More than 3,500 invited guests from 52 countries attended the recent week long Kannegiesser Private Exhibition at the Bad Salzuflen Exhibition Centre near Vlotho.
Kannegiesser's Managing Director of Sales & Marketing, Lars Blechschmidt, said "The attendance figure was slightly higher than our previous private exhibition in 2010. This time it was obvious that a high percentage of guests attended the exhibition for two days in order to have enough time to view the equipment in operation and discuss the functions and design features with the relevant design engineers".
In general, the laundry industry is looking for ways to improve efficiency, especially by increasing productivity, in order to reduce unit costs. At the same time laundries are experiencing an increase in the variety of linen they are required to process, along with a requirement from their customers for improved quality due to increasing competition.
Particularly significant was the combination of machine technology in conjunction with logistics and process technology. As in many other industries, the demand for complete system solutions, together with the synchronization of data and material flow, is a growing requirement for textile service providers. This synchronization requires effective management processes. Only a stable and steady flow of linen without interruptions can keep productivity at a high level. Such a flow of linen can be achieved by semi or fully automatic system solutions. New process systems in combination with tracking via a database play an important role. Kannegiesser's control and software concept "Auto Control" is the basis for individual or machine combinations. Our Smart Laundry concept was presented at the exhibition in conjunction with the complete equipment range. The high standard of engineering excellence was very impressive in all areas of machine technology. Ergonomic optimization was one particular focus at the private exhibition which will be of increasing importance in the future. Visitors were able to test and examine the new ergonomic solutions on many practical examples on display.
Another important theme was the continuing improvement in the use of high quality components in the manufacture of the machines. This also included a demonstration of Teleservice support which is becoming more popular. The reduction of auxiliary process time on all machines played an important role in the exhibition. This was especially important in the pre-feeding and feeding systems for flatwork processing and various improvements were demonstrated. Another general topic was Resource Management. The potential savings of energy, water and chemicals were demonstrated. In addition the new SpecialTankSystems were linked to the washing machines to display complete systems.
One of the final comments by Martin Kannegiesser, the owner of Kannegiesser GmbH, was: "The continuing dialogue between users and suppliers of technology will set the future standards. The demand for complete systems in the laundry industry is high, as it is now in many other industries. The consistency of concepts in machine technology and logistics will also determine the future competitiveness of textile service providers. We all learned a lot from each other during this week of intensive exchange of ideas. "