February 10-12 the Pan Hellenique Federation of Drycleaners, Carpet Cleaners, Laundries and Related Professions, organized the first CLEAN EXPO in Athens Greece. The event was focusing on Innovation for Cleaning, Hygiene and Laundry target groups in Greece. Some 40 exhibitors demonstrated their latest products and services. Furthermore workshops and seminars were organized by the associations within Pan Hellenique Federation. These covered a wide variety of topics to provide the visitors with the latest news and developments to take home. An excellent initiative waiting to be followed up in the near future.
Vice-President Evangelos Kypraios opened the international seminar, referring to the difficult Covid-19 period and the difficulty to assess the risks and to organize support for the members. Nevertheless Pan Hellenique managed to distribute clear info, organized trainings and certification and set up seminars on Greening Drycleaning to minimize environmental risks.
Of course the economic situation after the Corona set back is also for the Greek economy an issue. Hence, for the laundry and textile cleaning industry after several earlier crises, a difficult hurdle to take. In spite of that a lot of new initiatives were developed. The Greek Pan Hellenique Federation took the initiative to organize this event and set up a series of workshops and seminars at this EXPO CLEAN.
Program
The Program inspired a good numbers of visitors from all over Greece to come to Athens. They had excellent network opportunities to discuss with colleagues and experts in business, to discuss finance, technical equipment, machinery, processing technology, education, marketing & communication, robotization and automation. In the seminars some 30 speakers provided practical and useful information, full of tips and advices to take home. Of course this also created a climate for constructive discussions on the potential impact of these innovations. The frequent enthusiastic responses of the visitors, were taken by the organization as an encouragement to continue with this initiative and further strengthen the membership and position of the industry.
Rising PTC Stars
Amongst the speakers the Pan Hellenique Federation also invited CINET to present a speech on the latest international developments and innovations. With the title “Professional Textile Care: The Greek Rising PTC Stars”, Peter Wennekes presented the CINET program of EXPO Detergo and highlighted the most important issues. The Global Best Practices 2022 After Movie gave an appreciated impression on this Program for the Greek attendants. Followed by recognition of the GREEK Winners of the National contest in September 2022. The Greek Overall Award presented by the Vice President Evangelos Kypraios, was for Carpet Cleaning Tsaknakis which company achieved an excellent 8th position in the Global contest in Milan. The Greek Sustainability Award was presented to Clean Up and the Greek Innovation Award was for We care Textile cleaners.
Networking
CINET member CFA, the Canadian Trade Association, represented by President Mr.Dino Kanzavelos, highlighted (inter-) national associationwork, as well as the “State of the Art” in Professional Wetcleaning. It became clear once again that associations have each other a lot to offer by exchanging information and experiences. A more personal networking was also facilitated by a well attended reception followed by an excellent Greek dinner and good informal discussions.
Communication
The event was recorded and an After Movie will be prepared and distributed to the Greek Sectors and members. That is expected to stimulate business development and create a good support to the thousands of companies established on the hundreds of Greek Isles being part of the Pan Hellenique Federation. Chapeau for the organisation.
