Of men and machines

In my time in the laundry industry, I have seen a dramatic change in operations and operational values.

We have moved from an era of high quality, but labour-intensive operations, through the machine age to a period of high-automation, where speed and cost-effectiveness are the priorities, but could we be seeing a move back and renewed demands for higher quality?

The people era

The first laundry that I worked in had two, four-roll ironers and eight rotary presses. The ironers were hand fed by teams of operators who had mastered the art of doing two things simultaneously, feeding sheets and talking. One operator was kept busy selecting the sheets and handing the two corresponding corners to her colleagues. They were constantly rocking side-to-side, first taking hold of the sheet, placing it squarely on the feed bands and then, ensuring the necessary tension was applied, they guided the rest of the sheet, remembering to take hold of the next, before the first had finally disappeared under the first roller. They managed to do all this while still discussing what they had watched on the TV the night before

Crease-free.

The end result was a crisp, well-ironed, crease-free sheet. All sides were symmetrical and there were no dog-eared flaps when folded.

Any stained or torn items were quickly and efficiently removed before the ironing stage, and this greatly improved the chances of removing them without causing too much fibre degradation.

I struggle to recall the exact number of sheets per hour that were being produced, although I suspect that a figure close to 500/hour would not be unreasonable.

Anything that was not classed as flatwork was subjected to a series of lays on a rotary press, until the finished product emerged, a garment that the owner was proud to wear. In this “people period”, a good, well motivated “presser” was someone you looked after, someone who could make all the difference between a satisfied customer, and one from hell.

The eighties and nineties saw the introduction of more efficient ironers, faster feeders and a whole range of folding equipment, capable of multi-lateral and crossfolds, with stacking systems which would also separate single from double sheets.

Tunnel finishers, designed for processing the easy-care fabrics, quickly replaced labour intensive coat cabinets. Changes in design and fabric construction have left most laundries with only the odd rotary press. New generation tunnels equipped with high-speed, feeding equipment, and folders which automatically remove hangers before commencing to fold the garment, have stripped some laundries of the trained staff who knew how a shirt should be folded.

Problem areas such as chefs hats and starched aprons have been identified and, as these do not conform to high production techniques, have often been replaced with single-use, throwaway products.

In this machine age, we seem obsessed with performance and, in itself, this is not necessarily a bad thing, provided quality and service do not suffer.

Usually, higher productivity is linked to a reduction in costs which in turn should lead to an increase in profits. However, in the laundry industry, cost reductions are often passed on to the customer to safeguard future business.

This leaves the laundry searching for other ways to reduce costs, which in turn may be passed back to the customer, and so it goes on.

What will the future hold and where will automation end?

Machine age

In this machine age, batch tunnel washer systems are fed by overhead monorails. Tumblers discharge their loads onto conveyors which deliver to individual workstations.

Sheet feeders can locate selvedge edges and feed the sheets into ironers. Folders can discharge stacks of linen through shrinkwrapping tunnels into the arms of waiting delivery men. New, modern machinery requires capital investment. Whether this capital is leased, borrowed or, if fortunate, taken from savings, it nevertheless has a payback. This payback can only be achieved by increasing prices, and most laundries are reluctant to do this, or by cutting down on staff.

There are however, only so many reductions that an average-sized laundry can make. If the staffing level is honed down to the bone, those little extras start to suffer and it can become more difficult to keep the operation running when breakdowns occur.

Ironers can be hand-fed whilst a feeder is being serviced. Cross-folds can be added manually when folders are off-line, and batches of work can be bagged when conveyors or wrapping equipment malfunction, but you can only do this if you have the staff available. I have yet to talk to any manager, who despite all the sophisticated equipment at his/her finger tips, does not have days when the operation suffers through staff shortages.

In my experience, expensive finishing equipment may have reduced the need for good-quality, well-trained staff, but at some time it will breakdown and then where will the staff needed to provide the fall-back service be?

People often comment on the state of the world we live in, one of fast-food and single-use commodities.

The laundry industry is no different. We are constantly striving to reduce our unit costs. Automation and more efficient use of machinery, increases productivity and cuts down our payroll costs. Changes in the way in which we purchase textiles, lower weights, greater tolerances in specifications and mixed blends, help those of us providing a rental service to reduce overheads still further.

But much to our amazement, we have recently gained two customers who have made us challenge our views on the services which we provide.

One does not want his shirts subjected to a quick wash, tunnel finish and touch up on the collars and cuffs. Instead he is prepared to pay the full cost of producing a hand-finished, neatly-ironed shirt. He doesn’t even question the extra few pence incurred by replacing a missing button and, above all, he hasn’t blamed us for losing it in the first place.

The other customer is an hotelier who appreciates that we all have to make a living and is prepared to pay a reasonable price for avoiding the inconvenience of chasing deliveries, querying stock deficiencies or arguing over month-end accounts. He does not want to know about problems with machinery, staff or suppliers. He does not want to be told that he should have telephoned earlier to ensure a same-day delivery. All he wants is clean, stain-free and crease-free linen, to be available for his guests at all times and he is prepared to pay for the service.

While economists talk constantly about a growing labour shortage, staff are still being laid off in their thousands. The laundry industry might not be one of the most glamorous, and it may not be at the top of every career advisers list of options, but for some people it is the industry that will always have a job available.

Who knows, we may see a return to being, once again, a people industry.