Content about Law

EQUIPMENT/SUPPLIES DISTRIBUTION: STEVE CLARK, LAUNDRY EQUIPMENT SERVICES INC., BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.VA.

As with any mechanical industry in the world today, technology is ever evolving and continues to push equipment to its max in terms of production and efficiency. This is no different in the laundry industry—as long as you use it properly.

Forget all the bells and whistles of additional means for energy conservation and get down to the nitty-gritty of what it takes to improve your laundry’s energy efficiency and water consumption with the equipment you already have. Something that laundry managers often forget is the amount of water in an individual cycle’s bath and the amount of that water retained in the linen at the end of the cycle.

First, do you know how many gallons are in a particular bath? If so, then do you truly need that much? Does your machine capacity and chemical makeup require such an amount of water? With advancements in technology and computer programming, every leading manufacturer of equipment is capable of customizing water consumption on a per-bath/per-cycle basis. Obviously, this cycle variation will depend on the material being laundered. Regardless, it would be wise to break down the water level and percentage of drum capacity with your chemical representative to determine if this percentage can be tweaked.

Imagine saving 1 gallon per bath/per cycle and multiply that by the number of cycles you run throughout a given day. For example, one machine removes 1 gallon of water from five baths in one cycle. At 5 gallons per load and two loads an hour, that equals 10 gallons saved per hour, or 80 gallons saved per eight-hour shift.

Beyond the amount of water going into an individual wash cycle, what about the water coming out? The water retention amount per load can destroy your laundry’s efficiency in the drying or finishing stages of the process. For every percentage point of moisture in a given material, expect additional minutes to be spent in a dryer or finisher, thus requiring more labor, gas, electricity, etc., per load.

Water retention is affected by the amount of water introduced, the extraction rate of RPMs applying the respective G-force, and the length of extraction time. Due to previously mentioned advances in technology and programming capabilities, most equipment is capable of adjusting the RPMs and the length of extraction time to limit moisture retention to a desired amount for premium linen quality and energy efficiency.

Limit your expenses and help the environment; maximize your efficiency.

COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY: TOM GILDRED, EMERALD TEXTILES, SAN DIEGO, CALIF.

Greater energy efficiency and water conservation can be achieved through planning and design using the new technology available in equipment such as continuous batch washers, presses, and dryers.

In some areas, utilities companies and commissions have special incentive programs designed to encourage businesses to be as energy efficient as possible. In working with your utility company, it is possible to precisely plan for proper equipment and energy use in order to achieve maximum savings.

Employing “reduce and reuse” principles ensures that the highest possible level of resource preservation is achieved throughout an operation. By incorporating the latest technology, equipment, processes and infrastructure, it is possible to save millions of gallons of water annually and tremendous amounts of natural gas and electricity. Some of the ways to achieve tremendous savings include:

• Utilizing energy-efficient lighting, and motion-sensor lighting where appropriate, throughout the plant and offices to reduce energy use.
• Going green with invoices, by using e-mail instead of paper to conserve ink, energy and eliminate paper waste.
• Using environmentally sustainable, lighter fabrics that not only make sense for the environment but also require less drying time.
• Utilizing gravity-enabled designs in the plant, such as an overhead rail system, that moves laundry through the facility using minimal energy to produce less risk and strain to employees.
• Installing the latest industrial washers that utilize high-tech water systems with the ability to decrease water usage by more than 75%.
• Incorporating high-pressure presses to remove the maximum amount of water from clean goods and greatly reduce drying time, resulting in lower natural gas consumption.
• Employing heat reclamation equipment, which employs energy-transfer principles to raise the incoming water temperature so that a lot less energy is needed for heating.

Through technology and streamlined processes, it is possible to achieve tremendous energy savings, which results in cost savings and reduced environmental impact. That’s good for the industry and good for the environment.

TEXTILES: TOM LANGDON, ENCOMPASS GROUP, MCDONOUGH, GA.

