It’s a photo finish!

So that’s a wrap for CleanEx 2022 and the comments and pictures just sum up what a successful show it was for all involved. Thanks to the sponsors and everyone who attended, exhibited and helped put the show together. After so many stops and starts to industry gatherings in recent times, it was much needed and very much appreciated as an opportunity to get together and show the strength and resilience that the industry has to get things back on track and move forward.

Around 1,600 visitors came through the doors of the stunning Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire over the two day event. Whilst lower numbers than previous events, this was a great turnout considering it was Easter holidays, and also Ramadan for many. Understandably people are also still nervous about attending large scale events.

Exhibitor numbers were up 15 per cent from the last event held in 2018 with 74+39 of the industry’s leading businesses taking stands at CleanEx to showcase their latest innovations to a well targeted audience. Overwhelming feedback was that while the number of visitors were lower than CleanEx 2018, the quality of the people attending was extremely good, leading to meaningful conversations for both exhibitors and businesses that created relationships and solutions for the future. The exhibition hall was full of industry specialists excited to tell all about their latest developments Some for the very first time.

JENSEN took the opportunity of CleanEx 2022 as a world first moment to show off their new Kando folder – a space-saving combination folder with integrated stackers – a highlight to their stand that received a great deal of interest. And Girbau made its UK premiere with their new DRC cornerless feeder – it doesn’t require users to find the corners of sheets and it’s unique as the only cornerless feeder that serves two lanes, making the operator’s job easier, boosting productivity and reducing energy consumption. It was so easy for anyone to use, they ran a competition to see who could feed the most items into the new DRC Cornerless Feeder in one minute. The winners, completely untrained on the equipment, managed nearly 20! Imagine what a trained member of staff could achieve!

The Girbau UK team very much enjoyed the opportunity to meet face-to-face with our industry colleagues for the first time in over two years. We were really busy throughout both days of the show, and delighted with the strong interest in our two big launches: the innovative Genius Series internet-enabled washers and the new DRC cornerless feeder. It was good to see the depth of our product range reflected in visitor interest from every type of laundry, from smaller OPLs to the biggest industrial operations. We had very strong interest in the Genius Series washers. The new features of these machines have gone down really well, confirming our belief that they offer the innovation customers are looking for. Visitors liked everything from the multiple technical innovations such as the versatile Sapphire cloud-based IoT management system to the increased G-Force and the enhanced drum design for faster and better water extraction that also maintains high quality fabric care. Even small but important details like the large, clear red, amber, green machine status lights were very well received.

Jeremy Challis, Sales Director, Girbau UK

Competition winners

Visitors to the Girbau UK stand competed to be the ‘fastest feeder in town’. The company challenged visitors to see who could feed the most items into the new DRC cornerless feeder in one minute. Winners received a Red Letter Days £200 voucher.