Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Exterior cleaning: System solutions ensure economical street cleansing and grounds maintenance
Clean open spaces, streets and green areas have an important influence on how attractive a town or residential area is. Nowadays there is a multitude of machines and pieces of equipment available for the cleaning and maintenance of such areas. Often, for reasons of false economy, people fall back on the cheapest machines. However, substandard service or expensive finance can quickly lead to excessive total costs. That is why it is important to answer the following three questions when choosing machine and manufacturer:
Which machines best meet the demands made upon you? Does the manufacturer offer flexible finance concepts, which make the acquisition of equipment possible without restricting the local authorities or contractors unnecessarily? And does the manufacturer also offer the necessary service so that the machine can work without downtimes as much as possible and is, therefore, also profitable? It is clear - the best manufacturer is more often than not the one who not only offers a machine but a system solution, which covers all aspects of machine usage.
With regard to street cleansing requirements there are corresponding sweepers to complete any job. In the restricted spaces of residential areas with parked cars on the roadside or in pedestrian zones, compact sweepers with articulated steering prove to be particularly advantageous. Thanks to their high degree of manoeuvrability they can be used to sweep around obstacles without problem.
When procuring machines the journey to the area to be cleaned has to be taken into consideration as well. Is the dirt hopper large enough so that the machine has enough time for cleaning before the hopper has to be emptied? A top speed of 50 km/h reduces the journey / travelling time. Noise should also be taken into consideration when deciding upon a machine. If sweeping is to be carried out at night then the machine has to be equipped with special soundproofing measures.
In terms of economy, multipurpose machines are becoming more and more popular. They need not only be used to sweep... they can be equipped with a gritter and snowplough / shield for winter use or be fitted with a mower bar for grounds maintenance.
For the maintenance of outdoor areas in residential areas, often manually operated attachment carriers are sufficient. These can be equipped with a main broom, mower bar or snowplough. However, if larger areas need to be swept or mown, then 'classic' compact tractors are often used. But classic does not mean old fashioned. Modern compact tractors have a modern cabin, which protects the driver from vibrations, weather and noise. Apart from powerful hydraulics for diverse applications, amongst other things a maintenance-friendly construction guarantees low machine life costs.
After all in the end it is the machine life costs, which are instrumental in helping to decide whether the purchase of a machine has paid for itself. Here the finance costs count just as much as the maintenance costs, or - in the worst case scenario - costs, which are incurred as a result of downtime, where the machine is in need of repair.
The optimum solution would be for all expenditure, e.g. leasing rates, spare parts requirements and even repair costs to be covered by a monthly flat rate such as Hako-Werke, based in Bad Oldesloe, offers within the framework of its Hako Advantage Programme. This enables there to be certainty and clarity when planning with regard to the finance budget. And finally, one more piece of advice: it doesn't always have to be a brand new machine. As well as new machines, Hako offers reasonably priced used machines and these come with guarantees and finance packages too.
22nd March 2012