There are a number of relatively new textile products on the market that can help improve a laundry’s energy and water consumption. Technology developments in yarn spinning and finishing chemistry now allow synthetic fibers to have more natural fiber characteristics.

Fasciated yarn is defined by Webster’s as a form of fiber assembly consisting of a core of parallel discontinuous fibers bound into a compact bundle by surface wrapping minor proportion of the discontinuous fibers around the core to form the yarn. The most common type is MJS, or Murata Jet Spinning, named after the Japanese manufacturer that perfected this technique.

By using this process to spin all polyester or CVS (Chief Value Synthetic) fibers into yarn, products have a more “cotton-like” look and feel. Recent developments in finishing chemistry now can impart wicking and moisture management properties on fabrics once considered nonabsorbent. This market trend started several years ago with sheets and pillowcases, but now has spread into most product groups, including incontinent pads and even thermal blankets.

There are a few challenges that any laundry may have to address when considering incorporating these new products into their system. No. 1 is the difference in cost. Depending on the item, replacing an existing CVC (Chief Value Cotton) item with one that is all-poly or poly rich could be a 20-40% premium in upfront investment over the standard linen price. The second challenge is processing. Because manmade fiber products dry faster and absorb less water, they need to be processed separately to achieve their full benefits. In some cases, this may be more trouble than it is worth.

Although there is an upfront investment, adding these items to a line will more than provide payback over time. By its nature, polyester is stronger than cotton and will last longer. There is less weight loss, which helps protect revenues for those charging by the pound. Studies have shown that these poly-rich items are more resistant to staining, so there is savings to be had by reducing rewash cycles or pre-treating.

This past year was the best time ever to add more poly-rich items to your line or convert completely. The unprecedented rise in cotton prices in 2011 closed the gap, so in some cases switching was a wash (no pun intended), or the premium was slight. If you look at these items from a cost-per-use perspective, they still are a good value.

I’ll offer a few statistics. One company that I work with did some in-house testing on the processing of these new, synthetic-rich items and achieved the following results on several product categories (of course, results may vary from laundry to laundry):

Knit Sheets — Drying time was reduced 25-40% as compared to a cotton-rich item, and water retention was cut in half.

Pads — Drying time was reduced by 50% as compared to a cotton-rich item, and water retention was reduced by 20%.

Clothing Protectors — Drying time was reduced by 60% as compared to a cotton-rich item, and water retention reduced by 40%.

If laundries embrace this new technology, they will experience faster drying times and use less water. They will also have products that last longer. Saving money and time while conserving resources, now that’s a win-win.

HOTEL/MOTEL/RESORT LAUNDRY: JR NORRIS, DELTA UNIFORM AND LINEN, ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

As energy prices begin to soar, and with today’s current economic uncertainty, now is an excellent time to implement energy benchmarking and waste reduction in your operation.

Conducting energy audits on a regular basis can help determine the actual condition of your equipment as well as its overall performance. These audits can show where and how energy is being wasted, and can help you identify and prioritize future energy-improvement measures.

Unfortunately, it took some time to get our entire team to recognize the benefits and contribute to reducing wasted resources. In addition to insulating hot water and steam lines and repairing leaky valves, we conducted frequent walk-and-talk meetings with maintenance and laundry managers to identify a starting point.

Since our machines are older, we decided we should determine their energy consumption first. To start the process, we had our local electricity provider complete an audit. It conducted a weeklong audit of our usage and compared peak vs. non-peak times. Through these findings, we learned which equipment was pulling the highest amperage and then made proactive decisions to determine what we could do to conserve.

After the audit was complete, we reviewed all of our older equipment that was wasting the most energy. The most energy-consuming piece of equipment turned out to be a 50-hp air compressor, and, unfortunately, we have two of them in place. In an effort to reduce this waste, we purchased a new 25-hp motor, changed the pulleys and reduced the overall amps being used.

Some may ask why we didn’t purchase a new, energy-efficient compressor. We believe in saving first and purchasing newer equipment after all other options have been exhausted.

