Integrated Timestrips® mean regular replacement of hygoMats™ and fresher restrooms
Hygienic products manufacturer hygolet is using the Timestrip® technology to add value to one of its best-selling products by indicating when replacement is necessary. Timestrip’s reputation as a global leader in the time- and temperature-sensitive smart label field made the company the obvious choice to design a solution for hygolet. Timestrip® labels will monitor elapsed time from a few minutes to over twelve months, at temperatures ranging from frozen to chilled to ambient and even elevated temperatures.
Hygolet was founded in Switzerland in 1978 with the introduction of the patented hygolet Hygienic Toilet Seat. 30 years later, the hygolet group continues to design innovative products for a safer, more hygienic restroom environment. hygolet products can now be found in more than 60 countries – in airports, hotels, hospitals, restaurants, offices and other locations where cleanliness and hygiene are a top priority.
Making restrooms nicer to use
Hygolet began talking to Timestrip plc about applying a smart label to its best-selling hygoMat™. One of the company’s leading products, the hygoMat™is a disposable, antimicrobial floor mat used to eliminate odours and stains in public restrooms. Highly effective both in terms of performance and cost, the hygoMat™nevertheless needs to be replaced in a timely manner to maintain optimum performance. hygolet was keen to put in place a reliable, user-friendly indicator of the time each mat had been in use. |
| Ideally each hygoMat™ should be replaced every four weeks, depending on traffic through the area it is being used in. Timestrip was tasked with producing a cost-effective, easy-to-use label which would show clearly how long a mat had been in service.
Timestrip created a ‘time-in-service’ monitor: a four-week, room-temperature Timestrip® which could actually be embedded in every hygoMat™. Activated by depressing the button on the label, the Timestrip® indicates to service personnel when the recommended four-week life of the mat is over and replacement is necessary. The label also gives customers an easy way of checking whether service requirements are being met by restroom staff.
Making a great product greater
The hygolet Timestrip® has greatly increased customer satisfaction by taking the guesswork out of mat replacement routines. Facilities where the hygoMat™ with Timestrip® monitor have been used have reported greater efficiency in restroom servicing and increased hygiene for users.
From a business perspective, integrating Timestrips® into the hygoMat™ has really paid dividends. With the four-week replacement cycle of the hygoMat™ with Timestrip®, hygolet experienced a 300% increase in year-on-year sales, as a direct result of hygoMats™ being replaced within the recommended timeframe.
“The hygoMat™ now has a distinct competitive advantage and a substantial increase in sales as a result,” confirmed Dorothy Jordan, Executive Vice President of hygolet.
Thanks to the Timestrip® technology, hygoMat™’s new, easy-to-read, built-in visual reminder is ensuring that regular replacement of the mats not only improves the appearance and hygiene of restrooms, but also increases efficiency and reduces labour.
“The partnership of Timestrips® and hygoMats™ has allowed us to provide an innovative solution to a major hygiene problem,” said Dorothy Jordan. “The result is we’re moving closer to our objective of taking the ‘public’ out of public restrooms.”
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