Nielsen, which provides more than 100 products to car dealerships, professional valeters and commercial vehicle cleaning markets, has installed new non-slip floors, lighting and equipment, including pressure washers, foaming equipment, wet and dry vacuums and dual action polishers.
This sizeable investment will give the company a world class facility to demonstrate its range of products in an environment that will help it support customers to train a thousand of their staff every year.
Five people will initially be employed in this area, with the business planning to recruit an additional dedicated trainer in 2022.
“It has been a challenging year with the pandemic closing a number of facilities, but we have managed to pick up some new contracts, supplied hard surface sanitising products to the emergency services and pursued growth in existing accounts,” commented James Lomas, Sales Director at Nielsen.
“This has seen demand in our cleaning and valeting products steadily rise and, in order to make sure we can show customers how to get the most out of them, we knew we had to create an International Training Academy that was up there with the very best in our industry.”
He continued: “Our experts have designed every one of the improvements we have made and have also refreshed our training programme to include six specialist sections, including interior, exterior, wheels & tyres, traffic film removers & shampoo, polishing and cutting and air fresheners.
“Everything is in place to deliver a dual boost by giving us a venue to demonstrate our products to potential new clients and a centre to help create some of the best valeters in the business.”
Part of the Reabrook Group, Nielsen manufactures all its products on its 11-acre site in Moira, where it taps into the knowledge and capabilities of its Automotive Specialist Development and Compliance Lab.
All products, ranging from interior dressings and wheel cleaning to tyre dressings and tar and glue removal, are designed in line with current legislation to ensure they meet the challenging demands of the automotive market.
Hundreds of raw materials and blends are tested as part of the process to create the best performing and environmentally friendly cleaning and maintenance products suitable for all existing and emerging materials.
James went on to add: “Nitrilotriacetic Acid (NTA) has been used extensively in the cleaning industry for years but has now been classified as a carcinogenic which can cause cancer.
In one of the biggest developments in years, we have created a portfolio of formulations that are NTA-free, and these safer solutions are going to be in big demand.
“Manual car washes are coming back now we’ve emerged from lockdown, and we’ve got exciting plans to target more contract valeting services with our professional range, as well as finalising the line-up for our retail offer – due to launch in 2022.
“Central to our growth will be our commitment to sustainability and doing everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint. This has seen us sign a contract to work in partnership with The National Forest, sponsoring a 38-hectare site that has seen a total of over 42,000 trees planted to date.”
