With over 50 years of experience, ICE is the UK’s largest independent provider of industrial cleaning machines. We pride ourselves on the unique service we offer our customers, providing everything from equipment purchase or rental to asset management and maintenance.

Julie Kitchener
Head of Customer Service & Marketing at ICE

ICE brings a simple, reliable brand and offering to the industry with straightforward equipment purchase, rental, service and approved-used solutions designed to meet the needs and demands of every customer, however small or extensive their budget.

We have a team of 41 engineers nationwide. We manage over 26,250 sites and 106,000 machines across the UK and Ireland. Julie Kitchener , Head of Customer Service & Marketing at Industrial Cleaning Equipment Ltd spoke to Warehouse & Logistics News.

What are your best-known products and services?

We have a huge range of scrubber dryer and sweeping machines suitable for all types of industrial flooring. From standard equipment to high-end machines equipped with the latest technology, to robotic floor cleaning machines – we have it all!

Our market leading equipment includes some of the latest innovations in the industry:

ICE Robo 3

The ICE Robo 3 is the most advanced fully automated scrubber dryer on the market. Thanks to its unique laser and sensor technology, it can clean complex areas in a thorough and uniform manner. It offers unlimited cleaning patterns and super-fast mapping, as well as consistent cleaning right up to the edge. Robo 3 offers continuous cleaning for up to 6 hours, plus it completely avoids static, temporary or moving obstacles. It will return to clean any areas that have been missed due to temporary obstacles being placed within the cleaning area.

ICE Aqua Smart (non stop cleaning)

Our recently launched Aqua Smart (non-stop cleaning) products contain an innovative system which recycles and filters the water used to clean floors during the cleaning process. This means that the same water can be re-used multiple times, resulting in water savings of up to 1,000 litres per day!

Not only does this type of system benefit the environment, it also helps businesses to increase cleaning productivity and reduce wasted time. As no stops are needed to empty, clean and refill the machine, it is possible to enhance productivity and achieve labour savings of over 25%.

ICE MTech range

Our MTech equipment range are high end machines that combine the latest in cleaning technology with superior quality equipment.

They have a touchscreen control panel which includes video tutorials on how to operate and maintain the equipment. The integrated telemetry system gives complete visibility of the equipment utilisation and performance, and all this information can be easily accessed via our App.

What new products/services will you be launching next year?

We will be focusing on building on our recently launched products such as the ICE Aqua Smart (non stop cleaning) range. You can also expect to see us bringing more robotic cleaning machines to market in 2020 – watch this space!

What industry sectors do you see offering you the most potential next year?

We see the warehouse and materials handling market as offering huge potential over the coming years. We are already established in this sector, but have many new and exciting equipment innovations that can bring huge benefits to the warehouse and materials handling market.

How do your products help businesses become cleaner, recycle more and reduce their carbon footprint?

ICE Aqua Smart (non-stop cleaning)

Please see question 1 for the detail on our ICE Aqua Smart range which have huge sustainability and recycling benefits.

ICE Smartcall

Experience has taught us that over 30% of equipment breakdown calls we receive could be fixed without an engineer visit. This means that we can end up attending over 400 unnecessary jobs per week, which has a negative impact on engineer time, costs and the environment.

Using live video calls to connect on-site cleaning operatives with our helpdesk experts can help to solve these issues without the need to send an engineer.

The helpdesk specialist is able to see the machine and guide the on-site operative through a series of checks to help them solve the issue immediately.

It also means that we can ensure field-based resource are visiting primary equipment issues as opposed to unnecessary calls, as well as supporting our environmental pledge to reduce carbon our footprint. Overall, we have seen extremely positive results where on average 72% of issues have been immediately resolved during the video call.

Are you involved in any major trade shows or other industry events next year?

We are planning to attend the RWM 2020 exhibition and the IMHX in 2021, so please do come and see us at these events!

What recent changes/improvements have you made in customer service?

At the start of the year we made the decision to split our Sales & Key Account Teams. This has been a huge success as it has meant that our Key Account Team are focused on driving customer experience and are dedicated to service delivery. Our Sales team can then focus on new business development and introducing new innovations to the market. In addition, we have a team of dedicated Customer Service Administrators who look after our customers and support the Key Account and Sales teams.

To ensure that we are constantly monitoring and improving customer satisfaction, we ask customers to complete a short survey at the end of each engineer visit or equipment delivery & training session. Additionally, as part of our commitment to continuously improving customer satisfaction we will be joining the Institute of Customer Service in 2020, and putting our managers and team members through a range of their courses and qualifications.

How do your solutions help customers increase the level of automation in their business?

Automated cleaning solutions are ideal for warehouses, distribution centres, and manufacturing facilities and they are being used successfully in these environments today. ICE have extensive experience in this area, having been involved in developing robotic cleaning equipment for the last decade. Using robotics as part of the daily cleaning regime not only enhances standards as it gives guaranteed consistent floor cleaning, but it also means that the cleaning resource can focus on other more detailed cleaning tasks that often get missed if the operatives are spending time pushing a floor cleaning machine around.

To what extent are you drivers of technological change?

Through many years of refining our business model, ICE is now the largest independent industrial cleaning equipment service and supply organisation within the market. We celebrated 50 years in business in 2017, and it’s fair to say that the company has seen a number of changes since its inception!

From humble beginnings over 50 years ago, to the multi-million company it is today, innovation has always been at the heart of everything we do at ICE.

From the introduction of SERVICESMART (our transparent web-based platform which gives customers access to equipment records and audits) in 2003, to our extensive experience in the area of robotic floor cleaning, ICE always pushes the boundaries when it comes to being innovative and forward thinking.

Technology advances stay at the forefront of our approach. We also continuously look at our product range, and the benefits and opportunities they offer our customers, in order to be able to fulfil a complete solution.

We are proud to be differentiators, with awards and accolades spanning decades. Our most recent awards include:

• Winners of the Sustainability category in the 2019 Cleaning Show Awards for our Aqua Smart (non- stop cleaning) products.

• 2019 Tomorrow’s Cleaning Award for the ICE Robo 3 autonomous scrubber dryer.

• Winners of two awards at the 2017 Cleaning Show for the ICE MTech R 75 machine and our ICE Locator product (asset tracking device).

How futureproof and flexible are your solutions as businesses change?

As part of our commitment to existing and new customers, our pledge to continuously improve and innovate our offer is an integral part of our strategy and a very important one. We constantly review our product range, and the benefits and opportunities they offer our customers, in order to be able to fulfil a complete solution.

And finally, if you had to sum up your company in a hashtag what would it be?

#servicethroughinnovation

ICE

02380 777000/0800 389 3869

enquiries@ice-clean.com

www.ice-clean.com

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