When first talking to Denis Gagnon, one wonders if he is really the president of Excel Dryer, East Longmeadow, Mass. “Why do you think people hate using hand dryers so much?” he asks after introducing himself.

Isn’t he a hand dryer manufacturer? Shouldn’t he be explaining the miraculous advantages of hand dryers? Finally, he answers his own question. “The reason people hate using hand dryers is because they take so darn long,” he says.

The average hand dryer takes anywhere from 30 to 45 seconds to effectively dry a user’s hands, according to Gagnon. Excel’s new machine, the XLerator, cuts that down to a third of the time — between 10 and 15 seconds according to the company. Excel designed its new dryers to have increased power and concentration of air flow. A sleek new design even makes it look futuristic. At the very least, Gagnon can be credited with bringing new ingenuity to a market that has seen few advances since its genesis.

One person who has been a keen observer of the history of hand dryers is David Ring, vice president of sales for World Dryer, a manufacturer of hand dryers since 1948. Decreasing drying time is one of the major challenges for hand dryer designers, but it has to be balanced with other factors, says Ring.

“About five years ago, we did a massive survey of end users, distributors and cleaning contractors asking them a series of questions about hand dryers,” he says. “We expected that the No. 1 dislike of hand dryers would be the drying time, but on our survey the biggest complaint was noise.”

Both Gagnon and Ring acknowledge that decreased drying times usually mean louder machines. The XLerator hovers around 90 decibels. World Dryer’s loudest dryer peaks at 72 decibels. “We’ve created such a focused air stream that most of the noise on our dryers comes from reflected air,” says Gagnon. “We’ve found that our noise level is acceptable to users, and that what they’re most concerned about is getting their hands dried thoroughly and quickly.”

The XLerator has already drawn a lot of attention. It was featured in a recent Wall Street Journal profile and another article in Environmental Building News, but only time (and sales) will tell if the new drying technology is here to stay. For distributors, the more pressing issue is whether or not hand dryers are a viable alternative to selling paper towels.

Sell and Resell
“It may be tempting for distributors to go toward paper towels because they’re repeat business,” says Frank Steibel, president of Steibel Eltron, Holyoke, Mass. “When they talk to their customers, they can point to the fact that facilities save a lot of money when they use hand dryers. Not only do the hand dryers themselves save a lot of money over paper, but they also save on the labor costs of cleaning up litter and stocking or restocking the machines.”

Hand dryers also work very well in tandem with paper towel dispensers, adds Steibel. “It works best for end users if both options are available to customers,” he says. “That way, even if paper towels run out, the customer knows that the hand dryer will still be working.”

The issue of which product is more sanitary — paper towels or hand dryers — is one of constant contention between the two markets. For years, the idea that hand dryers are more sanitary than paper towels seemed to be widely accepted as fact. However, a 1998 study sponsored by Kimberly-Clark, a major paper towel manufacturer, put forth evidence that older hand dryers are likely to spread bacteria if not properly maintained.

“The key to any industry study is to know who is putting the money into that study,” says Ring. “Several independent studies have come out recently which show that hand dryers are just as sanitary, if not more sanitary than paper towels.”

The key to being sanitary is good design when it comes to hand dryer, says Gagnon. “If the air that’s being passed through a hand dryers is hot enough, then bacteria can’t survive. We’ve designed our machines so that the air is warm enough to do that, and we’ve also made sure that there is no place in the machine where bacteria can collect,” he says.

Although generations of people have felt more comfortable using paper towels, Ring says that a generation of hand-dryer users is now approaching adulthood, and that the resistance to them is fading away.

“I think the acceptance of hand dryers is generational,” says Ring. “The kids who grew up with hand dryers at McDonald’s, movie theaters and schools are now graduating from college and they’re very familiar with the ease of using hand dryers. The previous generation has always used paper towels and they think that paper towels allow them to get in and out of the restroom quickly.”

Many restrooms have moved to including more than one hand dryer in a restroom so that users aren’t forced to wait as long. When customers from high-traffic facilities mention that people often end up waiting in line to use a hand dryer, distributors can bring up the option of having multiple hand dryers in a restroom. With regard to cost, one-time purchases of several hand dryers will still usually come out to be less for end users than the continuous purchasing of paper towels.

“In large restrooms it just doesn’t make sense to have only one hand dryer unit because it’s inviting long lines,” says Steibel. “In the past, some hand dryers were overpriced, but I think that prices have come down so that end users can justify multiple purchases.”

As hand dryers continue to gain acceptance, more markets are opening up for hand dryer use. Schools and educational facilities have especially taken to hand dryers in recent years due to the decrease in opportunities for vandalism.

Excel Dryer designed its new dryer to have no sharp edges and no flat surfaces. The curved shape of the dryer prevents users from putting things on top of the dryer and creating other potential maintenance problems. “Hand dryers are there to dry people’s hands,” says Gagnon. “We designed it so that people aren’t using the machines to rest cups or other objects on top of them. It also just makes people feel better to know that the hand dryer is not going to be vandalized.”

As hand dryers become more efficient, less costly and more widely accepted, the opportunity for distributor sales is sure to increase.

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POSTED ON: 8/1/2002