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In 2014, Fiorentini established its branch for the Middle East region in Sharjah, UAE. Fiorentini Middle East has been spearheaded by Alberto Negri, General Manager, who oversees the company’s operations and distribution in the region. The company has distributors across the GCC region and caters to the industrial and hospitality markets in Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Product portfolio
Fiorentini Middle East boasts of a wide range of floor cleaning, beach cleaning and road sweeping equipment that boast of Italian expertise. Each equipment is manufactured according to UNI EN ISO 9001:2000 standards and is in compliance with the latest environment and safety regulations. The company constantly monitors demand in order to supply the right solution for its resellers’ every requirement, taking extreme care across the trading and delivery processes. Alberto says, “Constant interaction with our factory allows customised machines to reach the market.”
Apart from this, Fiorentini Middle East has signed strategic partnerships to distribute several innovative products for a variety of sectors in the region. One of the brands is CFC Beach Cleaning Machine - an Italian company that manufactures high-quality, innovative beach cleaning machines.
An ideal solution for hotels, municipalities and any kind of beach, the machine not only cleans and filters the sand but also sanitises surfaces. And, this brings us to the revolutionary Tapiro - a multi tasking machine that has redefined beach cleaning with its multi-functionalities.
Redefining beach cleaning
A clean beach is essential to provide visitors a pleasant experience. However, it requires a concoction of the right techniques and equipment to maintain cleanliness in a place that is open to people from all walks of life. Beach cleaning comes with its own set of challenges, and the right machine can help overcome these with ease.
Whether it is a public beach, municipality, a private beach owner or a resort, it is important to deploy a multi functional machine, which can clean, sanitize, disinfect and level the sand. It is not feasible to invest in different machines or hire different companies for all these tasks. An all-in-one option is the most economical. This is where Tapiro CFC proves to be a problem solver. It is a multi tasker. A customer has the option to add the following features to the Tapiro
• Pitchforks for pallet lifting.
• A bucket that can easily move the sand.
• A front and back rake for collecting seaweeds.
• A compact shovel that can be used to level the sand.
• A sanitiser and hydro cleaner embedded in the machine achieves the gargantuan task of cleaning and sanitizing.
• An arm excavator - an added functionality to make small excavations.
• The CFC Tapiro’s drill which makes it easy to manage beach umbrellas placement.
• A harrow ripper which can be used to soften hard sand.
• In addition to these, CFC Tapiro boasts of the following features:
• It does not operate on wheels, but by truck. This is a big advantage because no matter where it does, it will not get stuck in the sand.
• The cleaning system is different from any machine available in the market. It has a vibration system in place that can be utilized to change the capacity of the filter from small to medium to large. This makes it possible to remove even the tiniest bits of pollutants from the sand - cigarette butts, shells, stones of any size, to name a few.
• The machine is flexible enough to be used in dry and wet sand.
• Tapiro is a sand cleaner; it’s usability is not restricted to a beach.
How end users should choose a beach cleaning machine
Alberto recommends end users to consider the dimension of the beach prior to choosing the right machine to clean it. Mostly, end users end up buying based on their budget, which is understandable, but budget should not be the only parameter being considered here. Sometimes people end up investing more in big machines when they could even do with a small one. Therefore, it becomes important to do the correct selection of the model based on the size of the beach.
Secondly, you need to weigh the benefits a particular machine or brand is giving you. You need to see if the machine requires repeated heavy investments. For example, in CFC Tapiro, if you need a filter for weed cleaning, need not invest in the whole machine. You can choose to buy only the filter, as per your requirement.
Tapiro is available in different models - Baby Tapiro, Sprint Tapiro, Speed Tapiro and Big Tapiro. Out of these, Baby Tapiro is walk-behind and covers 2,500-3,500 sq.m/hour. It is ideal for private beaches and hotel/ resort beaches. The other models of Tapiro are ride-on (Sprint Tapiro being the smallest ride-on) in the league. Big Tapiro is for public beaches which are larger in size (particularly those owned by municipalities). However, Alberto considers the Speed Tapiro to be the best because of the diverse filters that can be used in it.
Towards road sweepers
Road sweepers do extremely valuable work and are a fairly common sight in many countries, clearing our streets of dust and debris. They are an essential part of everyday life, keeping our roads aesthetically pleasant and safe. They may not be held in the highest esteem by commuters and pedestrians due to their slow speed, but sweepers are an essential piece of machinery that classify as one of the fundamentals of many local authorities' fleets of municipal vehicles. Despite many cuts being made to local authorities, the industrial cleaning sector has largely not impacted negatively from this.
