Development strategies for a mature market

The tunnel washer market is now a mature one and certainly in terms of awareness this applies globally. Though less common in certain areas, the tunnel line is now at the heart of an increasing number of plants, especially in Europe and North America.
Lars Blechschmidt, managing director sales and marketing at Kannegiesser, says its potential application is universal. "Once a laundry reaches a certain hourly capacity, it will certainly look at the use of a tunnel washer. I believe that every laundry can use a tunnel washer, even if a certain number of washer-extractors are kept for special textiles." He adds that everybody is aware of the tunnel washer's advantages.
Jordi Compte, product manager for Girbau's industrial division, underlines the universality. He says that his company has tunnel washer installations in all continents and that Girbau has the distinction of being the first manufacturer with tunnel washers installed in the main countries and in the most populated areas of Central and South America.
Jensen too sees the tunnel washer as a product that attracts global demand and notes that the nature of the demand is also fairly universal. All customers want technology that will allow them to operate with a fair degree of flexibility. High productivity and energy efficiency are key requirements in both established and new markets.
Recently the company has seen increased potential in laundries processing garments and uniforms and it says that geographically, demand from Asian markets, particularly China, continues to rise.
The Netherlands-based industrial laundry equipment company Vega is a fairly recent entrant to the tunnel washer market, introducing a German-made machine in 2012.
Bernd Thielen, director for wash technology, based at Vega Germany says that while Europe and North America are still the main markets for tunnel washer business, the company sees huge potential in Asian markets. Vega has now set up factories in Thailand and China to be closer to customers there to provide support and to judge local requirements better.
Tunnels are being used for virtually every item processed in a laundry, says Karl Schubert of Milnor International in Belgium, the international sales office Pellerin Milnor Corporation. Applications range from normal hotel/hospital linen to dustmats and industrial applications such as heavily- soiled workwear and cleaning rags.
Schubert explains that good mechanical action is important, especially for industrial goods. Double drums that can frequently drain off non-soluble dirt are preferred. Milnor's CBWs® have a modular double-drum construction and every module can be equipped with drain valves and water inlet valves. The company's PulseFlow® Technology enhances the wash action and rinses with a high velocity flow which reduced the risk of deposits in the machine.
Taking up the theme of the main applications for the tunnel line Blechschmidt at Kannegiesser says that all sectors are important although individual decisions to invest in a tunnel installation will depend on the hourly throughput that the plant needs to achieve.
He explains that modern tunnels, with a well-designed and flexible flow system can handle most fabrics and in many cases can cope with mixed loads. So the range of uses has broadened to include dustmats, workwear and even linen and garments from nursing homes. The tunnel washer allows high productivity with a steady flow of work through the laundry and also helps to reduce labour and energy costs.
Jensen takes a slightly different angle citing the growing demand for hospitality linen as both business and leisure travel is on the increase. This applies to western countries and also to the developing markets known collectively as the BRIC countries.
The effect of an ageing society will also have an impact and lead to increased laundering requirements from nursing homes.
Garments too are now frequently processed in tunnels. Vega's Thielen says that at the moment most of the company's business is in the hospitality and healthcare sectors but it wants to expand into the garment and nursing home sector as well.
It is currently developing a specialist tunnel washing system for laundering nursing home garments and underwear. This specialist system, which includes a centrifugal extractor, can handle delicate garments with minimum wear and tear and significantly reduced energy and water consumption.
To date this kind of work has often been handled in-house in a washer-extractor, says Thielen.
He adds that these can have high water and energy consumption. so Vega fully expects that nursing homes will eventually move away from on-site laundries to larger, tunnel washer-based central laundries.
In terms of technology and design, tunnel washer developments have largely been focussed on sustainability although Jordi Compte at Girbau says that the market is currently seeing a shift in focus. Water consumption of 2 - 3litres/kg is now frequently achieved and this is probably close to the minimum viable level.
However, development doesn't stop there. "We now need to maintain these low levels by reducing the environmental impact of chemicals and energy consumption."
