Sealed Air Diversey Care celebrated the 60th anniversary of its TASKI brand with an international press conference at the Zurich Airport in Switzerland. During the event, Sealed Air CEO Jerome Peribere and Diversey Care President Dr. Ilham Kadri announced the acquisition of Intellibot and debuted two new products — the Internet of Clean and TASKI swingo 2100 micro scrubber dryer.

The acquisition of Intellibot, a Portland, Oregon-based manufacturer of robotic, commercial floor machines, includes certain intellectual property, the manufacturing operations in Virginia as well as sales, production and engineering staff. The business will be integrated into Sealed Air’s Diversey Care division and its brand of TASKI floor cleaning machines. Intellibot's headquarters will remain in Portland.

Intellibot’s value proposition is based on “hands-free cleaning” robots which improve the economics of cleaning by reducing labor costs and increasing productivity.

"Diversey Care's industry expertise, global reach, design and manufacturing capabilities combined with Intellibot’s groundbreaking artificial intelligence technology will help accelerate the development of the robotic floor cleaning machines market – ultimately driving efficiencies and business value for our industry," says Dr Kadri.

With the launch of Internet of Clean, Diversey Care has taken an early and decisive step forward in making the connected future a reality for the commercial cleaning industry.

Succeeding the era of file sharing, e-commerce, and social media, the next Internet generation is concerned with connecting machines and devices — popularly known as the Internet of Things.

Applying this concept to the specific and complex needs of the global cleaning industry, Diversey Care conceptualized Internet of Clean, a new platform which connects machines, dispensers, sensors, beacons, and other smart devices to achieve broad insight into equipment, consumption and operations. These include improved safety and operational performance, enhanced productivity, remote monitoring, visibility of assets, task prioritization, more accurate dosing, reduced use of water and/or chemicals, and increased hand hygiene compliance.

“The reality is that Internet of Clean allows us to first reimagine, and then totally transform the cleaning and hygiene businesses from being reactive to proactive and even predictive," says Dr. Kadri.

The new swingo machine features a compact and highly maneuverable design to increase productivity by up to 22 percent compared to other machines. The brush is able to clean right up against walls to clean edges in a single pass. In addition, workers can customize the machine with a tool holder so chemicals, mops and other products can be brought along with them to save time traveling back to the janitor's closet.

"This innovative scrubber dryer marks a turning point in our strategy to develop machines that are so productive they greatly reduce the total cost of ownership," says Dr. Kadri.

More than 20 international journalists attended Sealed Air Diversey Care's largest press conference, representing 11 nationalities. Besides the product launches, Diversey Care celebrated TASKI's rich history and shared how TASKI products are used to clean the Zurich Airport.

Thomas Oester, head technical facility manager of the Zurich Airport shared the challenges faced by his cleaning crew and how TASKI products help to maintain high cleaning standards desired by the 25 million annual passengers and 24,000 daily airport employees.

After the press conference, journalists were given a tour of the TASKI manufacturing facilities in nearby Munchwilen, Switzerland.

Photos courtesy of Sealed Air Diversey Care via Facebook.