Santalucia Mobili and Speed Queen: design serving the customer
Production efficiency, openness and customer care: these are the key elements of the new partnership between Santalucia Mobili and Speed Queen.
Speed Queen is part of Alliance Laundry Systems, a global leader in the production and distribution of laundry systems and solutions, with a widespread presence in some 150 countries. Santalucia Mobili has been selected to create new furniture for their self-service laundrettes all over the world.
In this interview, Maurizio Tormena, Project Manager at Speed Queen, tells us about the partnership and what two seemingly very different worlds have in common: a practical approach, quality and customer centricity.
Speed Queen has been number one in the global self-service laundrette market for over 100 years. What are your strengths as a business?
We launched the concept for a self-service laundrette with the Speed Queen brand back in 2014. We offer a turnkey formula, accompanying investors every step of the way, from writing a business plan to choosing premises, from geo-marketing analysis to project implementation. We also promote the launch of new openings with dedicated digital marketing tools designed to attract and retain customers, offering comprehensive proprietary solutions for managing the service and a smartphone app for customer payments. To date, we have 740 laundrettes across Europe, with another 60 on the way. This is evidence that our investment proposition and business model work.
How did you hear about Santalucia Mobili?
In 2019, we were updating our concept and on the lookout for folding tables and coffee tables with a unique, customised design. After selecting a number of specialist service providers from the turnkey project sector, we felt that Santalucia Mobili could be a potential partner.
You’ve visited our production facilities: what was your impression of Santalucia Mobili? What caught your eye in particular?
Having seen how the company is organised and its automated production processes, we concluded that Santalucia Mobili would be the right partner for Alliance Laundry Systems in the long term. We share the same vision of using modern, automated and efficient means of production to make our products competitive, reliable and of high quality.
How did Santalucia Mobili respond to your needs?
Santalucia Mobili was accommodating right from the start, getting to work to find the right solutions to best meet our needs, both in terms of style and choosing long-lasting materials, and safety, studying designs that were suitable for self-service spaces. This openness was one of the key reasons why we chose Santalucia Mobili as Speed Queen’s supplier..
Do you think the partnership with Santalucia Mobili has created added value for Speed Queen?
Absolutely! The various types of tables supplied to us and the style solutions put forward, along with the colours and materials, have brought about a significant increase in quality at Speed Queen laundrettes. The look and sturdy feel of the different table models adds a lot to our business offering. Our investors are really noticing the quality of the products, particularly prone to wear and tear in a self-service space.
Our mission is to “Turn marginal features such as storage units into modular spaces for living our daily lives”. What does Santalucia Mobili’s mission have in common with Speed Queen’s?
Although what we do at Speed Queen and Alliance Laundry Systems is far removed from Santalucia Mobili’s world, neither of us limit ourselves to offering products as an end in themselves. Instead we try to offer services and solutions that reflect the needs of a constantly evolving market and take a customer-centric approach to business decisions.
Do you see the collaboration between Santalucia Mobili and Speed Queen continuing? What might that look like?
In an industry that is changing constantly like ours, we may well work together again. The furniture at Speed Queen self-service laundrettes could change or expand, to meet new user needs or design trends. Our aim at Speed Queen is to stay at the top of our game in the self-service business and Santalucia Mobili can certainly help us to do that.