Quality, productivity and precision

The finishing line is core to laundry production as it is the quality of the finished product that the customer sees and on which the laundry’s service is judged.

However, quality is not the laundry’s only concern. Girbau highlights four essentials – reliability, price, quality and productivity. The emphasis placed on each of these will vary according to the market sector. Healthcare, industrial and care home or hotel on-site laundries will each have a different priorities and the country’s local market will also influence the approach.

For the laundry, the finishing stage is also the final chance to adjust to make sure production targets are met, as Jensen points out. The ironer is central to this and the company says the ironer capacity needs to be greater than the average in the plan but this must be achieved without any sacrifice in quality.

The company says that, in this respect, self-contained gas-heated ironers may have an advantage over

steam-heated models, as they can work independently of a central steam boiler and can therefore continue when the wash section has shut down for the day or be worked for extra shifts if needed.

The type of work being handled also affects the demands placed on the finishing line. Girbau notes that an important factor across all markets is the line’s ability to adapt to product trends within the customers’ market.

Duvet move

Hotels are now using king- and queen-size sheets and also switching to duvets. Round tablecloths are being used as well as rectangular or square types. Feeders ironers and folders must therefore be able to handle such non-standard items, both in terms of cloth thickness and shape.

Jensen also sees the move to duvets as an important trend but points out that this can be a concern for productivity. Attaining targets on sheet finishing is not usually a problem as sheets can already be finished at high speed but when handling duvet covers, the line has to cope with a double layer that absorbs more water and is therefore heavier. The company claims that its EXPG ironer has an advantage here as its energy consumption is very low in relation to the amount of water evaporated, so that it can achieve a high production even on duvet covers.

Lapauw lists quality, precision and productivity as the three main concerns for the finishing line. Precision in feeding and folding will help quality and also productivity, but again the ironer has a key role. The company says that more and more laundries are demanding a machine that will produce a high gloss finish, especially on table linen and its XXL series meets this requirement.

Lapauw also reports the increased popularity of gas-heated ironers as productivity is now being linked to energy consumption and the need to raise efficiency and reduce costs.

Keeping a watch on quality

The question of quality is one that must be considered in relation to the whole of the laundry production line, not just individual machine performance, or even the finishing section. For quality starts in the washroom and processing errors such as poor stain removal affect the finished result. The finishing line is in effect the last-stop in quality control, the final chance to reject items that are not up to specified standards.

Jensen stresses that its MPS quality control scanner is an important part of the finishing line. It uses twin cameras to detect holes and stains as well as misshapen pieces.

Those pieces that do not meet customer requirements are automatically separated

and rejected from the finishing line.

The scanner is part of Jensen’s All-In-One multipurpose line. This also includes the Logic Plus feeder, which handles large pieces in one and two lanes and small pieces in three to five lanes, the gas-heated EXPG 2000 mono-roll ironer and the Universal folder with reversing conveyor for large pieces and a roll-off stacker. It also has a centreing device and the SPL line for cross-folding and stacking small pieces.

The preparation of flatwork before it reaches

the finishing line has been an important area

of development.

This has been one of the focusses for

UK-based manufacturer H-J Weir with two established machines. The CakeBuster breaks up cakes or cheeses of linen, eliminating or reducing the tumble-dry stage between washing and finishing.

The AutoPrep untangles and separates linen for presentation to the feeder. The two machines can be used together or individually.

The ability to match wash capacity to that of the finishing line is important in boosting productivity says the Swiss manufacturer Biko.

Developments that avoid the need for a line of trolleys waiting around the finishing line are therefore key.

Biko’s system can handle mixed loads and allows the laundry to know where a particular piece of linen is at any one time.

The system also avoids build-ups of waiting linen at the front of the line by having a loading section equipped with the Daniella loader. Here linen is clipped and stored until needed and then sent automatically to the Theresa feeder at the front of the ironer.

The increasing take-up of automation in the finishing line has been a trend for some years.

