A cleaner world Tennant Company

A CLEANER WORLD

At Tennant Company, the aim is to create cleaner, safer environments. Abigail Saltmarsh looks at some of its latest groundbreaking green products.

The green light is on at Tennant – and the company is forging ahead with its latest range of environmentally friendly cleaning solutions. The company, which is known for its industrial and commercial sweepers, scrubber-dryers, coatings, carpet cleaning equipment, vacuums, floor machines and burnishers, is once again leading the way with new chemical-free and other sustainable cleaning products and systems.

Martijn Oechies, customer development director, said the 140 year-old company was currently seeing high demand for its products, resulting in strong growth. “Innovation is a key element for us in achieving organic growth,” he said. “Overall, the position we are looking for is to differentiate ourselves through innovation and offering chemical-free and sustainable solutions.”

A world leader

Minneapolis-based Tennant grew out of George Tennant’s vision for a frontier-town sawmill in the 1870s into one of today’s most successful floor care operations. Today it is a world leader in designing, manufacturing and marketing solutions that help create a cleaner, healthier, safer world. Its products include equipment for maintaining surfaces in industrial, commercial and outdoor environments.

Tennant’s global field service network is the most extensive in the industry. It has manufacturing operations in Minneapolis and Holland in the US, Uden in the Netherlands, Falkirk in the UK, Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Shanghai in China. It sells products directly in 15 countries and through distributors in more than 80 countries.

Environmentally friendly technologies

“Our groundbreaking ec-H2O™ technology was launched in 2008,” explained Mr Oechies. Tennant’s ec-H2OTM technology eliminates the need for most floor cleaning chemicals by converting water into a superior cleaning solution and uses up to 70 per cent less water than conventional scrubbing.

“It works by passing water through electrified screens inside an oxygenation chamber, splitting it into positively and negatively charged streams. The charged water then has the attributes of a general purpose cleaner that breaks down dirt. After approximately 45 seconds, the charged water begins to recombine into normal water.”

This technology can also reduce environmental impact compared to traditional cleaning chemicals and methods. “There are no other raw materials, no packing or transportation costs.” he said. “Because tap water is used and disposed of afterwards there is no chemical residue—just dirty water.”

Third-party studies show that scrubbing with ec-H2OTM can remove more bacteria than scrubbing with detergents, and

because ec-H2OTM technology leaves no chemical residue, floors retain a polished look, reducing burnishing and strip or recoat cycles.

Sparked by the success of ec-H2O™, in 2009 Tennant Company established its advanced technology arm, the Orbio Technologies Group, which is developing and licensing products under the Orbio® brand to help pursue Tennant’s vision to become a global leader in chemical-free and other sustainable technologies that create a cleaner, safer, healthier world. Handheld applications

Through its licensing partnership with Activeion Cleaning Solutions, LLC, Tennant offers its ec-H2OTM technology on a variety of handheld spray devices including devices that incorporate Orbio®-E technology. When used as directed, the ionatorEXP and ionatorHOM kill the 2009 Pandemic H1N1 Influenza A virus and more than 99.9 per cent of most harmful bacteria (E. coli, VRE, Salmonella). These devices are marketed under the Activeion® brand.

Groundbreaking street cleaner

Another recent groundbreaking sustainable technology development was the launch of the company’s 500ze, all-electric vacuum street sweeper. With its Lithium-ion powered battery pack, this heralds a significant step in the drive for reduced carbon emissions and improved air quality. Its clean air and near silent operation is ideal for enclosed or crowded pedestrian areas such as city centres.

Key features of the 500ze include zero emissions – no exhaust fumes or CO2 − and low noise and reduced dust. The annual carbon output of a standard 2m3 sweeper, currently used in many city centres, is approximately 50 tonnes. The 500ze is zero, thus saving the equivalent of the carbon output of 40 cars annually.

It is also virtually silent in transit and has an integrated battery management system to optimise cell performance throughout the battery’s lifetime. It offers powerful suction that is suited to even coarse debris and has fewer moving parts and advanced diagnostics which can lower maintenance costs.

“We are rolling these out at the moment,” said Mr Oechies. “There are test models in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, London and Paris.”

Making a difference

“Future growth at Tennant Company will come through continued innovation and ground-breaking product launches like these,” said Mr Oechies.

“We are 140 years old – we are not a young company,” he said. “We are traditionally perceived to be a very good player in industrial environments. We are known for our reliability. With more and more contract cleaners out there now, our customers are much more diversified than they were five or six years ago. We want to make a difference and to transform the industry but we need to do it with our customers.

“We believe we are the most innovative company in the industry. We want to be number one and we want to see solutions that are more sustainable and chemical free.” n

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