Clean and green Nilfisk-Advance

CLEAN AND GREEN

Danish professional cleaning equipment specialist Nilfisk-Advance is one of the world’s leading producers of professional cleaning equipment. Today the company is firmly committed to being an environmentally responsible organisation.

Nilfisk-Advance is based in Denmark but has production facilities in Asia, Europe and the Americas as well as sales companies in 43 countries and distributors in 70 countries. It is partly this global presence that has allowed it to maintain its success for over a century since its establishment in 1906 by a Danish engineer Mr P.A Fisker, with his partner Mr Nilsen.

Since the late 1980s Nilfisk-Advance has been a part of the NKT Group, and following this it began to enjoy a period of rapid development as opposed to the steady growth it had seen over the previous decades. With a series of acquisitions of smaller companies it has been able to expand its product portfolio and international presence.

The majority of the company’s business is with B2B customers (around 85 per cent) although a small percentage of its products, including the high-pressure washers manufactured by its subsidiary Alto, are for the consumer market. However, the company continues to be best-known for its industrial and professional cleaning equipment, as we shall see. In 2013 it achieved sales of €881 million.

Acquisitions and expansions

In February 2012 Nilfisk was able to strengthen its position in the industrial market in the UK with the acquisition of the British dealer Industrial Cleaning Machines (ICM) – a Wolverhampton based company specialising in the Service, Hire and Sale of industrial cleaning machinery. At the end of 2013 it further increased its presence in the UK market with the acquisition of Arrow Supplies, a Scottish company specialising in the sale and servicing of commercial cleaning machinery. Such acquisitions will allow Nilfisk to expand its market reach and establish a strong industrial service capability in the industrial heartland of the UK.

In December 2012 the company announced the opening of its newest international operation in Peru. The new sales company will be based in Lima and will offer direct sales and service to Nilfisk’s customers across the country. This is all part of the company’s continued global expansion: the launch of this Peruvian operation has strengthened its footprint in Central and South America. It will allow Nilfisk to better serve its customers and meet the increasing demand for high quality products in the professional cleaning industry.

Range of products

Nilfisk-Advance’s cleaning solutions have a number of applications, including industrial, construction, automotive, schools and offices, shopping centres or domestic, for example. Its range includes industrial vacuum cleaners, which makes up around 35 per cent of its business, floor-care equipment such as floor scrubbers and sweepers (40 per cent) with the rest (15 per cent) consisting of high-pressure washers for the consumer market.

The company doesn’t develop specific products for certain markets. Instead, its

GNB

For 15 years we have been supplying GNB batteries to Nilfisk in Europe for their OE demand as well as their sales within the Replacement market.

We see this business based upon a perfect partnership rather than the normal buyer-/seller constellation and are looking forward to the next many years!

philosophy is one of ‘universality’ whereby its range is the same across all group companies. It believes this is the best way to offer its customers consistency and the highest quality products.

This strategy has led to a widening of its product range as it is able to focus on the development of each of its lines rather than customising certain areas. A company spokesperson explained: “We are offering everything required, from small vacuum cleaners up to very large industrial sweepers for big industrial sites – for example, car manufacturers, coal mines or steel foundries. We cover the full range – but of course, we can’t produce everything everywhere. Our factories specialise in particular product ranges.”

Product development is a key part of the company’s activities. Its aim is to renew all its lines every three to four years to keep up with current market demands. Generally, the purpose of product development is to meet the customers’ need to cut their overall cleaning costs. This means creating products that run continuously and have maximum up-time.

Keeping it green

For Nilfisk-Advance, the most important focus moving forward is to offer products which are both efficient and environmentally friendly. It is a participant in the United Nations Global Compact and the Carbon Disclosure Project. It calls this environmental strategy ‘Green meets Clean’. All its new products are developed with the aim of ‘providing equal or enhanced cleaning efficiency while using less energy, less water and less detergent’.

Nilfisk-Advance operates a ‘Customer Focused Development Process’ as it believes that optimal environmental products begin in the design and concept phase of product. Its website states that ‘incorporated in our global development process is the obligation to consider the four key environmental factors in our industry: energy, water, less detergent and disposal’.

The company’s EcoFlex System is in line with this environmental focus. This is a cleaning technology that achieves both environmentally sustainable cleaning methods as well as the highest standards of effective cleaning. It is a series of patented dispensing systems which allows the user to clean using only water without detergents. Where surfaces are very grimy and in need of both water and detergents, the EcoFlex will reduce water consumption by 50 per cent and the need for detergents by 35 per cent. Thus, it ensures a clean environmental for the user whilst also minimising the consumption of resources. n