Clean 2009 review

Productivity and resource saving in focus

27 October 2009



Rising costs are bringing energy and water saving more to the fore in North America and this was one of the clear trends at Clean 2009. Janet Taylor reports on laundry exhibits at the show


This year’s Clean Show has been declared a success by the organisers and the sponsors. Many of the exhibitors, particularly those based in North America or geared to those markets also seemed pleased. The general feeling here was that while visitor numbers might be down, the people who came to the stands were serious about investing in their businesses and showing real interest in the products on show.

However, some European exhibitors were perhaps less happy and there was some feeling that longer intervals between shows might be beneficial in giving more time for development.

Laundry exhibits at the Clean Show, naturally reflected the current trends in North America. Although the show is international, many exhibitors have always geared their displays to the host country.

The environmental influences that have been dominant for some time in Europe are taking a stronger hold in the USA as utility costs are rising steeply, while labour costs are driving an increased focus on productivity.

Girbau CEO Merce Girbau told LCNi that at this show the visitors to the stand were serious business prospects seeking a way out of the crisis. They were strongly interested in the company’s products, particularly in the heavy-duty laundry equipment.

Continental Girbau, which handles the American market, is setting up an industrial division and Girbau feels that now is the time to develop a stronger presence in that sector in the USA.

The steep rise in utility costs in the USA over the past three years has meant that laundries are now pro-actively seeking solutions, and Girbau’s experience with its heavy-duty equipment in other markets has shown the company can provide water and energy savings.

Tony Rubies, vice president marketing, sales and service, points out that both its heavy-duty machines and those for the OPL market are specifically designed to produce such savings. The tunnel washer saves a lot of water, explains Merce Girbau.

The flatwork ironer is very efficient, and Girbau’s feeders and folders are reliable and productive, so she feels the company is in a good position to develop its share of the USA’s industrial sector.

The company has also extended its 6-Series washers to offer a full range of capacities from 23 – 110 kg.

On the Kannegiesser stand, managing director Engelbert Heinz said the company aimed to educate the USA market about his company’s technological achievements. Many of the discussions on the stand were focussed on productivity – the number of pieces/per hour that could be achieved.

“We can deliver flexible ironer lines that can reach 2,200 pieces per hour on table linen,” said Heinz.

The company was showing the RFM folder for the first time in the USA. This can fold cotton, polycotton, round table linen and different styles of sheets within the same line and still reach a constant output with quality results.

It was also introducing a fitted-sheet folder that can fold and stack fitted sheets and still deliver high throughputs.

In its educational role, the company also showed the heated band that forms the heart of its ironer and an ironer cross-section to help prospective customers understand the technology.

Jensen was taking advantage of the increased interest in energy and water savings to introduce company’s CleanTech concept to North America.

The USA may have been slower to latch onto the benefits of energy and water saving machines but Scheffel pointed out that the USA’s laundry industry would soon be faced with legislation that demands a yearly target for reducing CO2 emissions.

So CleanTech attracted a lot of interest on the stand and visitors asked many questions about its potential for savings and how the concept could be implemented in their businesses.

Productivity is still high priority for the American market, which is now seeking machines that can handle larger batches. Jensen has responded to this trend with the Senking MaxiLine tunnel washer, which has a capacity of 220lb per compartment.

The LTron DTX dryer is also intended to meet this demand as it has 400lb capacity. It is also designed for easy maintenance.

The company was also showing a further development of its Evolution towel folder. In its latest form, this machine can handle two different sizes and fold 500 – 600 pieces per hour.

Scheffel says that because of Jensen’s ability to meet the two main trends the stand had attracted more visitors than had been expected.

Energy saving has become the number one priority for the USA, according to Karl Schubert of Milnor International. Water saving is also very important for everybody. Some areas of the USA have water restrictions and operations may only have water available at set times.

Milnor has always provided equipment for large laundries, and indeed claims to have the largest tunnel washer on the market.

Now it is demonstrating that it can also meet the demands of small to medium size operations. It was introducing a five-module tunnel washer that will suit laundries with limited space.

This compact machine introduces a washing process that reduces water consumption to 3kg/litre depending on the load. Schubert expected this to be a special point of interest on the stand.

Milnor has also developed an extraction press that does not need water in the membrane but instead uses a special type of rubber that follows the contours of the linen.

This makes changing the membrane easier. The press also has a patented mechanism that rotates the membrane after every cycle, to prolong its life.

Milnor wanted to stress that as well as dealing with industrial size laundries, it could also meet the needs of family-centre laundries. It has been producing machines for this market since 1987.