For example, we had a 900-pound Ellis washer that had such a hard start-up and used so many amps that it continuously caused problems. We implemented today’s technology and installed a soft-start invert drive. This dramatically reduced our daily amps and allowed room on our circuit breaker to install more equipment on our two different power sources. This method of resolution has proven successful in our operation.

In addition to modifying equipment to conserve energy, we also found that by utilizing our skylights as a natural light source, we were able to reduce the number of hours a day that our overhead lights are on. With the generous amount of sunlight that we have in New Mexico, we tapped into this natural resource. The additional natural light encourages more positive production out of our employees than working under bright fluorescent lighting. To take this a step further, we are installing photocells on our fixtures to automatically reduce lighting usage.

The next energy-saving effort we will focus on is a system for reclaiming water. We have grown significantly over the last few years, and have learned that this system will be a vital contributor for cost savings and water preservation. We are in the process of researching this method to determine our future implementation efforts.

Conserving energy can be as easy as wrapping and insulating lines or identifying and repairing all leaking water and air valves. Enlisting your local energy service provider to provide audits of your current consumption can give you a better understanding of your usage and allow you to easily identify waste. Empowering your team to conserve and promote awareness of energy waste can improve the success of your efforts. Education and implementation is the best way to reduce our industry’s carbon footprint and benefit the environment, but it also can assist in reducing our collective bottom lines.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2!

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) last month hosted the first of six Executive Roundtables planned for 2012, providing members with benchmarking information designed to improve operations, performance, productivity and safety.

TRSA President Joseph Ricci says his association’s members are always looking for opportunities for innovation. “Differentiation with unique goods and services provide a niche for new market entry and the financial premiums associated with those opportunities,” he explains.

This gathering covered issues impacting the restaurant/food-and-beverage and hotel/lodging markets. A representative of Darden Restaurants—the world’s largest full-service restaurant company, including the Red Lobster, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse brands—took part in the roundtable discussion, promoting the exchange of information from customer to service provider.

Industry consultants from Pertl & Alexander led discussions on linen loss and replacement for hospitality and food-and-beverage (F&B) applications. Attendees were invited to tour three Walt Disney World laundries, each with a special application and purpose.

The Housekeeping Plant processes rooms linen and pool towels for the nearly 30,000 Disney World hotel guestrooms. It produces more clean linen than any other single laundry location in the world—nearly 120 million pounds annually. The 16-year-old facility operates seven tunnel washers (that are targeted for replacement) and an automated open-pocket cell. 

The emphasis on throughput production is clear, but not at the risk of sacrificing quality. Quality control is ongoing, including a station that randomly evaluates linen before shipment.

Bob Corfield, president of Laundry Design Group, appreciated the production and efficiency of the housekeeping plant, but was eager to see how Disney handled its considerable costume and uniform requirements.

After a short bus ride, the group toured the Costume Facility that processes 29,000 costumes and cast member uniforms every day. 

Curt Gray, chief administrative officer for AmeriPride Services in Minnetonka, Minn., says he felt more at home in the uniform plant environment. His goal was to better understand how a world-class organization like Walt Disney World integrates its service culture into the industrial laundry environment.

After going through the plants, Gray commented that the net result of what Disney accomplishes appears to be the sum of doing a lot of little things right.

The Costume Facility tours like a morph between a large drycleaning shop and a production industrial plant (it also processes all walk-off mats used in the theme park). Equipment includes four drycleaning machines, two wetclean washers, and an assortment of washer-extractors.

Terri Amey, Disney’s costume plant manager, attributes the production and quality to the plant’s “cast.” Average term of service among full-time employees there is 19.5 years.

Pablo Lucchesi of Crown Linen, Miami, was particularly interested in touring Disney’s Food and Beverage Plant, as F&B is a growth center for his company.

Disney’s F&B facility provides table linen for the 200 park restaurant outlets servicing 32 different color options.

F&B delivery drivers arrive at work at 2 a.m. Pickups and deliveries are made in the early-morning hours using lowboy trailers. They are equipped with ramps that eliminate lift-gate requirements, reducing delivery times and improving operator safety.

