Facilities in the foodservice industry started to seriously consider the effects of cross-contamination about 12 years ago, says Nisha Gupta, marketing director for San Jamar, a manufacturer of touchless dispensers in Elkhorn, Wis.

When Jack in the Box restaurants served contaminated meat to patrons, newfound vigilance for foodservice safety emerged. “That is the event they [the International Safety Food Council] still point to for starting food safety education,” she says.

More recently, cross contamination has become a major issue for those who clean washrooms as well. “Of course we’ve always known that bacteria is everywhere in a restroom, but it hasn’t always affected the design of the restroom,” she adds.

Heightened awareness of cross contamination has undoubtedly influenced the way distributors and manufacturers in the sanitary supply industry approach restrooms today, says Susan Kennedy, director of marketing for Sloan Valve, Franklin Park, Ill. “Women would come into the ladies’ restroom 10 years ago, and they were afraid to use a touchless appliance because they didn’t know what it was. Now, from the customer side, we know of a lot of women who demand to have a touchless system in their washroom,” she says.

It’s not just those within the industry who are talking about touchless washroom systems; the national media has also noticed the trend.

“There’s definitely a heightened awareness now,” says Joanne Shufelt of Georgia-Pacific, Atlanta. “The media has brought about some of that attention, and the general public is just very concerned about hygiene and cross contamination.”

In addition to cross contamination, touchless systems can save money by using less product, says Janne Muntzing, director of proprietary systems for SCA Tissue, Neenah, Wis. “The likelihood of the user taking more product than needed is reduced,” says Muntzing. “This helps reduce cost, which is a major benefit besides improved hygiene.”

One of Georgia-Pacific’s touch-free napkin dispensers saves 30 to 35 percent on the cost of paper for the end user, according to Shufelt. “There is an initial price, and there is also the cost-in-use factor,” she says. “If less paper is being wasted over time, then that can add up to big savings for end users.”

Meeting the needs of users who are physically disabled is another benefit of touchless restroom solutions, says Kennedy. “In your senior living or assisted-living facilities, you will see a big increase in touchless systems,” she says. “They really have a difficult time turning and grabbing appliances, so it makes a lot of sense for these buildings to implement touch-free systems.”

A Whole New Washroom
Manufacturers are so convinced of the benefits of touchless washroom systems, that they’ve changed entire product lines in order to meet the desires of end users. According to Dennis Gagnon, owner of Ex-Cell Dryer, touch-free systems are not a short-lived gimmick, but rather an observable trend.

“I think it has become significant enough that you see restrooms without doors at airports,” he says. “The airport architects know that people want to get in and out of the restroom without touching anything.”

Touchless dispensers were available earlier than most people think, but the technology was not very good at the time, says Gagnon. In 1988, the first touchless hand dryers came on the scene. However, the sensor on the machine was not always reliable. The earliest models of “touchless” faucets did not require users to push or turn knobs with their hands, but instead had them activate the water flow by stepping on a pedal with their feet.

No Touch Tech
Today, with so many variations in touch-free technology, it’s important to have a concrete understanding about how touch-free is defined. All touchless systems fit into one of two classifications, says Mark Stanland, director of marketing for Bay West Paper, Harrodsburg, Ky.

“We’ve seen the market for touch-free dispensers grow at a fast rate — to the extent that the market is now divided into two distinct segments: electronic dispensers and mechanical dispensers,” he says.

On the mechanical side of the paper industry, some manufacturers say that as long as the user is not touching the dispenser, the system is a touch-free system. These systems usually require the user to pull down on the exposed piece of paper, revealing another item for the next user. These systems have been around for decades.

Other paper manufacturers, however, have taken the touch-free system a step further by creating a machine that senses motion and actually drops the paper into the user’s hand without pulling or grabbing.

The first paper dispenser to use the sensor technology was Bay West, who revealed the Wave’n Dry system at the 1997 ISSA show. Since that time, Georgia-Pacific and San Jamar have also introduced similar systems that use a sensor.

Whether the washroom appliance is a paper dispenser, soap dispenser, hand dryer, faucet or flusher, advances in the mechanics of the systems have had a significant impact on the sanitary supply industry.

Technological advances have created increased efficiencies as the expectations of users have risen, says Jerry McDermott, vice president of marketing for Technical Concepts, Mundelein, Ill. “In the early days, users would get frustrated when they tried to get an automatic faucet to work and they were having a hard time hitting the ‘sweet spot’ on the faucet’s sensor. Now, we have faucets that don’t use infrared sensors at all.”

The newest faucet from Technical Concepts uses what McDermott calls “capacitive technology,” in which the spout of the faucet becomes an antenna that reacts to motion anywhere within a certain radius.

The Return on Touchless
Although end users are often interested in using new technology, distributors who have seen many products come and go tend to be wary of high prices. “I think the touchless dispensers in the hand towel category have been well-received by distributors,” says Greg Kampschroer, vice president of Palmer Fixture Co., Germantown, Wis. “The biggest challenge from them has been the cost issue.”

Any manufacturer will admit that a touchless system, regardless of product, will require more of an up-front investment than a traditional system. And any distributor will say that if they are going to spend the money there should be other benefits.

“Our experience, so far, is that we’ve had a limited number of distributors getting behind the touch-free products,” says McDermott. “The ones who have done it have reported record commissions and sales because this is something that end users are really wanting.”

Distributors are sometimes worried that advanced technology will require extra training and effort for their sales staff, according to McDermott. “Before, I think some jan/san distributors got tired of messing with the plumbing with certain automatic flush systems,” he says. “But now, we’ve redesigned some solutions that are very easy to install. That makes it a lot easier on the salesperson who is doing a demonstration.”

Although unfamiliar restroom technology takes some getting used to, manufacturers say they see distributors warming up to the new systems.
“Distributors are normally receptive and very excited about new technology,” says Muntzing. “Touch-free dispensers are either mechanical or electronic,” he says. “Both are more costly technical solutions, so the challenge is to make the system economical for the end user and profitable for the manufacturer and distributor.”

One way that some paper manufacturers have tried to address the economic issue is to create universal touchless dispensers that can work with many different types of paper. “The whole trend for hands-free systems came about through proprietary systems, but having universal systems opens it up to the markets and keeps the end users from getting locked into a contract,” says Kampschroer.

Gupta agrees, adding that San Jamar has chosen to focus on making dispensers more profitable for distributors, aside from the paper contract they have. “There aren’t too many universal systems available,” she says. “We’ve also designed ours to actually track how much paper is being used and what time of the day or week will need the most refilling.” She demonstrates how the system works by taking out a small Palm PDA and holding it close to the dispenser. The Palm then shows a graphic revealing how much paper has been used that day and at what time.

Customers may not be ready for a touchless system that tracks inventory, but if distributors don’t have such options in stock, they’ll never know for sure.




POSTED ON: 11/1/2002