Japanese Store Chain Runs Floor-Cleaning Robots Five Times a Day

Floor care that depended on staff shifts

Floor care in a small-format store runs in the gaps between serving customers, restocking shelves and working the register. A wet patch by the entrance, dust near the chilled cases and debris along the aisles all need attention, on a schedule that busy shifts rarely leave room for.

The chain needed to know whether a robot could take over routine floor cleaning across a large store network, keeping floors cleaner between staff visits without pulling people off the sales floor.

• Manual floor cleaning competed with customer service and replenishment.
• Floors needed attention more often than shift schedules allowed.
• Dust and debris built up between staff-led cleanings.

Installing robots across about 300 stores

The rollout covered about 300 company-operated stores in Japan, with installation scheduled to finish by the end of February 2024. It was reported as a first of its kind for a major Japanese chain.

Each unit combines suction and wiping for dust and debris with a small monitor that shows product information and campaign announcements. Franchise stores were to gain access in a later phase, starting in April.

• Install floor-cleaning robots at company-operated stores across Japan.
• Run floor cleaning automatically, five times a day per robot.
• Use the on-board monitor for product and campaign messages.
• Extend access to franchise stores in a later phase.

What the rollout delivered

The clearest gain is cleaning frequency. Each robot cleans the floor five times a day, fully automatically, work that store staff had previously carried out by hand. Floors now get attention between staff visits rather than only at set points in the shift.

A secondary account estimates that the robots cut cleaning work by about one hour per store, time the chain could move toward sales-floor development and staff training. That figure is an estimate, not a measured saving, so any operator weighing a similar program should track its own labor hours.

Where robot leasing fits a floor-cleaning program

A rollout like this one depends on choosing the right machine, checking site fit and keeping every unit serviced. Service Robot Co. is a full-service, OEM-neutral commercial robot integrator for US businesses. We select robots across manufacturers, then finance, deploy, integrate, train and service every unit through a nationwide US engineer network, giving customers one partner and one number for the whole lifecycle.

Customers receive robots on a 3-year lease with one fixed lease payment, quoted after a site assessment. Operators weighing a commercial cleaning robot leasing program can request that assessment before any lease terms are set.