The next TRSA Executive Roundtable is scheduled for May and will involve operational and market issues specific to national textile services companies.

ROCKLEDGE, Fla. — Bill Carey has been in the laundry business his entire adult life. Six years ago, he took over the helm at Space Coast Hospital Services, a not-for-profit hospital cooperative laundry.

“Our mission is to help our hospitals reduce their cost of linen services,” Carey says. “If we don’t help them, somebody else will. We are operating in an extremely competitive environment right now, and we have to deliver.”

Education, Training Lead to Savings

Besides linen management, another area where Space Coast Hospital Services has reduced client linen costs is in isolation gowns. Carey credits Bobby Coble, territory manager, acute care, Encompass Group, with helping meet client needs.

“Traditional gowns tie in the back,” Coble says. “Ties in the back are more difficult for patients to untie. Disposables were reportedly preferred by many patients because they could just rip them off and throw the gown away.”

Encompass came up with a gown that ties on the side, enabling patients to more easily take it off and making the garment more acceptable for isolation applications, according to Coble.

Space Coast Hospital Services provides linen management support in each hospital in areas of linen utilization and educational programs. It also partners with Encompass, which provides customers with a linen-management tracking tool to pinpoint cost and usage by user area.

Pam Perdicaro, Carey’s service manager, reaches out to hospital clients to help them better understand laundry and linen operations, and how correct procedures can reduce their costs.

Quarterly hospital linen service director meetings and semi-annual on-site linen awareness programs emphasize training. “Nursing needs to understand that any additional linen left in a room has to be removed and sent back to the laundry for processing when the patient leaves,” Perdicaro says. “Storing additional items in a patient room just adds to their costs.”

There is improvement after the meetings and training, according to Perdicaro, but the laundry has found that regular reviews are needed to keep things fresh in everyone’s mind.

For example, the laundry learned that some certified nursing assistants were discarding soiled incontinent pads that could have been laundered. “They were throwing away the items that they thought were ‘too dirty,’” Perdicaro says.

“Another major area of linen cost that we manage is linen loss from transport,” Carey says. “We now provide specific EMT packs of linen for transporting patients leaving a hospital. The packs contain linen items needed, but they may have a small stain or tear that would keep them out of our standard linen inventory.”

It is an efficient way to utilize linen that would otherwise go to rag out, while in turn reducing clients’ linen losses, Carey says.

“Information and training saved one of our clients $350,000 over the last five years by reducing their pounds per adjusted patient day,” he says.

Staff is Key to Co-op Laundry’s Success

Carey credits his staff with initiatives to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Plant Operations Manager Ray Esche evaluated truck run and idle times to reduce diesel consumption.

“We used to have to keep our trucks idling during the unload process in order to power the lift gates,” Carey says. “We worked with our lift gate supplier to install remote lift-gate power outlets at the dock. Now, the lift gates work off electricity, allowing the diesel engines to shut down.”

Space Coast Hospital Services also installed governors on its delivery trucks to limit highway speeds to 68 mph. Fuel consumption reports show that transportation miles per gallon were increased by 14.5% for the truck fleet.

Kelley Desjardins, production manager, tracks daily plant processing production every day.

“We bonus our production employees for performance,” Desjardins says. “Once the plant performance threshold is met, the production employee needs to reach at least 98% of the production standard for any bonuses to kick in. Bonuses increase as pounds per operator hour increases for the entire plant.”

The plant, originally built in 1982, was expanded and upgraded with tunnel washer technology in the early ’90s. Two Milnor tunnel washers and four Chicago Dryer Co. finishing lines meet core production requirements.

Although designed for 15 million pounds per year on a single shift five days a week, economic conditions have reduced processing requirements.

“In order to reduce operating costs and still keep our people working, we went to four production days, eliminating Wednesday linen processing,” Carey says. “Office, maintenance, and delivery still operate five days per week.”

Thirty-one of 67 employees have worked at Space Coast for more than 10 years. “Our people are the key to our success, and employee retention is very important to us,” Carey says.

