure cleaning; municipal equipment such as mobile machines; and cleaning contractors.
Innovation Award 2015
The Pulire Innovation Award 2.1 judging panel was presented with making some tough decisions in determining finalists and an overall winner for this year’s competition voting for the six most innovative projects across five categories: machines, equipment, chemicals products, paper, and systems.
The finalists included: Karcher’s KM 125/130 R Sweeper; Falpi’s CollegaMe Tracking System Software; Fimap’s Genie XS; Fimap’s Fimop; Kaivac Cleaning Solutions’ OmniFlex AutoVac System; and Socaf’s i-cart. The Innovation Award from 2015 was won by Karcher’s KM/130 R Sweeper, which was designed in response to use requests. For more details, view our Innovation Award post.
Forum PULIRE – Cleaning as an absolute value
Forum PULIRE is a meeting place for the entire integrated services industry – manufacturers, retailers, service providers and facility management companies that operate in the field of cleaning and sanitation convene for constructive dialogue on industry topics and this year’s was ‘The Internet of Things’.
‘Internet of Things’ is changing the relationship between manufacturers, dealers and consumers in a particular way called ‘connected experience’. Physical objects are integrated into the internet and automated to make everyone’s life easier and connected – or in one word, ‘smart’. These concepts were targeted by cleaning industry professionals in a two hour conference.
Speakers on the panel included CEO and vice chairman of Alfred Karcher GmbH & Co, Markus Asch; R&D manager of Injenia, Federico Baffetti; managing director of ICE, Simon Chen; and president of Kanso, Andrea Granelli . The forum was moderated by a journalist expert in digital technology, Carlo Massarini. For detailed coverage and insight into this topic, see the July/August issue of INCLEAN.
“We are particularly proud of the brilliant final success,” said Toni D’Andrea, CEO of Afidamp Servizi. “A result that rewards the work of Afidamp done with care and attention in the course of many months and especially rewards the confidence of exhibitors who have invested in the project Pulire 2.1, in a time when cutting the budget seemed to be the common solution to problem of the crisis. In the pavilions there was an atmosphere of liveliness and great excitement, indicating a renewed confidence in the possibility of positive developments for the industry.”
For all PULIRE 2015 photos visit INCLEAN’s Photo Album