Kannegiesser says manual feeding creates bottlenecks which slow production and increase costs. Its answer is a combination of the EMA feeder and the GZ-AV transport system, which has a pre-spreading function.

This combination helps a laundry’s competitiveness in terms of both quality and productivity. Used together the two systems can produce up to 1,600 cycles hour in one lane and up to 2,260 in a two-lane set-up.

The system can be programmed individually for each application. In addition to improving productivity, Kannegiesser believes laundries must optimise their energy use. The company has set up an energy-saving working group that continually researches ways of making the most efficient use of energy.

As energy resources decline, this has become the top priority. Technologies are also constantly improving. Sheet/duvet cover feeders have been improved to increase hourly output in line with that of the heated band ironers, which are available now in both steam and gas versions.

High-speed folding machines have also been developed so that in certain cases ironer lines can now run at 60m/min.

While the desire to increase productivity is an important and continuing trend, manufacturers need to respond to additional concerns such as the need for space-saving designs.

Lapauw describes the introduction of its I-box as significant. This provides a complete finishing line in a single unit. It consists of a two-station automatic feeder, two-roll ironer (each roll is 900mm diameter) and an industrial folder that provides three long-folds, three cross-folds and a stacker.

Compared to a conventional line of equivalent capacity, the I-box is said to save around 65% in space.

As well as saving space it also reduces installation costs as it eliminates the need for mechanical and electrical connections between three separate machines.

Last year Lapauw announced that it had signed a formal agreement with the Japanese manufacturer Totofolder to market its feeders and folders in Europe.

The agreement has already resulted in the introduction of the Sonic ES-3 feeder, a clamp-style feeding machine that is designed to deal with heavy, thick linen and therefore can be seen as a response both to the trend for heavier weight sheets and that for duvet covers.

The Extra cornerless feeder is a development of Lapauw’s Unicorn feeder. The Extra is a clamp -style machine but also includes the Unicorn’s correction roll.

As its only moving parts are the clamps and the transport to the correction roll, the machine is in line with customer demand for machines that are simple in their design and easy to maintain.

Looking at the development of the finishing line in recent years, Girbau says that machines have become more user-friendly.

Manufacturers too have realised that they need to have a wide product range so that they have models to suit the needs of each customer in terms of productivity, quality and price.

Rising energy and the forecast decline in resources have underlined the need for ironers to be highly energy efficient.

Girbau has introduced the PC120 chest ironers. These are 1,200mm diameter models that can be heated by steam or oil or by a self-contained gas system. The PSN80 range includes both 800mm and 1,200mm models and has a self-contained gas heating system that operates at over 90% net efficiency.

The company is also introducing its next generation in feeders and folders. The DR feeders have a full range of options and can offer different levels of automation and productivity, while the FL folders can cope with varying requirements.

Aspects of machine design such as ergonomics have been brought more into focus. H-J-Weir has produced the Low-Line Vacfeed with stations designed for a better working height, variable speed fans and a rapid clearance function, that gets sheets into the ironer quickly improving productivity up to 20%.

Logistics and machine control have developed greatly over the years. Biko points out that where control design used to be in the hands of engineers, the rise of computer control has meant that the company’s designers now have their roots in IT.

The rise of the IT-based designer has made much more information available to the laundry and it is easily accessible.

Compatability is another important aspect of software-based design. Machines need to network with others and to link to different computer systems.

The software in Biko’s machines is designed in a standardised way so that its machines can be used alongside those from other brands and it can link to any type of management system.

Kannegiesser has made logistics a main focus as demonstrated by its 2007 in-house exhibition. Data collected in real time from the machine and displayed on machines acts as a spur to operators by showing them how their own rate compares with the target rate.

Weir’s WISE (Weir Intelligent System Electronics) controller demonstrates the way controls have developed. The touchscreen based system is available on the Vacfeed Low Line and the Foldmaker 35, 55, 64, 94 and 56 autograde.

The touchscreen allows operators and production managers to have control over programs.

The system has up to 32 program options on the full colour screen along with production reporting and diagnostic features.