He remains positive about the future. “We are well positioned for additional business. We will continue to be a high-quality linen service and will always stay committed to our mission of providing the best service and quality product at the lowest possible cost.”

Click here for Part 1.

Textile/Uniform Rental: David Dersheimer, SITEX Corp.

There are certainly differences in what commercial or rental plants may choose or use for equipment and procedures when compared to institution-based laundries and their respective facilities.

Generally, the volume and product mix of a rental or commercial facility tends to fluctuate more than an institutional facility’s does.

Rental facilities tend to make equipment and process decisions based on current mix and volume plus projected growth. They have smaller load quantities in varying item mixes. The soil levels in rental plants also tend to range broadly from light to heavy.

Institutional laundries have a more consistent volume and less variance in soil classifications. And there is typically less variation in soil levels and volumes in a healthcare, nursing home or hotel laundry.

But I’m not sure you could define differences in laundries based only on these two categories or generalities. You might need to ask a few questions, such as:

• What is the item mix, and how many different sort classes/soil levels are there?
• What is the facility’s planned growth? Is there anticipated growth in one segment or area? If so, how will that impact the volume and mix?
• How would product mix affect equipment decisions?
• Is the wash operation running batches or smaller, varying loads, or loads of similar volume and sort class? Does the facility need single or convention machines, or would a continuous batch washer be a better choice?
• If flatwork finishing, is volume or flexibility needed? For large pieces, does the facility need a sheet feeder, table linen feeder, or a machine that can do both? Is an ironer needed to handle napkins and pillowcases?

Differences between any two laundries, whether commercial or institutional, can be quite distinct. One needs to assess current mix, planned growth, and output expectations to determine individual needs.

Consulting Services: Ron Evans, RJ Evans and Associates

There are several procedural differences between industrial rental laundries and institutional laundries. Growth, greater competition, incomparable number of products processed, and profit are the driving and dividing forces.

Since most rental laundries have hundreds if not thousands of customers, their processing practices must be much more flexible and expanded than an institutional laundry that may have a singular or limited common customer base.

Since rental laundries exist in a much more competitive environment, it is essential for the production department’s contribution to the rental company’s bottom line be fully within strict budget forecasts. The trick here is that all production forecasts are predicated on sales forecasts, and the latter can be difficult to project for a coming year.

There is a constant need to search for improved best practices to satisfy the varied demands upon their daily changes in usage, product variation and resource allocation. It becomes essential to leverage all advantages that eliminate or reduce waste while at the same time operate within projected budget requirements. These are all centered on “lean and mean” customer satisfaction.

The production department’s contribution to bottom-line profit in a rental laundry is scrutinized and monitored due to its constantly changing customer base. Rental laundry production management must be much more engaged and “hands on” in addressing all the demands of its varied customers’ needs. Pressures on rental managers are more numerous and dynamic than those on institutional managers. Rental production managers must be good business managers as well as knowing their trade.

Another difference is the role of a production department in a rental industrial laundry. Full-time salespeople use their production department as a sales tool and regularly take potential customers on plant tours. Therefore, the department always has to be in marketable “showplace” condition.

A rental laundry’s service department also uses the production department as a customer-retention tool. Service departments have developed sophisticated programs to elevate a customer’s understanding of the rental laundry’s value in maintaining their fixed costs, convenience, and quality standards. As such, they constantly market environmental advantages in waste treatment, sanitary conditions, safety practices, and inventory control. Processing techniques are used not only for production but to gain and retain customers.

Because of its dedicated freestanding facility, the rental laundry has acquired a “target” on its back for every governmental inspector. Consequently, it must operate under the assumption that it will have city, state, regional and federal government inspectors in its facilities throughout the year. The end result is rental laundries have unsurpassed training and updated performance exercises in safety, waste management, OSHA, and human resource issues out of the realization that they will be audited. This constant pressure creates a professional, self-policing system and a comfort zone for their customers.

Both types of industrial laundries have similar equipment, chemicals and procedures for the items they process in common. Because of the difference in competitive situations, rental laundries must operate at a higher level of customer speed to retain revenue-generating clients.