Earlier, road sweepers would only interest the municipalities. But, now times have changed. Many commercial businesses are now employing such vehicles for their own private roadways and access roads as well. They either clean with brushes or with air.
Fiorentini Middle East has revolutionized road sweeping technology with its exclusive road sweeper AF6000! AF6000 Fiorentini is a conventional road sweeper with a brush and uses jets underneath the vehicle body to spray water onto the road surface.
However, what sets it apart are the following features:
• As far as the average motor is concerned, AF6000 road sweeper is powered by a Mercedes diesel engine, which provides the best performance and emission, owing to the emphasis Fiorentini places on the protection of the environment and people's health.
• AF6000 is one of the most favoured models of road sweeper; this type operates using two spinning brushes at the front to remove litter and a cylindrical brush near the rear of the vehicle, which deposits the detritus into a storage hopper. A pair of water jets underneath decrease the amount of dust and dirt emitted into the air during the procedure. In some situations, the cylindrical brush will be replaced by a nozzle for a more accurate clean and a disinfecting bar as well.
• AF6000 road sweepers promote safety - whether it's a small piece of glass or a shard of metal, damage to tyres is one of the most common causes for car breakdown in all roads. Although you may not realise it, getting rid of dust and debris on the roads and streets can massively decrease the amount of road accidents that happen.
• AF6000 does more than just ridding the earth of dirt and debris. Its work goes a long way to protect water resources, prevent floods, and remove pollutants that could damage the health and wellbeing of the community.
• AF6000 Fiorentini focuses on more than just cleaning. It ensures hygiene, cleans the air and therefore reduces emissions in terms of particles and CO2.
• It has 4 shock independent absorbers, all hydraulic.
• It is the only sweeper in the world capable of combining manoeuvrability, affordability, reliability and speed, offering truly superior sweeping quality.
• It has been designed to sweep both urban and industrial areas, such as cement works, construction companies, grocery markets, ports and airports, guaranteeing ecological and efficient operation in all settings.
• The AF6000 cab has a large window to allow the operator to work at his best and the controls are simple and intuitive.
Thanks to Fiorentini's consistent focus on the urban environment and road cleanliness in general, AF6000 road sweeper is the ideal solution for all municipal enterprises and cleaning companies that place particular emphasis on citizen well-being and the urban environment. The AF6000s are silent, offering superior performance and environmentally friendly features, which offer numerous advantages:
• Extremely easy to use, great manoeuvrable: AF 6000 Fiorentini is for cleaning narrow alleyways, historic centres, squares, markets and parks.
• Adaptable to various urban applications, such as pavements and car parks, as well as different climate and seasonal conditions.
• Noise reduced to a minimum
• Maximum operator comfort: AF 6000 offers a spacious cabins fitted with simple, intuitive commands
Training operators to use these machines
“Our relationship with the client does not end with the sale of the machine, rather it starts,” says Alberto. Ofcourse, people need to be trained to use these machines and for this, we provide maximum support.
Branch support
Fiorentini Middle East prides itself on the support it offers its distributors in the region. Its branch office, based in the UAE, doesn’t sell its products directly in the market. Alberto is constantly in touch with the company’s distributors and visits various countries in the region time and again. Fiorentini ME offers its distributors pre- and after sales support. In terms of pre-sales, Alberto sometimes accompanies his distributors to meet clients.
After-sales support is effective with optimal timing and functionality in line with the customers’ requirements. Assistance is provided with emergency mobile service operations throughout the country within 36/48 hours after a call has been received. A technician from Fiorentini also makes monthly visits to distributors and sometimes even end users to train their technicians and operators in the use and maintenance of the equipment.
Finally, the company has in stock important spare parts and few machines at its warehouse so that customers are not left waiting for long. An accurate warehouse management system allows for shipment of spare parts 24/36 hours from the time the request has been made, while also allowing easy control and record over input and output.
This method permits a quick handling and shipment of orders. “Our portfolio is that of a main office – the only thing we do not do is manufacture or assemble the machine. Such a standing in the market ensures that our distributor gets direct support from a branch that knows the market and current trends,” concludes Alberto.