Ecolab was concentrating on two areas – resource saving and data management. Peter Bauwens, director global accounts, said that the most important innovation for the show was PERformance Complete (marketed as the PERformance Plus in Europe), the second step in its staged plan that allows laundries to optimise

resource use.

He told LCNi that, from his company’s viewpoint, the USA and European markets were becoming closer in terms of both products and processes. In addition to the PERformance systems, the company was also demonstrating its expertise in data management.

This division has developed a system for assembling data from plants on chemicals, water and gas consumption and making it accessible over the internet. The approach is now being applied to stand-alone systems.

The RFID specialist Datamars was concentrating its efforts on the North American markets.

President Ken Boyle said that although RFID is well established in mainland Europe and the UK, both the technology and its application for the laundry industry are still relatively new to North America.

The company was working in two main directions. The first was to try and cut the cost of the sorting process using its Intellisort system.

This RFID-based solution is designed to automate sorting at a cost acceptable to mid-size operations. A system has already been installed at the Doritex laundry in Buffalo.

The company has also introduced the Orion LaundryChip.

This is part of the latest generation of LaundryChips, shaped to reduce the risk of damage to textiles and it is also stronger, so that it can handle the more aggressive processes.

Alliance Laundry Systems claims to be the largest manufacturer of commercial laundry systems, but puts the focus firmly on its brands rather than the corporate identity.

Jean-Marc Vandoorne, senior vice president for international sales covers the portfolio for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Although acknowledging that there were fewer visitors, and particularly fewer end-users, he declared that he had been very busy.

Ipso was concentrating on the environment with its “Clean the World ” campaign. That influence applies both to its equipment and to its production.

The brand was launching its trade-in promotion to encourage customers to upgrade to more energy efficient machines.

Laundries that trade-in a machine that was bought before 2002 can receive bonuses of up to 2,000Euros when they upgrade. Old machines had fixed programming but more recent freely programmable machines can cut running costs by up to 20%, says Vandoorne.

Ipso’s display included the introduction of the WF400, a 40kg rigid-mount washer-extractor that offers the whole range of Cygnus controls and is expected to be popular in the coin-op market.

Both Heubsch and Speed Queen brands were also introducing improved control systems.

Heubsch’s Galaxy control gives greater flexibility, higher efficiency and greater reliability. It also features a leak detector.

The Speed Queen brand was introducing the Quantum control system for both OPL and coin-op applications. It has standard, silver and gold versions all designed to improve machine efficiency.

UniMac, which exclusively targets the OPL sector, features the M-series controls that improve efficiency and make servicing easier.

This year’s Clean Show marked the debut of the Electrolux brand in North America. In contrast to the rest of the world, products for North American professional and commercial sectors have previously been sold only under the Wascomat brand, says Neal Milch, CEO of the North American distributor, Bermil Industries.

He explained that the Electrolux group is now spending more than US$100m dollars a year to advertise its brand to consumers in the USA and this is increasing demand for the brand’s commercial and OPL equipment.

Milch’s company and Electrolux Laundry Systems decided that this would be a good time to introduce the Electrolux name on commercial laundry products. The Electrolux name will now appear on premium, professional, higher spec equipment.

For example, washers will have extraction rates of 350 and 200G and selected washers will have a text messaging function to inform owners and servicing teams of a machine’s status and function.

The Wascomat brand will be sold alongside Electrolux products and will continue to represent good value, quality commercial equipment.

Energy saving was the “hot button” at the show, according to Randy Karn, national sales manager for Maytag.

People are looking for value rather than the lowest price so equipment that can lower energy bills represents a good deal, given that utility costs have been rising.

Maytag was showing its high efficiency (HE) front-load washer, the first washer to achieve a Tier 3 rating from CEE and also its energy-efficient stacked dryers.

For the OPL market, Maytag has introduced a 50lb washer that fits through a 36inch door and will therefore suit businesses with limited space and narrow openings. It also showed a 75lb dryer for use with single-phase power supplies and an “affordable” reverse tumbler.

Karn noted that the visitors that had taken the trouble to attend the show had really done their homework and were researching purchases carefully by visiting all stands relevant to the OPL and coin-op markets.

While many of the exhibitors had geared their displays to the North American markets, Danube International took a different approach. Managing director Bernard Jomard said that as the company has a representative in the USA, he was not attending the show to sell products but to meet international dealers. He had been seeing dealers from South America in particular but also from the Far East and Middle East. He said that the financial crisis had not affected the company too much. It was in a very strong position with its ironers, washers, and dryers.

Imesa’s Carlo Miotto felt that the exhibition was largely geared toward the American markets, especially in the commercial laundry sector where only one other Italian manufacturer was represented. The other Italian companies were all drycleaning equipment companies.

