ABS was founded in 1987 and is the global market leader in software for the laundry industry. ABS focuses primarily on multi-plant industrial launderers active in various industries, predominantly healthcare, hospitality, and industrial verticals such as construction and manufacturing.

ABS serves over 650 laundry facilities across 5 continents, with more than 15,000 active users. With offices in the Netherlands, United States, Romania, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Japan.

“ABS has 35 years of experience, and the company is the leading independent provider of software for the global laundry and textile rental industry. The advanced functionality sets the company ahead of its competition and installations of ABSSolute, in some cases with over 1.000 concurrent users, are business critical for customers worldwide. ABS is a profitable and well-managed company with an operation that is a good fit with our business model and corporate culture. We are pleased to welcome 140 new employees to us today,” says Olle Backman, CEO, Vitec Software Group.

“Vitec has a strong position and holds broad expertise in vertical software. For us, it is crucial to have a long-term owner who is committed to the continued development of the company. I am convinced that together we will continue to develop ABS for the benefit of our customers and staff today and in the future,” says Anne de Boer, CEO, ABS Laundry Business Solution.

For more information, please contact
Olle Backman, CEO, Vitec Software Group AB (publ),
olle.backman@vitecsoftware.com, +46 70 632 89 93

Patrik Fransson, Investor Relations, Vitec Software Group AB (publ),
patrik.fransson@vitecsoftware.com, +46 76 942 85 97

About Vitec

Vitec is market leader for Vertical Market Software in the Nordic region. We develop and deliver standard niche software. Vitec grows through acquisitions of well-managed and well-established software companies. The Group’s overall processes together with the employees’ in-depth knowledge of the customer’s local market enables continuous improvement and innovation. Vitec has 1,050 employees, is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, and had net sales of SEK 1,571 million in 2021. Find more at www.vitecsoftware.com.

We are really excited to announce the release 9.06.00. This release contains many new features as well as system security enhancements. As you know, ABS provides you with all news with our Release Notes that you can expect within the next weeks. In this News Letter we like to highlight:

• Container Billing
• Sustainability features
• Facility Services (new module)
• Card Connect Credit Card transactions
• Route Assistant including Payment in Advance

Version 9.06.00 will be bringing you:

Container Billing (extended options)
Protect your property and avoid misuse of containers & carts. Additional contract agreements will avoid losing containers and avoid improper use. Allow your customers to have sufficient transportation material for the laundry services but apply additional charges to compensate any other use and loss.

Sustainability and ABSSolute
Since many years many organizations has seen a great reduction in paper use; thru Automatic E-mailing of invoices and delivery documents, the mobile App “Packing Assistant” instead of packing notes and the use of the “Route Assistant”.  Now this has been taken to the next level:

• Recycling ragged items? ABSSolute will now help the employees in charge of removing worn out textiles by offering a visual presentation of the fabric of the items – enabling a quick and correct pre-sorting of the ragged items, before they are sent for recycling.
• Routes to be combined: in case multiple plant locations provide services to the same customer or region, the option is added to share the same route from multiple plants.
• Adding services to existing stops… see next subject “Facility Services

Facility Services module
During Covid multiple organizations have introduced additional services to their existing accounts, combined with the existing linen- or garment delivery. This Facility Services module is allowing direct sales items to be added to a stop. Orders can be taken at the customer location on the Route Assistant. The delivery can be done during a next day/week stop or immediately from the available Truck Stock. Practical examples are PPE products, First Aid exchange/replenishment, sanitizers and re-fills.

Card Connect
ABSSolute now has the full integration with Card Connect available. This enables invoices to be automatically charged via Card Connect including an interface with data returning payments into your Accounts Receivable system. Card Connect requires a subscription.

Route Assistant with Payment In Advance
In case accounts are services with Direct Invoices and Cash On Delivery, the Route Assistant now supports the handling of pre-paid amounts. This option now avoids additional manual notes to be made.

And there is more! Please check the release notes of ABSSolute 9.06.00.

https://goomedia.digitaal-magazine.nl/familybusiness-vendrig

• At the soil department:
  • The shipment contains also trash which you need to dispose?
  • Incorrectly pre-sorted by the customer?
  • Sleeves in-side-out?
  • It contains contaminated wash-bags (COVID-19?)
• In general:
  • A last minute (too late) order must be processed
  • An extra delivery must be transported
  • Personal items found in the laundry must be returned

ABSSolute offers a smart way in order to apply these additional Service Charges.
This is a touch-friendly dialog that allows the employee, with easy to use touch screen buttons, to record the extra services that are provided.
This will then be charged automatically or simply used as statistics.

Embracing RFID UHF

With the use of RFID UHF we have even improved the workflow and thereby recommending the employee for which customer that should be recorded for the extra service provided.

A powerful function with a quick return on your investment

The Service Charges functionality is available as an add-on to ABSSolute.
Our customers’ experience is that the ROI is less than 2 months!

