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Facilities management business, 14forty, has introduced a sophisticated cleaning robot into parent company Compass Group UK & Ireland’s Chertsey headquarters to help reach its sustainability goals and maximise productivity.
The company partnered up with cleaning innovation specialist Killis to deploy the robot, named Hanzel in honour of Compass Group’s Hanzel Gardener, who sadly passed away during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hanzel uses a scrubber-dryer system, which uses 70% less water and fewer chemicals than traditional cleaning products. It will play a key role in helping Compass Group achieve its target to reach net zero by 2030.
The robot will also support the cleaning team at Compass’ Chertsey base by cleaning open spaces, such as corridors, and freeing up team members’ time to focus on touchpoint and cross infection hotspots. 14forty will also demonstrate and upsell the robot to clients, who may wish to utilise one in future cleaning contracts.
Hanzel can be operated and monitored through an app and is near-silent, which means that it can be operated at all hours of day or night without disturbance and minimal supervision. It also uses a dual brush system to remove dirt efficiently and leaves floors drier than other solutions thanks to stronger water extraction, helping to keep people safe at work.
Mauro Ortelli, 14Forty Managing Director, said: “The pandemic has highlighted the importance of keeping our environment and surfaces as clean as possible if we want our people to stay safe.
“The introduction of robotics to 14forty’s cleaning proposition will support our teams who work diligently to keep our clients’ buildings clean and sterilised day and night, helping their employees to feel at ease while at work.”
14forty expects to use more robots across client bases in the future as its teams are working to drive innovation in their existing contracts, as well as with new business. Compass Group UK and Ireland is already using a dozen robots in its Medirest arm and has deployed another for vacuuming purposes at a 14forty client site.
