Press Release

Dear members of the press,

AI and robotics are having an increasingly significant impact on the building cleaning industry. This became clear yesterday at the CMS Berlin practice forum during the digitalisation theme day. Experts presented the advantages of digital communication and AI applications. Today, guided tours will offer insights into AI-related innovations and cleaning machines.

The Mobility Cleaning Circle brought together decision-makers from the transport and cleaning sectors. Read about the most important topics in our review.

Tomorrow, the focus days on housekeeping and hospital cleaning will take place, featuring presentations and themed tours that are compact, practical and networking-oriented.

We wish you an inspiring day at the trade fair.

Yours sincerely,

CMS Berlin press team

Mobility Cleaning Circle: Clean on the move

After a brief welcome, the event began. At the Mobility Cleaning Circle (MCC) in the Marshall Haus, representatives from the rail and cleaning industries met and networked with each other at the buffet and numerous standing tables, identifiable by their blue and green name tags.

At DB Systemtechnik, Gero Schotte is responsible for qualifying cleaning agents for Deutsche Bahn vehicles. The approval process takes between one and one-and-a-half years, during which time it is ensured that the chemicals will not damage the surfaces. He spoke to representatives of the Green Care Professional brand about interior cleaning agents. He describes the relationship as a mutual exchange. The manufacturers responded to the transport companies' requirements. Conversely, the users benefited from their innovative strength.

Edvin Kosaric travelled from Stuttgart. As a property manager at Stuttgart Trams (SSB), he is responsible for cleaning vehicles and stops. Despite his company outsourcing many tasks to service providers, he wishes to stay informed about current developments in building cleaning. The visit to Berlin also presented him with a valuable opportunity to meet business partners he had not yet had the chance to meet in person.

Isabella Caliva and Lisa Versemann from Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft discovered an interesting method from the MCC that restores the shine to train paintwork without the need for a new coat of paint. Daniel Ammann, Head of Commercial Cleaning at Zurich Airport, prioritises offering travellers a pleasant experience. Travellers should feel comfortable throughout their stay. In his company, a team of 300 employees supported by cleaning robots work towards this goal. He expects the MCC to provide insights into innovations and interesting contacts.

Matthias Feiertag from cleaning product manufacturer Dr. Schnell also values personal interaction. So far, he has only corresponded with many of the MCC participants by email. Seeing them in person will be a great benefit to him, especially since his company has been working with transport companies for 62 years. It all started with hand soap. Nowadays, graffiti removal is a major challenge for his customers.

Dr. Schnell's live demonstration on the outdoor grounds was an exciting start to the MCC exhibition tour. Colleagues removed a spray-painted image from a concrete wall and demonstrated how to use special cleaners on plastic surfaces. The inventors of the Fresh Fleet app explained how automated graffiti removal is initiated using AI, as well as how cleaning cycles are efficiently planned. Tennant and Numatic presented cleaning machines. The MCC concluded with a visit to the stand of specialist wholesaler Igefa.

Practical and inspiring: Theme Day on Housekeeping and Hospital Cleaning on Friday

The theme day is dedicated entirely to hygiene in hotels, clinics, and care facilities. Networking, specialist presentations and live demonstrations provide insights into major future topics in both sectors, showing how the highest quality, greater efficiency and sustainability can be achieved despite staff shortages and limited budgets.

The Housekeeping Theme Day begins at 10 a.m. in the CMS Practice Forum with a networking breakfast. From 10:45 a.m., the programme features a specialist presentation on 'Current hygiene trends in the hotel industry: a critical look at robotics'. This will be followed by a discussion among industry experts on the topic of 'Innovation meets responsibility: housekeeping and domestic science in transition'. The Hotel Competence Centre and the Housekeeping Academy, among others, will provide practical insights.

