At the pinnacle of mechanized maintenance Roots Multiclean Ltd.
Mr. U.K. Arun, General Manager-Sales, Roots Multiclean Ltd.
Roots Multiclean Ltd, a part of the Roots Group, headquartered in Coimbatore, and headed by managing director, Mr. Varun Karthikeyan, is a formidable name in industrial cleaning systems. The company that pioneered mechanized cleaning in India, offers the widest range of cleaning equipment customized to suit the requirements of diverse industries. An ISO-9001, ISO-14001 and ISO-18001 certified company, Roots maintains the highest quality standards in manufacture, installation and service of its equipment and in imparting training, thus enhancing hygiene and productivity in the industry. Roots is also well-known for its CSR activities. Mr. P.K. Balasubbramaniian speaks to Mr. U.K. Arun, General Manager-Sales to know more about this trendsetter who is putting technology to work to bring a conducive, healthy work atmosphere which would lead to operational efficiency and profitability in the industry at large. Excerpts:
Q. What is the significance of mechanized cleaning in the industry in today’s context?
Mechanized cleaning has become a key activity now. With the scarcity in the availability of unskilled manpower, cleaning has become a challenge for the corporates. With the implementation of quality systems like 5S, it becomes imperative for all the industries to keep their premises clean. The quality also remains the same at the high level, so that the customers, visitors and the employees are thoroughly delighted.
Q. What are the pioneering efforts you have made in concept selling, and what is the level of acceptance of mechanized cleaning in Indian industry?
We not only supply cleaning equipment to our customers but also offer solutions. We emphasize the benefits of using cleaning equipment in terms of manpower cost, quality of cleaning and ROI. Mechanization being a concept, was challenging in the earlier days when manpower was abundantly available. But the last decade has been a transition time and this decade is for mechanization. It is the order of the day now and Facility Management Companies and corporate establishments are in line with the same.
Dedication personified: A view of Roots’ assembly-line
Q. The cleaning requirements vary from industry to industry? What are the different cleaning methods, processes and equipment used by the pharma industry?
The general concept of cleaning remains the same as other industries. The healthcare industries will have to focus on hygiene and cross contamination during the cleaning process unlike the engineering industry which needs to focus on floor care and general upkeep.
The pharma industry deals with chemicals and fine powders. In order to avoid dust formation even to a very small extent, special purpose Stainless Steel Scrubbers are preferred by pharma companies. For their clean room ad vacuum cleaning activities high efficiency HEPA Filters fitted with Vacuum Cleaners are essential to ensure that the exhaust air is filtered and cleaned to the level of 0.3 microns. We also offer flame and explosion proof vacuum cleaners especially for pharma industry where the level of safety required is very high. .High pressure jet cleaners (cold water & hot water) and centralized vacuum cleaners (where multiple suction points with a single machine is possible to collect the fine dust) are also offered to the pharma segment. Janitorial products like microfibre mops, trolleys and colour coded bins are also essential for this segment.
A centralized vacuum cleaner
Q. What about the machine tool industry where one has to handle grease, coolants and sticky substances?
The machine tool / engineering / automobile industry have oil, grease coolants and sticky substances present on the shop floor. Scrubber driers of various capacities (walk behind and ride on scrubber driers) with different types of cleaning brushes are recommended for this application. Using degreasing chemicals along with water and the right type of brush recommended based on the floor will be the right solution for removal of oil, grease and sticky substances. A hot water high pressure cleaner also can be used to remove stubborn dirt from the floor.
Q. Do you also offer equipment for chip handling?
Yes, we offer several solutions for chip handling. We offer online vacuum system to collect the chip and arrest the dust at the source. This vacuum system will operate in line with the production machine and collect the chips at the source. This method does not involve any additional manpower and the machine operator himself can operate this machine. In places where multiple suction points are required simultaneously, we offer centralized vacuum cleaners which are available in different capacities of air flow and vacuum.
In this case, a single machine will be placed in a central location and multiple suction points are created by fixed and flexible piping. Various types of tools are designed to ensure effective suction of chips. A unique coolant system TECNOIL is also available to separate chips and metal dust from the coolant by which the coolant can be reused.
Q. What are the cleaning solutions you have for the automobile industry?
We offer comprehensive cleaning solutions for automobile industry. We have products ranging from Scrubber Driers, Sweepers, Industrial Vacuum Cleaners, High Pressure Jet Cleaners, Centralized and Online Vacuum Cleaners and Ride On Road Sweepers. In addition, we also supply cleaning chemicals like neutral cleaner and degreasers which are low foaming chemicals compatible to be used in our equipment. Our Centralized Vacuum Cleaners are also used in most of the Authorized Service Centers for vacuuming of car interiors.
Q. What about the hospitality sector which would like to see grace, elegance, sophistication and effectiveness in housekeeping?
The hospitality sector has been well served by us. We have special; products for the hospitality sector like Janitorial Tools, starting from Mop, Microfiber Cloth, Glass Cleaning Tools, Trolleys. Dust Bins and machines like Single Disc Scrubbers/Polishers, Scrubber Driers with disc brush and cylindrical brush, Electrical and Battery Operated Mini Scrubber Driers and Polishers. We also have Carpet Care Machines like dry vacuums, low moisture cleaning and carpet shampooing machines.
