Manufacturing of the Cimex® carpet and hard-floor cleaning range is to return to the UK, triggering investment in the firm's Southampton facility and creating jobs in the process.
The Cimex range of specialist floor cleaning machines was acquired by Truvox International in 2003. In 2007, Truvox shareholders unanimously accepted a definitive offer from Tacony Corporation to acquire all of the firm’s equity. A year later, in 2008, the manufacturing of Cimex products was moved to a facility in the United States.
Now, the Cimex range is coming home, bringing jobs and investment with it.
The Manufacturer‘s James Devonshire reached out to Gordon McVean, Truvox International executive director, to find out a little more about what the move means for the firm and the local Southampton area, where it has a manufacturing facility.
JD: “Where will Cimex products be manufactured going forward?” GM: “We have made a significant investment in our Southampton manufacturing facility for the manufacturing of the Cimex range – for new workbenches, equipment and stock holding to make our product lead times shorter to satisfy demand.” JD: “What will the impact be on the local area?” GM: “Our business is forecast to grow by about 30% over the next two years, this will obviously lead to more jobs and a bigger overall workforce within the company, we are already looking at our internal structure and the possibility of expanding our internal teams to support this growth.” JD: “Will this move create new jobs?” GM: “Yes, we believe so, we are proposing to have a total of seven new workbenches, so in theory that’s seven new assemblers or factory associates.”
Cimex products will be manufactured at the firm’s Southampton facility going forward. Image courtesy of Truvox International
Cimex now proudly made in the UK
“Truvox International excels at manufacturing and being able to reinforce British manufacturing by saying ‘made in the UK’ is extremely important to us,” said McVean. “When we shared that we were bringing the manufacturing of Cimex back to the UK on social media at the start of the year, the reaction was really positive.
“Our customer base for Cimex is already truly international with customers in Japan, North America, Australia, and across Europe. For the time-being we’re keeping the yellow and blue branding for the Cimex range as it is so well-known in the industry. As we now begin the process of further developing and improving these already excellent machines, we can already see new sectors and markets opening for Truvox International and the Cimex range.”
“We’ve been working on bringing Cimex carpet and hard-floor cleaners back to the UK for the past three years,” added McVean. “Now we are proud to announce that we’ve made a substantial investment to bring the manufacturing of this proven and popular floor-care range back to the UK.
Dedicated to hygiene and safety
“Due to Covid-19, everyone is now much more aware of hygiene and health and safety, so business owners and facilities managers need to ensure that they’ve achieved a truly deep-clean to reassure both staff and visitors”, continued McVean.
“Shops, shopping centres, hotels and casinos have been closed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, so efficient and effective Cimex three-brush technology has a hugely important role to play in restoring confidence for employees and visitors.”
Cimex machines provide the perfect solution for hard, heavy-duty cleaning applications, and are not something you would use on a daily basis. High-footfall premises in every sector require a thorough deep-clean around every four to six months, but post-Covid, all premises now need to ensure they’ve achieved a truly deep-clean. As well as creating a more hygienic and measurably cleaner environment, Cimex machines deliver major productivity savings as they can clean large areas with a single pass.
Cimex Encap™ is a high productivity, cost effective, low moisture carpet cleaning system, which is ideal for use in hospitals, nursing homes, leisure centres, schools and hotels. The unique Cimex three-brush system – driven by a contra-rotating planetary drive disc – makes these heavy-duty carpet cleaners simple to operate and extremely efficient. The Cimex Encap process involves scrubbing specialised polymeric cleaning solution into a carpet and allowing it to dry. This process releases sticky soil from carpet fibres and ensures that it does not re-attach. As the Cimex-Encap solution dries, the encapsulated soil can then be vacuumed away.
From hard-floors, to escalators
Available in two sizes, Cimex Cyclone is a powerful and effective multi-purpose scrubber/polisher, suitable for scrubbing, cleaning and polishing virtually every type of floor. Portable and easy to use, Cimex Cyclone is ideal for use in hospitals, nursing homes, leisure centres, schools and hotels. Featuring the Cimex three-brush system, these scrubber/dryers are simple to operate and extremely efficient. Cimex Cyclone is effective on all hard floors and can even deliver deep cleaning on difficulty surfaces such as uneven floors, studded rubber floors, quarry tiles, and safety flooring.
Cimex Cyclone’s big brother is Cimex HD, a heavy-duty three-brush machine for scarifying, industrial cleaning and floor preparation. Ideal for use in industrial units, foundries, cold stores, and in construction, Cimex HD is perfect for the removal of impacted oil, grease and debris from concrete floors, and for the keying of concrete for re-screeding and levelling. It combats rust, paint and soiling from steel chequer plates, and can break down ice build-up in cold stores. The Cimex HD ‘DF’ model is used for preparing and maintaining marble, terrazzo and other stone floors.
Beyond carpet and hard surface cleaning, the Cimex range includes the robust and popular, portable Cimex X46 escalator sweeper – a proven dry system for daily maintenance. The powerful Cimex X46 escalator and travellator cleaner offers powerful cleaning and vacuuming performance, and delivers the prefect vacuuming and dry scrubbing solution for airports, underground stations, shopping centres and hotels. Cimex X46 is easy to use, requires minimum operator training, and does not require a person to handle the machine whilst in operation.
*Header image courtesy of Truvox International