He says globalisation is resulting in a market with an increasing number of brands but fewer manufacturers. There were many South American visitors who were in a position to consider joining with companies outside their home market.

However the unfavourable dollar/Euro rate could pose problems for Imesa in these markets.

Dexter, the Iowa-based producer of commercial laundry equipment, was mainly targeting the home market and found the reaction from visitors “surprisingly positive”. The company is also continuing to expand its range of CE products for Europe and additions include a washer with internal heating capabilities.

It has also added the option of steam or electric heating to its 30, 55 and 80lb dryers.

In its international range it has updated its washer capacities and now covers a range from 20 – 80lb.

While many of the exhibitors were reliant on investment purchases, those producing ancillary products have a different role in the market as they are selling products that are needed on a regular basis.

MaxiPress, which produces the membranes used in extraction presses, was exhibiting at the show for the first time.

Tim Zaiser was a little disappointed at first as he thought the show would be bigger. “It’s completely different from Frankfurt,” he observed. But he admitted that the show had, in the end, been fine.

He had seen “good people” although there had not been any European visitors.

MaxiPress started in 2005, initially making presses for a sister company supplying a leading manufacturer.

However, at the time there was no independent competition producing membranes for a range of manufacturers so Zaiser spotted a gap in the market.

The Maxi-Press membrane is made from natural rubber which is resistant to temperatures up to 75C.

It is clear white and so avoids the risk of marking the linen, should the membrane be damaged. Its ribbed surface stops items sticking.

As a specialist in laundry textiles and consumables, Tamfelt Technical Textiles (Fanafel) is also a company that is not reliant on investment purchases and Denis Begasse is usually kept very busy at exhibitions. At Clean 2009, the pace was slower, said Begasse, but he was still pleased with the quality of the contacts.

There was a high level of interest from American visitors.

The company had recently changed its name to reflect that of parent group Tamfelt, but although customers were still getting used to the new name, Begasse said that reaction had been positive.

At Springpress, the specialist in ironer spring padding, Alex Callant reported a similar experience in terms of visitors, fewer numbers but good quality and he noted a lot of visitors from South America.

Gene Williams, president of American Laundry Products, felt that while the show was similar to previous years in size, the quality of those attending was “excellent – as good as we’ve ever had.”

The company supplies ironer clothing and woven and non-woven belting and is part of the Andrew Group. Sister company Severnside Fabrics had been on the stand, as had Lilly Xu from the Chinese operation.

Williams also reported good attendance from South America.

Tingue Brown, the supplier of ironer accessories, was featuring the Kleeno cylinder pad.

This has a proprietary non-metallic highly aggressive screen-type abrasive, which can be used on ironers with stainless-steel flexible chests avoids contamination from black film deposits that may result from using metallic abrasives.

It was also showing the laundry carts manufactured by sister company Meese Orbitron Dunne (MOD). This display introduced the 102P, which has a sleek design that allows 52 such units to be packed onto a 53ft trailer, a 30% increase that reduced the number of trips.

The WesVic PieceCounter was developed by Craig and Chad Boucher as an aid to increasing productivity. It tracks operator performance in real time and can warn operators when they are working below target. It can produce reports on different aspects.

This product was initially targeted at drycleaners but is now being introduced to the laundry market.

WesVic has already signed an exclusive agreement with Weir Laundry Equipment, which will introduce the product to the UK.

The Milliken stand was split into two sections. In the table linen division, the company recognises the importance of protecting the linen’s colour. ColorSeal is a process that helps maintain the right shade on lighter coloured materials. While the company still does not recommend using bleach, fabrics treated with the ColorSeal process will have stronger protection if bleach is used.

In the mat division, Milliken was featuring Convergence, a premium patterned scraper mat that uses a proprietary texturing process as well as Millitron patterning technology with an unlimited colour choice.

The result is a mat that not only helps health and safety but also gives a good impression.

David Watterson, vice president sales at Mountville Mills declared that the show was a great place both to meet customers and to introduce products. His company supplies mats to the textile rental sector including logo mats and functional mats.

It was introducing two mats that both improve the image and have a safety function.

Both are part of the Impressions range. Superscrape Impressions is a scraper mat while HogHeaven Impressions is an industrial anti-fatigue mat.

Badging is another way of underlining corporate identity, and also identifying clothing.

In America most badges are embroidered products, and AB Emblem has been supplying this type of badge for many years. It has now signed a licencing agreement with the UK company MiriCal, which will allow AB to use MiriCal’s digital printing process.


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