FEATURE
“It’s clear that the whole ‘Internet of Things’ is
the direction that we’re going in. Thinking very much around how we can optimise the cleaning
function for our customers is the journey that we’re embarking on now.”
the product offering, building strong brands and forging a powerful supply chain – that will help to kick-start the ‘Accelerate’ strategy and develop Nilfisk into ‘a real leader in the industry’.
A key factor in the success of this strategy comes from the front, and Nilfisk has already invested heavily in that regard, as Anders Terkildsen explained: “We’ve put a lot of investment in the front end, first of all in terms of people – we’ve hired a lot of new service technicians and are adding sales people in most of our markets. Last year we added more than 150 sales and service people globally, and we continue to invest as we go, adding where we see potential.
“Alongside this, we introduced over the last two or three years a commercial excellence programme where we set the standard for how we want to work in sales and service in order to be efficient in terms of sales but also to secure that we have a good cost in service through our customer service.”
This has been done with the launch of a new, different type of fleet management system, known as ServiceMax. This system, currently live in the UK before being rolled out globally, will give Nilfisk and their customers the ability for much better monitoring of each machine and their service records, as well as more detailed information on response
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time and service cost, and according to Anders, this is exactly what their customers are after. “Just as they want to know where their machine is, they want this perfect service record too,” he said.
The launch of this new system, although tying in with the company’s 110th anniversary, was more coincidental rather than being specifically timed to coincide with the occasion. Indeed the fanfare surrounding this landmark has been fairly low-key to date – with a small celebration at Nilfisk’s Penrith headquarters back in April being the only major event to commemorate it.
However, both Anders and Tina feel that the anniversary is an occasion worth shouting about, as it showcases to the rest of the industry the experience and heritage that Nilfisk has. Anders explained: “We’re hoping to create a buzz around the 110 year anniversary both internally but also with our customers because it shows the experience that we have.
“I think having 10 years experience and 110 years experience is not the same, so it gives us that heritage, but also longevity too. Everything that we do is long term, and we want to develop long term relationships, and I think this is supported by our heritage. It’s in our DNA. We are planning for another 100 years.”
So where do Nilfisk see themselves 100 years down the line? While it’s impossible to predict what the cleaning world will look like that far in the future, Tina believes that technology and connectivity will continue to grow. She said: “It’s clear that the whole ‘Internet of Things’ – the connectivity, how you use big data in an intelligent way going forward, how you optimise around productivity, the man power of cleaning – is the direction that we’re going in. Thinking very much around how we can optimise the cleaning function for our customers is the journey that we’re embarking on now.”
However, despite this shift towards more tech-based cleaning, Tina maintains that cleaning machines will always be at the heart of Nilfisk’s product offering. “The machine will always be the core of what we do,” she explained. “But now with the ‘Internet of Things’ and how the intelligence around data expands and comes into our industry, how do you still make sure that the machine is at the core of what you do? That the service is still at the core of what you do?
“That’s the journey that we have started now with TrackClean, and we will continue to build on that. But always with the machine and the customer focus at the heart of that. That’s why we will still be here in another 100 years.”
www.nilfisk.com Tomorrow’s Cleaning August 2016 | 29
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