ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

ECJ celebrates its 20th birthday this month. To celebrate our birthday we look back at the key trends affecting the industry over the last 20 years, with the help of some of the best-known names in the industry. Today, Joergen Jensen from Nilfisk-Advance.

From a customer perspective there is no doubt that the increased automation of the cleaning process is a key trend. This has led to an ever increasing demand for new applications and more efficient cleaning equipment. Our customers in need of professional cleaning equipment have always been much focused at getting high quality products and service to ensure that they can perform their work and achieve their business objectives, and this demand for quality products which are easy to work with, efficient and reliable is still a core demand. Another general trend is the demand for more compact products.

From an industry perspective the consolidation trend has continued, the large industry players become bigger in size based on organic growth and acquisitions. This consolidation trend is bound to continue as the demand for attractive prices and continuous product development is increasing. Only the large players in our industry will be able to offer this to the customers.

I would say the professionalisation of our industry is one of the most positive changes. I’ll give you some examples. How we handle customers and engage in close partnerships; customers are our professional business partners and we must constantly innovate our business to strengthen theirs. How products are developed utilising new technologies, and how the performance of the products are constantly improved while minimising environmental impact – getting sustainability on the cleaning agenda.

20 years ago, I am sure that most people would have expected that cleaning would be performed by robots. That has not happened. Even if it would have been nice it is however also clear why it did not. A good technology has been lacking and robot technology is still very expensive.

I believe that clear measures for cleaning standards and efficient robot technology would definitely help our customers and also ensure that they can deliver a better cleaning result and achieve their business objectives. We are convinced that the increasing dialogue with customers will continue and will be further strengthened.

www.nilfisk-advance.com