Balancing productivity and quality

Laundry services put a high value on quality, but their management decisions are often governed equally by productivity and efficiency, especially in relation to buying equipment.

Feeders and folders are important factors in automating the finishing line and the machine selection will affect both productivity and quality. Technological advances and changing customer needs have resulted in complex multifunctional machines capable of handling all types of linen – sheets, table cloths, napkins or duvet covers – and of adapting to different thicknesses and sizes whilst maintaining speed and standards.

Selwyn Burchhardt from Kannegiesser says the company’s best seller at the moment is the three-station EMT multi-purpose feeder. The machine has been designed to deal with heavier products, such as 100% cotton duvet covers. He explains: “Beds are getting larger and hotels are choosing duvets now instead of blankets.” He adds that duvet covers used to account for 3 – 4% of a laundry’s workload but that figure has risen to 8 – 9%.

Merce Bover of Girbau believes that front-feeding is an advantage in dealing with duvet covers effectively and her company has developed technology specifically for this purpose.

But what one sector needs does not necessarily suit another. In France, Bover says, laundries serving the hospital sector want

side-feeding machines for sheets.

While this is not a requirement in other countries, it is sometimes a preferred option, so the function needs to be built into equipment.

Certainly, flexibility is essential in an industry that serves so many customers and needs to meet many different requirements and also to take account of varying skill levels within the laundries.

The polycotton effect

Top quality hotels and restaurants continue to use 100% cotton sheets and table linens, but there has been a continuing move to polycottons over the last few years. This has impacted on the laundry process and, consequently, on feeder development, as these blends are processed at higher speeds than cottons.

Jensen’s Logic Plus feeder has a correcting device which detects if the leading edge is not straight, automatically correcting it with moveable plates.

This feature is useful when feeding large pieces of heavy table linen, says Jensen’s Kathrin Scheffel.

The correcting device allows linen of different sizes to be processed in the same program. A third clamp has been added to the feeder and has increased its speed by 10%.

Aid to accuracy

Geert Braeckman from Lapauw says microprocessors were introduced into its machines to provide more accurate feeding and folding. Lapauw’s Extra is a cornerless feeder with an automatic corrector, that allows sheets to be fed straight into the ironer. The Extra also benefits from ergonomically-built feeding stations.

But not all applications require the same quality. Philip White of H J Weir says that for hospital bed linen, where the leading edge is tucked out of sight under a mattress, a less expensive feeder may be sufficient. However, in restaurants, where the whole tablecloth is open to scrutiny, a higher quality feeder will provide a better finish.

Towards standardisation

As with feeders, the trend in folders is towards standardisation, with a focus on quality and cost-efficiency.

Laundries may be tempted to go for a compact multi-purpose folder equipped with all the options, but it may be wise to weigh up which options will actually be used and consider whether it would be more cost-efficient to buy a folder that has been specifically developed to handle certain types of linen.

While many smaller laundries may not be able to afford a wide range of specialist equipment, those that deal with high-class restaurants or hotels may need more advanced machines that provide a high-quality finish and can perform the folds required by the customer.

For example, towels will often need to be folded so that logos are visible when folded or hung, while bed sheets need to be wrinkle-free and flat.

As towels are relatively small, a towel folder rarely needs to perform more than one lateral half-fold or a French fold, depending on the wishes of the customer.

It will also need to perform one or two cross-folds as half-folds or one French fold.

However, the thickness of towels means that they are processed in smaller stacks than bed linen.

Large table linen, on the other hand, will need 1 – 3 primary folds and 1– 3 cross-folds to reduce the size of the stack. Restaurants may also demand special folds, such as French folds or M-folds.

Developments in folding equipment reflect these requirements. Braeckman says that Lapauw offers a range of folders with airblast or with knives, and with or without cross-folding and stacking.

Girbau produces a range of folders targeted at specific markets. The Triton folder provides good quality jet-air folding for towels, while the Diamond and Saturne Tri folders produce superior quality and have flap folding adapted for thicker towels.For hospitals, the company has the multi-lane PLMULT folder, which Bover says provides good quality folding. A superior quality flap folder, the Varistar, is suitable for bed and table linen from private laundries.

French fold specialist

The Airspeed 43 from H J Weir is a simple standalone machine that specialises in French folds, for both linen and towels.

The company’s Foldmaker 66 Universal is a single-lane automatic folder that is designed to perform one or two primary folds, followed by a cross-fold and stack or just a cross-fold and stack. While the Foldmaker 56 Autograde will sort to size.

Burchhardt says the Kannegiesser RFM Foldmaster Combi is a high-quality reverse belt folding machine that electronically measures every item before the first folding stage.

“The cross-fold section on Kannegiesser folders is

spring-loaded so that the different thicknesses of material can be folded without problems – a king-size duvet cover will be much thicker when folded, compared with a single-bed sheet,” Burchhardt adds.

Once a piece of linen has been measured, then the machine will fold the item according to the programmed parameters.

Ease of control is essential to ensure that the equipment is operated efficiently and accurately.

Many laundries employ people from a range of different countries, says Scheffel at Jensen.

The company has responded by supplying every feeder, ironer and folder with an operating panel that has a colour touch-screen and multi-lingual instructions.

The PLC control system has also been upgraded from 266Mhz to 500Mhz which Scheffel says “ensures increased accuracy of the feeding, ironing and folding parameters, resulting in a better finishing quality”.

Remote control

Large laundries also use data from control systems to help them gather production statistics.

H J Weir has introduced a remote monitoring system that allows managers to check production figures for all their laundries via their laptops and to identify the source of any problems so that they can be corrected.

Kannegiesser ironer lines have an integrated control system so that the line does not run empty when changing categories.

The first item of the batch is tracked and the program changes as it reaches the relevant machine.

For example, says Burchhardt, if changing from sheets to duvet covers, the ironer will slow down when the duvet reaches the line and the format will change as required.

Automation is particularly sought after in developed countries where there are increasing pressures on reducing labour costs.

But, says Scheffel, even in societies where labour is cheap, there is an increasing demand for automation.

Integrated solution

She explains that customers say that the short payback time is their main reason for choosing automated equipment.

Automation reduces the administration needed for the workforce. Automated equipment also means consistant quality standards, so it is reliable and customers are satisfied.

In September 2006, Jensen brought out the Evolution robotic towel feeder, which Scheffel says was the first fully automated system that integrates the entire process, from feeding to stacking.

Once loaded onto the Evolution, towels are automatically fed into a separation unit where they are individually picked, measured and fed into the folder – without the help of human hands.

Some laundries will not want to go fully down the automation route. Those that deal with high-quality table linen, for example, will want more manual input to achieve the standard required.

The way the equipment is organised will depend on the size of the laundry, the types of linen it processes, how it controls the flow of linen towards the ironing lines and the customers’ requirements.

The growth of the tourist industry around the world and the increased use of duvets in hotels in countries where they were not traditionally used has influenced the development of flatwork technology.

Equally, rising energy and labour costs have put the pressure on productivity and efficiency.

Where spending power is greater and customer expectation is higher, there are sophisticated, specialist machines to meet their needs.

For smaller laundries or countries where resources are fewer, there are less sophisticated machines, which, thanks to technological advances, can still provide a good standard of processing.

The individual laundry’s choice of machine depends on several factors including the types of linen to be processed, the business’s spending power and the quality required.

The laundry will need to discuss all such requirements with its supplier to ensure it makes the right purchasing decision for its situation.

“There are no hard and fast rules.” says Philip White at H J Weir, adding: “There is room for a wide range of suppliers.”