Innovation Has to Deliver – Not Just Be New

There is always something new coming to market in the cleaning and hygiene industry. A new chemical. A new piece of equipment. A new cleaning system. A new piece of technology promising to change the way we work. But being new doesn't necessarily make something innovative. For us, the real question is much simpler:

What does it actually improve?

It's all very well bringing a new product to market and showcasing it to customers, but before we recommend something, we want to understand what genuine benefit it can provide.

• Does it deliver a cost saving?
• Does it create greater efficiencies?
• Can it reduce labour or cleaning time?
• Does it provide a better standard of cleaning?
• Can it improve consistency?
• Does it make a task safer or easier for the operator?
• Can it help reduce chemical, water or consumable usage?
• Does it solve a genuine problem that our customers are experiencing?
• And ultimately, does it offer something better than the solution that's already being used?
• If the answer to those questions is no, we have to ask:
• Why are we showcasing it to our customers?

From the Showroom to the Real World

One of the advantages we have at Hygiene Stores is our relationship with our parent company, Hygiene Group. When we come across a new product, system or piece of equipment that we believe could provide a genuine benefit, we have the opportunity to look beyond the manufacturer's demonstration.

Where appropriate, we can explore how that innovation performs in a real working environment.

Because there's a big difference between seeing a piece of equipment demonstrated on a clean section of flooring in a showroom and understanding how it performs during the realities of a working shift.

• How does it cope with genuine levels of soiling?
• How easy is it for an operator to use?
• How long does the task actually take?
• Does it achieve the expected cleaning result?
• How easy is the equipment to maintain?
• And, importantly, would we be confident recommending it to one of our customers?

That's where the relationship between Hygiene Stores and Hygiene Group can be incredibly valuable.

We can combine the introduction of new products and technologies with practical cleaning experience and ask whether an innovation genuinely stands up in the environment it was designed for.

Innovation Should Solve a Problem

For us, innovation shouldn't be about introducing something new simply because it's new. It should be about solving problems. If a new machine can complete a cleaning task in 30 minutes that previously took an hour, that's worth exploring. If a different cleaning system can achieve a better result while reducing chemical or water consumption, that's worth understanding. If a new piece of equipment can make a difficult manual task easier for an operator while maintaining or improving cleaning standards, that's a meaningful improvement.

And if a product can help a customer reduce their overall cost of cleaning – not simply the purchase price of an individual product – that's a conversation worth having. This is particularly important in food manufacturing and other demanding industrial environments, where cleaning isn't simply about appearance. Hygiene standards, consistency, productivity, labour availability and operational downtime can all matter.

The cheapest product isn't necessarily the lowest-cost solution. Equally, the newest or most expensive technology isn't necessarily the best. The value comes from finding the right solution for the application.

Prove the Benefit

We believe suppliers have a responsibility to do more than put the latest products in front of customers. We should understand what problem we're trying to solve, what improvement we're expecting to achieve and whether the solution delivers that improvement in practice.

That might mean looking at:

Cost. Efficiency. Labour. Cleaning standards. Safety. Sustainability. Ease of use. Reliability.

Sometimes a new product will provide a clear improvement. Sometimes the existing solution will still be the better option. And that's fine. Because innovation isn't about changing things for the sake of change. It's about finding a better way of doing something – and being able to demonstrate why it's better.

That's the type of innovation we're interested in at Hygiene Stores.