Dust Control / Mat handling
Last year with the 9.04 core release we released the “Dynamic Mat Storage” and the mobile app “Bulk Packing Assistant”. This has proven to increase the efficiency at the route packing departments. Now extensions are made for supporting the internal and external logistics with so-called Mat Carry Units. This is again supported by mobile apps such as the Bulk Packing Assistant and the Route Assistant.

Route Assistant App with delivery point pictures, GPS location logging & Route Check In
Now also the logging of the GPS coordinates for the stops is visible within ABSSolute as well. The distance of the real customer location and where the truck stopped for servicing the customer(s) is shown. This will be a good basis for optimization of the route & stop sequences. This in combination with the use of the Route Check-In meeting can be a valuable discussion point with the RSR/Driver.

The Route Assistant now contains the picture capturing of stop locations. This enables the RSR/Driver to capture specific drop off locations (like the red door) or even maps of the customer’s location showing the physical mat/washroom locations.

CRM: Contact Manager 2.0
The Contact Manager supports recording of communication with your customers. Contacts/calls with messages or attachments can be entered in ABSSolute and the Route Assistant App. Calls can be created automatically via Alert options such as “customer stock norms are too high” or “check required on too low volume load” of containers. The new ‘Contact Monitor’ gives the overview of all contacts.

New Mobile Solutions

My Uniform Assistant
This app to brings your services to the real end-user: the wearer!  Check where his/her inventory of garments is, check his/her replacements on its way, requesting attention for repairs and register ‘lost and found’ like “I lost my keys/wallet/phone” in my garment.  This way, the customer’s garment manager is not needed for this type of communication with the laundry.      

Packing Assistant
Instead of using printed packing documents, the app will present the packing instructions to the packing employee in the correct sequence. No handwritten notes and real time updating the merchandise requirement for the customer, route or day. In case of shortages, the containers can be “parked”. The app will automatically check the completion of a customer.

Truck Load Assistant
Loading the truck based on the correct and complete load, load sequence and route deadline; it has never been easier! The app will verify that no mistakes in loading truck are made anymore. Now anyone can load the trucks in the correct way. Alerts can be send to the Route Representatives that the Truck Load is completed.

ABS is proud to announce our newest Android app:
Truck Load Assistant

Based on industry research, we identified that laundries from all over the world have a common challenge; ensuring that the trucks always leave on time, and with the right content inside.

Our new app is therefore designed to be both slick and quick. We are introducing the next level of automation where the RSR/drivers Route Assistant app can download directly, as soon as the truck loading is completed. Enabling them to leave complete, with no delays.

We tell you more in this video:

Over the last 18 months there were until now some cases in the laundry industry where ICT infrastructure was compromised by malware bringing the daily operations at risk.

Commonly the following approach is followed:

• A hacker compromises an end-user workstation, often starts from spam or targeted emails
• Gathers credentials to access other workstations & servers (Credential Theft)
• Destroys backups / de-activates backup system
• Copying valuable data
• Encrypts or hostage server infrastructure and as much workstations as possible
• A “request” for a large ransom amount to decrypt data and release systems

In case it happens to your organization: To overcome malware infections, it is very important that there is a recovery plan in place. You must be sure that you can rely on your backup solution & standby systems when needed. Your backups should be resilient for ransomware attacks and tested on a regular frequency.

There is not an overall or one-step solution to avoid ransomware attacks. ICT infrastructure and operating systems should be kept up to date, periodically patched and hardened against Credential Theft. Recommended industry best practice security products must be implemented, and active monitoring should be in place.

ABS technicians are ready to advise and support you when required.

• Logo Mats
• Standard Mats
• Mops/Wipers/Shop Towels
• Disposables

This innovation is a perfect harmony between the use of the ABSSolute system, the use of mobile technology and using the available (mat) storage space as efficiently as possible. With an advanced algorithm, the Bulk Packing Assistant will assist your staff to putting logo mats in the perfect spot for storage. The target is to reduce route preparation time and optimize floor space. In practice, floor space for mat storage could be reduced with 30%!

Picture 1 below:
Bulk Packing Assistant

• Pack: from storage to route
• Store: from drying to clean storage
• Return: from route back to storage

Picture 2 below:
The packing process starts with selecting day and then the route. The system recognizes the route sequence, and the progress is shown.

Picture 3 below:
All mats that are required are presented in the storage location order to reduce walking distance. The storage location (e.g. A12) is shown. In case mats or storage locations are uniquely coded, scanning is enabled.
For standard non-unique mats, just a confirmation is sufficient.

The advantages:

• Paperless and modern technology: staff motivation!
• Less floor space needed thru optimized dynamic storage (saving approx. 30%)
• No need for expensive automated storage systems: keep it simple
• High productivity due to limiting picking area / walking distance
• Real Time progress information per route/day
• Useable for unique (RFID) mats and non-unique mats/products
• Useable for all pool products that are bulk loaded per route
• Monitoring packer performance
• Monitoring shortages
• Perfect inventory control