From 12 noon, participants can experience exciting innovations for housekeeping on a guided tour. These include ergonomic devices such as cordless backpack vacuum cleaners and manoeuvrable scrubber-dryers that reduce physical strain. Digital tools ensure transparent processes, from cloud-based cleaning schedules and task distribution via app to real-time documentation. The afternoon will once again focus on technical transformation. In the Speakers' Corner, an expert will give a presentation entitled 'Learning from robotics: how collaborative robotics is transforming the hotel industry and reducing costs'.

Programme and registration for the tour at Housekeeping.

Business speed dating and bots

Professional hospital cleaning is facing more challenges than ever before in view of growing demands and the increasing threat posed by multi-resistant germs. The Theme Day 'Hospital Cleaning and Care', aimed at cleaning sector specialists and managers in the healthcare industry, offers an overview of new technologies, best practices and practical solutions.

CMS is organising the exclusive Hospital Cleaning Circle for the first time, bringing together invited cleaning managers from hospitals and care facilities (10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Hall 6.2.b). During business speed dating and a subsequent networking event, specialists and managers will have the opportunity to engage in intensive discussions with industry experts. They will share their expertise on efficient cleaning processes, new disinfection methods, and current hygiene requirements.

The CMS Practice Forum in Hall 6.2b will also offer presentations on topics such as 'Cooperation with service providers in hospital cleaning' and 'Bits, bots & myths – between science fiction and DIN 13063', including contributions from the Federal Association for Hygiene and Hospital Cleaning, starting at 13:00. A guided tour of the exhibition (starting at 12:45) will showcase cleaning solutions tailored to the healthcare sector.

More information at Hospital Cleaning Circle.

Opportunities and challenges of AI in building cleaning

Artificial intelligence is one of the buzzwords you encounter everywhere at CMS. But what can AI really do, particularly in our industry? ‘You'll be surprised at what AI can do in the building cleaning trade,’ promised Prof. Dr Christian Schlicht at the beginning of his CMS Practice Forum presentation, in which he addressed precisely this question. He joked that perhaps everyone would rush out at the end wanting to use only AI.

Schlicht is a professor of sustainable real estate management and a managing partner at The Real Insight, a company that develops AI-based software solutions. In his opinion, there is still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to AI in building cleaning. ‘The topic has not really been fully understood yet.’ Yet the industry is a data hub, and real estate data is immensely valuable to tenants, insurers, and local authorities.

So, how can we access this treasure trove of data and make meaningful use of AI? Schlicht's answer is simple: copy, paste and disrupt. This involves strategically transferring proven AI applications from other industries into your own working environment for your own use case, while also thinking ahead to create genuine industry innovations.

Smart cleaning plans and targeted acquisition

In concrete terms, this could look as follows: AI customer platforms from the retail sector enable personalised offers for facility customers, saving a great deal of time. AI-supported predictive analyses and risk assessments, already used in the insurance industry, can be supplemented with sensor and usage data to create forward-looking cleaning plans. Image recognition tools used for diagnostics in the medical and healthcare sectors can also record the cleaning status. This allows dirty spots, wear and tear, and defects to be documented and detected at an early stage.

Generative AI for content creation, as used in the media and marketing sectors, can be used to generate text and reports automatically for quotations and documents. Live translation of documents such as employee instructions into other languages is also possible. AI can also help with searching for contact persons or suitable tenders.

Start small and try it out

However, Schlicht's fellow speaker, Philipp Gellert, the managing partner at AI manufacturer iVivid, warned that AI is not a cure for missed digitalisation. “Analogue projects that aren't performing well won't suddenly become successful just because you introduce AI. It doesn't happen at the touch of a button,” he said. Furthermore, there is no such thing as a single AI. The experts therefore advise starting small, defining a clear application context, using tools sensibly, and working with people who are enthusiastic about it. After all, AI processes must be moderated and communicated, and it won't work without people as a corrective.

Even if not everyone rushed off to implement AI immediately after the presentation, Christian Schlicht urged everyone to ‘start experimenting and taking action!’