Autonomous innovation Nilfisk is a Danish company and a global leader in the design and supply of professional cleaning equipment. For more than 100 years, the company has adapted its products to suit the changing needs of global industrial markets with its ground-breaking products and solutions. Philip Yorke reports.
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ilfisk was founded in Denmark in 1906 by Peder Anderson Fisker and Hans Marius Nielsen as Fisker and Nielsen. Originally the company produced electric engines for ventilators and drilling machines before turning its skills to produce vacuum cleaners in 1910. By 1954 the company had sold more than one million vacuum cleaners. Today the company’s core business is the supply of industrial and commercial cleaning machines and high pressure cleaning equipment. Its extensive premium cleaning products are supported by a trusted range of aftermarket services for the world’s professional markets. The Nilfisk Group is headquartered in Brondby, Denmark, with sales offices and distributors in around 50 countries worldwide. Nilfisk markets its products in over 100 countries with production facilities located in Asia, Europe and the Americas. The company employs around 6,000 people and in 2018 recorded sales of over €1.1 billion. In 2017 Nilfisk was listed as an independent company on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in Copenhagen.
Award-winning innovation A top innovation prize was recently awarded to NIlfisk for its development of the world’s first fully-autonomous floor scrubber: the Nilfisk Liberty A50. This latest and most advanced floor scrubber from Nilfisk won the innovation award in the floor cleaning category at the International Cleaning Trade Show in London. “Innovation is at the heart of the solution” was the reason for its success according to the verdict of the jury. This milestone product launch is the first in Nilfisk’s “Horizon Programme”, which forms part of the company’s strategic and long-term innovation business plan. The state-of-the-art Nilfisk Liberty A50 has been developed in collaboration with Carnegie Robotics, a leading global provider of
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advanced robotics, sensors and platforms. “We are extremely happy with this recognition for the Nilfisk Liberty A50” said Stewart Dennett, Nilfisk’s General Manager for the UK and Ireland, who added, “Our ambition is to change the future of cleaning and with the launch of the Nilfisk Liberty A50 in the UK and several other key markets, we look forward to increasing productivity for our customers and to take intelligent cleaning to a whole new level”.
Speed and accuracy Another of the company’s flagship products is its compact and highly manoeuvrable model, the Nilfisk SC401, a ‘walk behind scrubberdryer. This product offers all the speed, accuracy and ease-of-use that’s needed for the optimal cleaning efficiency of industrial floors. This unique, high-performance machine also offers an extremely low sound level during its operation, thus making it perfect for even the most noise sensitive areas. The SC401 is designed and built with proven Nilfisk technology that is guaranteed to increase daily cleaning productivity. Its highly consistent performance is ensured by the 43cm scrub-deck which is equipped with either a brush or pad. Thanks to the superior water pick-up provided by its curved squeegee system, the floor is left completely dry. This highly efficient cleaner will work tirelessly for up to 4 hours on a fully charged battery, and up to 100 minutes before the solution tank needs to be refilled. Other key benefits of the Nilfisk SC401 include its ‘SilenTech™’ technology which dramatically reduces sound levels and also offers an intuitive 3-button dashboard for simplicity of operation. In addition, the product’s special detergent mixing system is designed to prevent the overdosing of chemicals, thus helping to save the environment and the total cost of the cleaning cycle.
