• More than 400,000 washing and drying cycles already processed

• Contactless payment system using NFC technology augments product portfolio

'appWash' simplifies the shared use of washing machines and tumble dryers in student hostels, serviced apartments and multi-family dwellings: Machines can be booked online and paid for using contactless technology. This service model from Operations & Payment Solutions GmbH (OPS), founded in 2019, has achieved success throughout Europe – in Germany and a dozen or so further countries ranging from Norway to Portugal. The rapid success of this ingenious idea is the well-deserved reward of close cooperation between the two OPS managers and Miele subsidiaries.

Users of shared laundry facilities are able to book the machines they need in advance using the Miele 'appWash' app. This has worked to perfection over 400,000 times already. And push notifications inform users when laundry is finished. Payment is made using pre-paid cards, charged using a variety of payment methods ranging from PayPal to credit cards.

Clients can chose between two service concepts: With appWash PAY, the client is the laundry operator, owning machines and giving their customers access to the app. Via a personalised online portal, clients can browse machine utilisation levels and transactions remotely. At the end of the month, their turnover is automatically transferred and listed in a concise manner for their own accounts. Alternatively, they can opt for the appWash RELAX outsourcing model. In the latter case, the two Miele OPS managing directors Dr. Martin Hünten and Frederik Wiedei set up and install a shared laundry at no cost to the client, as well as operating the facilities and billing users.

Added value in shared living spaces – with commercial technology

'The RELAX version is in greater demand', claims Martin Hünten. 'Persons managing shared living quarters or hostels have rarely the time to see to communal laundry facilities. So we ensure that operators can concentrate on more important tasks'. And, Hünten maintains, attractive laundry facilities upgrade housing, particularly when commercial laundry technology from Mieleb is used. These washing machines and dryers are faster than their domestic counterparts and also offer a broader range of programmes – for instance for bed and table linen, hiking wear or programme cycles to meet enhanced hygiene requirements.

Fast: Only two weeks between first contact and delivery of machines

As former Miele employees, Hünten and Wiedei are familiar with the workings of the company and enjoy best contacts to Miele subsidiaries, service technicians and Miele's field sales force. In most cases, less than two weeks pass between a new client making that first telephone call and the arrival of machines on site. And, prior to the launch of appWash on a new market, the managers of the relevant Miele subsidiary are given in-depth personal training. 'In the run-up, we obviously researched how big the potential customer base is in a given market', Frederik Wiedei explains. 'The app is then translated into the language of the country concerned so that all that is left to do is to train local sales and service teams'.

Use of the app is incredibly simple – for all involved. In future, appWash will also be available to hotels, rehabilitation centres, campsites and residents in care homes. In such cases, the use of an app often makes little sense. Consequently, the offering will be augmented in the foreseeable future by an NFC-based payment terminal installed on site to facilitate machine booking and payment, whether by bank or credit card, smartphone or smart watch. Complementing 'appWash by Miele', this broadens the range of opportunities to accommodate more diverse requirements.

Additionally, appWash promotes cooperations in the field of proptech by working with companies which make the real estate economy more efficient by adopting digital solutions. One partner in on the ground floor was Roomhero, Europe's first digital technology specialist and fitter for residential properties, offices and hotels. Thanks to this partnership, Miele OPS can offer its clients professional advice and installation in the design and equipment of communal laundry facilities.

Company profile: Miele is the world's leading manufacturer of premium domestic appliances including cooking, baking and steam-cooking appliances, refrigeration products, coffee makers, dishwashers and laundry and floor care products. This line-up is augmented by dishwashers, washing machines and tumble dryers for commercial use as well as washer-disinfectors and sterilisers for use in medical and laboratory applications (Miele Professional). The Miele company, founded in 1899, has eight production plants in Germany as well as one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China, Romania and Poland. These are joined by the two plants belonging to Miele's Italian medical technology subsidiary Steelco. Turnover in the 2018/19 business year was around € 4.16 bn, with a share of business outside Germany of approx. 71%. Miele is represented with its own sales subsidiaries and via importers in almost 100 countries. Throughout the world, the family-run enterprise, now in its fourth generation, employs a workforce of around 20,500, whereof 11,050 are employed in Germany. The company has its headquarters in Gütersloh in Westphalia.