ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

CMS, the German professional cleaning exhibition, takes place in Berlin from September 22-25. The event opens with the presentation of the CMS Purus Awards for product design on the first day.

More than 16,000 visitors from 60 countries attended the last CMS in 2013. This year the organisers are seeking to make the event even more attractive to visitors from outside Germany, with the hosting of its second international conference there.

The theme of the programme is People and Business, held over two days on September 23 and 24.

Keynote speaker on September 23 is journalist and author Thomas Ramge, who will examine theopportunities presented by the digital transition and unlocking the potential of big data. The key, he believes, lies in 'smart data' - ie, less data but of the right kind. The aim is to achieve a better understanding of customers in order to ensure their loyalty and increase their longterm value.

Ramge is the technology correspondent of the business magazine Brand Eins and a regular contributing editor of The Economist. He was an editor of SWR, the political correspondent of Deutsche Welle TV and editor-in-chief of Think:act, a magazine for consultants.

The presentations and panel discussions will seek to identify the available workforce potential and the kind of employees that will be needed in the future. The discussions will also investigate whether market requirements, and therefore the demand for services, will change in the foreseeable future, and whether the available workforce potential can cope with this situation.

Demographic changes

Speakers will also discuss the role likely to be played by developments such as demographic changes, an increase in pandemics and infections, and the demand for hospital capacity, care facilities and private care services.

Experts will also consider the extent to which the market is affected by a shortage of trained specialists, the phenomenon of worldwide feminisation and youth unemployment in southern Europe.

There will be panel discussions entitled ‘Challenges from demographic change - the labour market now and in the future', ‘International comparison of training' and ‘Background conditions and development potential for the cleaning industry in large volume markets'.

Other presentations include ‘Technology and Sustainability: scientific progress that increases the value of clean' by Dr Ilham Kadri, president of Diversey Care. Dr Klaus-Dieter Zastrow will speak on ‘Hygiene Scandals in Bremen, Berlin, Mannheim and Kiel - why don't we learn from them?'

Simultaneous translation in English, French and German will be provided.

CMS takes place from September 22-25 and is open from 10am to 5pm daily. There is a free shuttle bus service from Tegel airport to the exhibition centre, and from the exhibition centre back to Tegel.

For details about visiting the exhibition and attending the congress visit: www.cms-berlin.de