ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

SPONSORED CONTENT

By Alexander Manafi, CEO and Co-Founder, ToolSense

Every facility manager knows the scene. A scrubber dryer stops in the middle of a night shift. The cleaner calls the site manager, the site manager calls the service partner, a ticket is opened and the machine stands still for days. Often the "breakdown" turns out to be a full recovery tank, a clogged filter or a battery that was never charged.

Meanwhile, a few kilometres away, two identical machines sit in a storage room, barely used, while procurement signs off on yet another new one.

Avoidable downtime and oversized fleets cost the cleaning industry enormous amounts of money every year. Artificial intelligence now gives us practical tools to solve both.

20 to 30 percent of machine problems can be solved by the cleaner

Our data from more than 1.5 million assets managed on the ToolSense platform shows a clear pattern: depending on machine type and customer, 20 to 30 percent of reported problems can be solved directly by the cleaner on site, within minutes, if they know what to do.

The challenge has never been capability. It has been access to the right knowledge at the right moment. Manuals sit in a drawer, are written for technicians and are rarely available in the language of the person holding the machine. Nobody reads a 60-page PDF at 3 a.m.

This is where the ToolSense AI Support Manager comes in. When a cleaner scans the QR code on a machine and reports a problem, the AI Support Manager understands the model, its history and the symptom, and guides the cleaner step by step through the most likely fixes, in their own language. Is the tank full? Is the filter blocked? Is the brush mounted correctly?

If the issue is solved, the case is closed and documented, and no technician drives out. If not, the AI Support Manager creates a complete, structured service request so the technician can fix it on the first visit. The result: fewer unnecessary call-outs, less downtime, lower service costs and cleaners who feel empowered rather than helpless.

The hidden cost of under-utilised machines

Most FM companies do not know precisely how many machines they own, where they are and how much they are used. When we connect fleets via IoT, we regularly find machines running only a few hours per month while other sites are short of equipment. Without transparency, the default answer to a capacity problem is to buy, and the fleet grows every year.

Right-sizing the fleet with the ToolSense AI Fleet Assistant

The ToolSense AI Fleet Assistant, launching in beta in Q4 2026, turns right-sizing from a one-off consulting project into a continuous process. It proactively analyses usage, maintenance history and costs across the entire fleet and delivers concrete recommendations: move this machine from site A to site B, decommission these three units, do not replace this one. After approval, it supports the implementation directly in the platform. Combined with ToolSense's internal machine marketplace, where site managers release equipment they no longer need and colleagues across regions can request it, right-sizing becomes part of daily operations.

This is not about soft savings. It is about real cash: fewer purchases, lower maintenance and leasing costs, and up to 20 percent lower machine costs overall.

IoT, AI and robotics: a powerful combination

Each of these technologies is valuable on its own. Together, they change the game. IoT delivers objective, real-time data on where every machine is and how it is used. Cleaning robots generate rich operational data by design and take over repetitive tasks. AI turns all of this data into decisions and actions: which problem the cleaner can fix, which machine should move, where a robot delivers the best return and where a conventional machine is the better choice.

When manual machines and robots from different brands are managed side by side in one system, FM companies can finally plan their fleet as one whole, instead of running separate silos for every manufacturer and every technology.

One platform for every brand, every asset and every robot

AI is only as good as the data it can see, and in cleaning that data is spread across dozens of manufacturers and systems. That is why ToolSense was built to be neutral by design. Today ToolSense is the globally leading asset management system for the FM industry and for cleaning robotics management, trusted by more than 250 customers in over 30 countries. With more than 30 OEM integrations and partnerships, including Kärcher, Tennant, Taski, i-team, Cleanfix and robotics leaders such as PUDU, Gausium, LionsBot, Keenon and Kemaro, ToolSense brings every machine and every robot, regardless of brand, into one platform.

From system of record to system of action

Software should not just show us what is happening; it should actively reduce costs. Empowering cleaners to solve problems themselves and continuously right-sizing the fleet are two of the most direct ways to do that.

The machines are already there. The data is already there. With IoT, AI and robotics combined, we can finally put both to work.

Find out more: toolsense.io