Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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The Nilfisk Liberty SC50 helps staff make the grade
A little over a year ago, STMA became the first high school in the USA to welcome the Nilfisk Liberty SC50, an autonomous scrubber dryer, onto its cleaning crew.
Now, Rick Pool, the third shift supervisor responsible for cleaning roughly 9000 m2 every night, can’t imagine what he’d do without it. “It’s a huge time-saver,” Pool says, “especially for our busy school that has a lot going on every day.”
St. Michael-Albertville High School in Minnesota, USA, (STMA) lives up to its motto, “Excellence is our tradition.” Student achievement levels are high and the school is also known for its students’ athletic performance, theatre program, and robotics team.
These activities require state-of-the-art facilities, and STMA is currently the second-largest high school building in Minnesota.
Addressing the challenge
In addition to the academic areas, the STMA campus includes the state’s largest high school performing arts centre and an impressive activity centre. Combined, the STMA facilities cover approximately 39,500 m2, all of which must be cleaned on a regular basis by the school’s 12 cleaning team members.
The Nilfisk Liberty SC50 handles repetitive tasks with minimal supervision, increasing cleaning productivity and freeing up staff for work that requires a human touch, so the team can accomplish more on a daily basis.
A precise solution
Pool primarily uses Fill-in mode: the operator rides once around the perimeter of the site to be cleaned, and then the machine fills in the middle. For more complex areas, switching to CopyCatTM mode allows the operator to program the cleaning path by performing a single manual ride-through, after which the machine flawlessly replicates the same path for subsequent cleanings.
“Operating the machine is straightforward,” Pool says. “It’s easy to program a new path or re-program when you want to change routes. Then it does the work on its own.”
Significant benefits
The Nilfisk Liberty SC50 saves Pool several hours every day, which means he no longer has to rotate his cleaning tasks. “The Liberty cleans a corridor in about half of the time it used to take me,” Pool says. “With the autonomous scrubber, we’re able to better maintain the floors not only in my area, but across the entire school.” In addition to boosting productivity, the machine has improved Pool’s job satisfaction. “I’m a nitpicky person,” he adds. “I like to keep things clean. The Liberty saves me a a lot of time because it’s easy to program, and easy to use. The Nilfisk team is always helpful and easy to communicate with. I’ve felt supported every step of the way.”
Autonomous achieves better results
STMA may be unique in its size and facilities, but the challenges it faces are common. Due to a lack of time and a shortage of labour, cleaning teams at educational institutions are struggling to achieve their desired cleaning results on a regular basis. Nilfisk autonomous solutions are designed to help navigate such challenges, and the results will continue to speak for themselves.
“The Liberty SC50 saves us several hours’ work every day. It’s easy to program, and even easier to use”.
Rick Pool - Shift Supervisor, St. Michael-Albertville High School
Nilfisk will be exhibiting at the 2020 Cleaning Show in Manchester next month, the Liberty SC50 will be physically demonstrated on the stand. We look forward to welcoming customers present and new to our stand C01.
20th February 2020