Keeping Irish streets and aisles clean: North Cork's Glanaco is now eyeing US expansion

Tony Ryan and Michael Fitzgerald of North Cork's Glanaco set out their vision

Jeff Riordan, Store Manager, Supervalu, Fermoy with Tony Ryan and Mike Fitzgerald, Glanaco showing their new Cleaning Machine

In the world of cleaning, it’s fair to say that Glanaco has become a sweeping success.

With a business model that has seen it diversify into international construction, retail, industrial, and municipal cleaning solutions, the company has seen turnover jump 364% from €1.4m five years ago to a projected €6.5m in 2025.

To say finding money in dirt is not exactly wrong, as the company takes cleaning to the next level, embracing technology.

Glanaco acts as a distributor for hi-tech cleaning products, as well as constructing and customising road cleaning solutions in municipal and construction sectors — with emerging markets in the US and Canada.

The road to success has had a few bumps along the way for Glanaco directors Tony Ryan and Michael Fitzgerald.

Cleaning Machine, Gausium S50, in Action at Supervalu, Fermoy Co Cork.

The economic crash in Ireland gave perspective and vision for Mr Ryan, who recalls the downturn leaving the cleaning company with “no sales”.

“We actually had a good year in 2008, but then 2009, 2010, and 2011 was horrific,” recalls Mr Ryan, who hails from Lombardstown. “I can remember being out, just trying to get any work. I remember driving a road sweeper myself to just try and get income. I had a mortgage, a wife and two kids.

“Yeah, you just did what you had to do. I think an awful lot of people in the construction industry at the time came out of it and didn’t go back. They reskilled and did other stuff. I decided to try and go exporting because I could see other countries weren’t hit as bad. And that’s why I wanted to have construction, municipal, and industrial elements of the business.”

The business survived the lows of the downturn, and began to rebuild.

Wheel washing for the construction industry became a mainstay of Glanaco’s business.

“Construction sites used to bring an awful lot of mud and dirt out onto roads. All that stopped, and a lot of it is because of wheel washers being installed at the exits,” recalled Mr Ryan. “The planning laws changed around the time we started doing this, covering quarries and mines, so we jumped on the back of that, and started supplying quarries. Roadstone then became one of our biggest customers. When we got Roadstone, suddenly we became a market leader.”

The wheel washers are big business, with individual units retailing from €50,000 to €150,000. These days, Glanaco supply wheel washing cleaners to some of the biggest names in construction like BAM, Glenveagh, Sisk, and O’Flynn Construction.

Tony Ryan, Glanaco Jeff Riordan, Store Manager, Supervalu, Fermoy with and Mike Fitzgerald, Glanaco showing their new Cleaning Machine. Picture Brendan Gleeson

Mr Ryan also saw the opportunity of the export trade: “We started supplying road sweepers in Russia — this was back before the war in Ukraine. We were buying units from a partner in Dundalk, then manufacturing for the Russia market and for Eastern Europe, modifying them for the snow conditions. We supplied Moscow City Council and St Petersburg City Council.”

In 2019, Glanaco had four directors, and Mr Ryan and Mr Fitzgerald proposed buying out the other two: “The other two directors were older than us and the dynamics were different. We wanted to reinvest back into the business. So we made an offer to buyout the other two directors.”

After the management buyout, and now under two directors, the company further developed its municipal business, selling equipment to local authorities across Ireland — including an vital contract with Dublin City Council.

“It was initially supplying 15 roadsweeping machines. We are up to 22 machines now and there’s more in the pipeline. It was a framework agreement, over five years. It’s a good stepping stone for us,” they said.

Keenly aware of the need to diversify, Glanaco has embraced the world of autonomous cleaning. Glanaco’s directors watched as the likes of Husqvarna started to revolutionise the lawnmower industry: “We thought if lawnmowers have gone autonomous, it’s only a matter of time before the cleaning industry does too. Much of the technology is coming from China, so we did our research.

“There’s hundreds of manufacturers in China but you must weed out the rubbish.”

Glanaco began importing from emerging Chinese manufacturers like Gausium.

“I brought in four robot cleaners as a test case and they sold immediately,” said Mr Ryan. “I bought another 10, and they sold immediately, even without people seeing them in action.”

The robot cleaners are being embraced by retail. One of Glanaco’s customers in the supermarket trade was spending €60,000 annually on cleaning. A robot cleaner with a three-year guarantee purchased from Glanaco for €33,000 is taking over these tasks. “Some of the supermarket’s own staff are continuing to change toilet rolls and soaps but even allowing for another €10,000 a year spent on this, that’s nearly €40,000 a year saved,” said Mr Ryan.

Robot cleaners can also be ‘dressed’ for occasions, be it as an elf for Christmas, or a leprechaun for St Patrick’s Day. There is also scope to make them customisable with adverts or shop promotions.

Meanwhile, Glanaco has made inroads into the US construction market. Enterprise Ireland has also offered expertise and discovery funding.

“We’re trying to concentrate on exporting. Europe has been good and we have a location in Dortmund in Germany. We have just set up a distribution partnership with a company in the US called American Compaction Equipment, which is a division of Cascade, owned by Toyota. We have a warehouse now in Lake Elsinore in California. And road sweepers that we’re building in Charleville are now going over there,” they said.

Roadsweeping attachments for the US market can start from around €15,000 and are compatible with the likes of JCB and Manitou. The wheelwashing machines are also being manufactured in Ireland and then finished in the US for the construction and mining industry there.

Glanaco, in the IDA Industrial Estate outside Charleville on the Kilmallock Rd, now has a staff of 15, and has contracts in engineering, sales, and storage with companies in Mallow, Kilkenny, Dublin, and Dundalk as well as wider international deals. Turnover has climbed from €1.4m after the management buyout to €3.2m in 2023, €4.3m in 2024, and a projected €6.5m this year.

Glanaco plans to recruit three new staff in Charleville the next three to six months focused on its autonomous robot cleaning business, with roles meeting the software needs of customers.

Like many other sectors the future is now for cleaning solutions, says Mr Ryan: “Autonomous cleaning is coming to every area. I’ve been offered robot window cleaners. We’ve been offered autonomous [driverless] road sweepers.”

Glanaco have had interest from hotel groups in robot cleaners while large warehousing and data centres are also in the frame.

“The key for us is that you still have real people who will come out or who are on the end of the phone though,” said Mr Ryan. “In that sense it’s the reverse of the robot industry. Michael and I had an idea: You either bring up a new product or you do something better.”