RCML’s sprawling manufacturing facility
Q. What are the cleaning media you use? And what about the accessories? Do you supply them as well?
Each and every equipment we supply will have the required accessories to satisfy the cleaning needs of that particular application. Cleaning medium is wet cleaning in general. Special tools such as caddie baskets, dust pan with handle, glass cleaners with telescopic poles, microfiber clothes, pads with hand-held pad holder, wet floor sign boards and mops are available for such cleaning work.
Q. What are the different vacuum cleaning systems you use and for what applications / industries?
The vacuum cleaning equipment we supply are domestic, professional and industrial models. They are mostly chosen depending upon the type of dirt, application and hours of operation. Domestic Vacuum Cleaners are very compact and are 3-in-1 type, where wet cleaning, dry cleaning and blowing operations are possible. These are basically for home use.
The Professional Vacuum Cleaners are Single Phase Electrical Operated machines with single, double or triple motors and collection tank capacity ranging from 15 ltres to 77 litres and can be u[sed for 45 minutes to 1 hour continuously. These can be used in commercial establishments, offices, restaurants, etc. The Industrial Vacuum Cleaners, on the other hand, are offered with ether single phase or three phase continuous duty induction motors. The collection tank capacity ranges from 15 litres to 100 litres. For any higher requirement of collection tank, especially for Centralized and Online vacuum systems, a pre-separator with required capacity can be used for collection of any type of industrial dust which includes metal chips as well.
Q. How does mechanized cleaning help in enhancing productivity on the shop floor?
Mechanized Cleaning helps in enhancing the productivity because the quality of the job is consistent. When the frequency is fixed suitably, the housekeeping becomes a routine activity and problems pertaining to this are reduced drastically. It saves a lot of time, money and energy by which the productivity is enhanced. Since our online vacuum systems are fixed to the process line, the machine need not be stopped and dust collection from the source is a concurrent activity without any additional manpower which increases the productivity.
Tecnoil vacuum cleaner for chip handling
Q. What are the new dimensions you have added to housekeeping in the corporate sector?
We strongly feel that frequent training to operators, supervisors and operations team will improve the efficiency of the equipment and also the quality of cleaning. Visual Aids like charts and SOP lists placed in the prominent locations will be the key for accomplishing efficiency. As mentioned earlier, we offer solutions to our customers. Our team conducts the site survey and offers the right solution. With the best after-sales-service we ensure that the equipment are used in the right manner and productivity improves to a considerable extent.
Q. Who are your major customers?
Our major customers are facility management companies, corporate customers, manufacturing industries, ports, hotel, hospitals, civic bodies, pharma, food processing, tyre industries, automotive and auto ancillaries, airports, steel plants, cement plants, engineering industries, IT, educational institutions and Govt. establishments. Some of them by name are: TVS Group, Maruti, Toyota, Hyundai, Merecedes Benz, Wolkswagen, aAshok Leyland, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Skoda, Mitsubishi, Taj Hotels, Apollo, Lilavati, Cipla, Cadilla, Nestle, Dr. Reddy’s, Jindal, Ultratech and so on.
Q. Tell me something about your manufacturing facilities and quality obsession?
We are the largest integrated manufacturers of cleaning equipment in the country. We have a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant and logistics center located 40 km away from Coimbatore. We have a workforce of 450 people. RCML is committed to produce quality and sustainable products which are produced keeping in mind the Indian operators and application conditions.
We have been certified ISO-9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001. We have a corporate R & D wing with qualified design engineers who work round the clock to design and develop new and innovative products suiting the Indian conditions.
Q. Do you also export your products? If so, to which countries?
We export our products to many countries which include UK, USA, Japan. Germany, Australia, Austria and SAARC Nations. Exports contribute to 30% of our annual turnover.
Roots truck mounted sweeper
Q. Is this business highly service oriented? What is your service set-up?
This is a service oriented industry. As all the cleaning machines are dynamic and mobile, the need for routine maintenance is always there. We as a manufacturer provide one year warranty and during this period, we isit the customers four times per year and do preventive maintenance checks. Once the warranty expires, we enter into an AMC so that the machines are in operation without any hassle.
Our AMC schedule also includes regular operator training. We have a very strong service network on pan India basis. All our 12 branches, 9 service centers and 5 dealers are equipped with factory trained service engineers who can attend the service calls immediately. We give utmost importance to after-sales-service which is evident with the 1:2 salesman to service engineer ratio. We believe that customer satisfaction is very important for our organization to grow.
Q. Do you also train the operators at the customer’s end?
Our service engineers and training dept. ensure that the operators are trained during the time of installation of equipment and in addition to that we conduct regular training programs for the benefit of the operators and as per customer needs. Visual aids like Do’s & Don’ts and SOP for equipment are provided to educate the operator more.
Q. What are your growth plans?
With the industrial climate set to improve, we have set an ambitious growth target of 20% for the current fiscal. We are confident that we can achieve this.
Q. What steps do you take to maintain your leadership position?
We ensure that our existing customers are satisfied with our service and continue to remain with us. In addition, we also expand our customer base on a continuing basis.. We believe that by launching new and innovative models every year, we can offer much better solutions and a differentiated offer to our customer. Through innovation and R & D and by launching new products on a routine basis and with the best-after-sales-service and qualified sales and service team, we are confident that we can stay ahead and retain our leadership position.