Compte believes that tunnel washer developments will now be focussed on efficiency rather than on production. ?Now that machines are much more efficient in terms of labour, energy and water costs, the company predicts that tunnel washers will need to be designed for lower production levels with consumption reduced as much as possible.
Efficiency must now be applied to the whole process and to all resources. The machine and process must be adapted to suit the cost structures in different world markets.
The company is focussing on developing machines that can adapt to different working patterns. The variation in working systems can be easily controlled using the BMT computer system, which allows the main variables to be controlled and for the results of the control to be clearly visible to discover the optimum minimum consumption for each application.
Blechschmidt at Kannegiesser says that sustainability and reduced consumption will remain a focus as this is the only way to go but there will come a time when further reduction is no longer feasible. At that point, companies would need to look at the possibility of increasing the re-use of water and energy after the process. However reducing energy at the start of the process is smarter than recovering energy afterwards.
Asked specifically about Kannegiesser's approach, he says that as robots are now used in manufacture it is possible to design tunnel washers using even lower tolerances between inner and outer drum so that more of the water is in direct contact with the linen, reducing the heating required to achieve the desired temperature and so using less energy.
The redesign meant that the tunnel washer could switch from one category to another easily and in many cases without the need for a total bath exchange so additional heating was not needed and this too saved energy.
Schubert at Milnor says that the most important feature of a tunnel washer is its ability to wash and rinse effectively with the minimum amount of chemicals energy and water.
Milnor's PulseFlow achieves this as its large cylinder volume and high ribs produce excellent mechanical action and wash very well. The recirculation in the first module adds to the effectiveness of the wash system. PulseFlow also produces excellent results in rinsing and uses chemicals more effectively water consumption has been reduced to 2.5 - 3litres/kg on normal linen, leading to energy reductions also. Even on heavily soiled work PulseFlow will only use
4 - 5 litre/kg of fresh water.
Water and energy will continue to be important in future developments but improved, user-friendly controls and data acquisition will also be areas to develop.
However, asked if he foresaw a switch of focus from consumption to efficiency, Schubert says there would be no value in this. Water and energy costs will continue to rise so consumption must still be pursued.
He argues that tunnel washer efficiency depends on various factors including external factors such as keeping the work to the tunnel flowing and making sure water and energy are always available.
When a tunnel is set-up correctly and the right infrastructure is in place, there is no reason why the tunnel washer should not work with an efficiency of 95% plus.
Thielen at Vega says that its tunnel washer is already very efficient, and the company is producing extraction presses for the tunnel line that can reduce residual moisture to less than 35%, depending on the type of linen.
The company already has tunnel washer installations that run successfully with less than 2.5litres/kg, so achieving further water reductions will be increasingly difficult and Thielen believes the emphasis now will be on energy consumption and the efficiency of dryers and ironers.
He also believes that in those markets that already invest heavily and have high levels of automation, customers are now broadening their approach to energy consumption to take in the whole organisation. Rising energy costs and "green" taxes mean that managers are now looking at energy efficiency in the whole process rather than just in an individual machine.
He believes businesses will invest in technologies that save energy and there will be a shift towards cycle times being governed by the lowest energy use rather than the highest production.
Jensen says that sustainable laundry automation is the top priority in its development strategy. "Getting more out of less is what it's all about."
As for the possibility of a switch of focus, Jensen says; "You cannot split efficiency from consumption."
As the company understands the concept, efficiency in production must be coupled with efficiency in energy use so the focus is on high productivity and on sustainability. The company gives several examples of developments that illustrate its approach.
QuickSoak achieves more effective soaking by using scoop ribs in the first compartment. The EcoTank system allows a higher rate of water recovery, and the EcoSafeguard process monitoring system helps to ensure a higher wash quality so that there is less need for rewash.
Such features all contribute to a laundry's success in achieving its Key Performance Indicators. Improved all round performance is surely the main aim of all development.

WORLDWIDE PRESENCE: Girbau has installed tunnel washers in markets throughout the world, including Central and South America