It has been my experience that most rental production managers could operate an institutional laundry quite easily while most institutional production managers would have to expand their skills to effectively manage a rental industrial laundry.

Equipment Manufacturing: Kim Shady, Laundrylux Corp.

How do you define commercial laundry or institutional laundry? Often, those terms are used interchangeably. So let’s remove the descriptive terms and be more absolute. What is the equipment difference between a laundry processing less than 3,000 pounds per day and a laundry processing more than 3,000 pounds per day?

In the simplest form, the equipment differences can be defined by automation. It may reduce labor costs, improve quality, reduce processing time or save energy. As the pounds processed per day increase, there become economies of scale for each of these items.

While improved quality may be a goal for selecting automation, the determining factor is most likely the return on investment (ROI). You can calculate this by projecting labor savings, energy savings and maybe even overhead by square foot vs. the cost of automation.

A small-piece folder is one of the smallest investments for automation. It can process towels, gowns, blankets or fitted sheets. If your laundry is processing 1,000 pounds of these items a day, a small-piece folder could reduce your staffing by one person. An institutional laundry is likely using a staff of two to hand-fold these items. If a basic small-piece folder is $45,000, what might the ROI be?

Commercial laundries likely process a large quantity of flat goods. Automation in this case may include automatic pickers to replace one or two staff members.

Processing linens through an ironer requires the least amount of energy per pound of finished goods. But that doesn’t mean ironing is the lowest-cost method for processing goods. An institutional laundry may use an ironer but lack automation, thus requiring two to four staff members.

Over the last five years, numerous ironers on the market have offered feeding, folding and stacking built into the ironer, allowing a single operator to process 150 or more pounds per hour. Processing 75 pounds per hour is a common goal in laundries without automation. A machine with these features can reduce the staffing required for ironing. The additional investment for the feeder, folder and stacker may be $100,000. What might the ROI be for this automation?

Labor will always be the largest cost of operating a laundry. An institutional laundry can be limited in methods for reducing labor costs, so automation can be a difference maker. It is the difference between the equipment selections in a commercial laundry and an institutional laundry.

Member at Large: Douglas Story, Swisher Hygiene

When I first read this question, I thought, “What in the heck can anyone say about this? Processing fabric is processing fabric, right?” But it is a good question that has forced me to look not so much at the equipment or procedures that are used by the two laundry types but at the philosophies behind the use of that equipment.

As I was contemplating what I would write, I was inspired by one of my favorite “philosophers,” Jeff Foxworthy. Here, offered somewhat tongue-in-cheek, are some differences between a commercial laundry and an institution-based laundry:

• If the laundry manager is a graduate in hospitality management and is in the job as a learning experience, it might be an institution-based laundry.
• If a washer’s rated capacity is used as the measure of the pounds of linen being processed, it might be an institution-based laundry.
• If a washer’s rated capacity is considered an estimate and everyone knows that it can hold another 100 pounds, it might be a commercial laundry.
• If the laundry manager loads the washer and then walks to the next room to welcome a guest and offer them a cookie, it might be an institution-based laundry.
• If the laundry manager is proud of his washroom’s 2,000 lbs/hr production but can’t understand how two 100-pound dryers can keep up, it might be a commercial laundry.
• If the laundry manager, when asked why he has 10 washers and two flatwork ironers stored in the parking lot, answers, “Parts,” it might be a commercial laundry.
• When employees stay later to produce more laundry, it might be a commercial laundry.
• When employees stay later to clean the rooms or provide patient care, it might be an institution-based laundry.
• When the flatwork ironer goes down and the laundry manager prays for its recovery, it might be a commercial laundry.
• When the laundry manager can give you the cost per piece, labor, utilities, fixed and variable cost itemized, it might be a commercial laundry.
• When the laundry manager says, “I don’t know all of my utility costs,” it might be an institution-based laundry.

There are philosophical differences between commercial (for-profit) and institutional (not-for-profit or support services) laundries, but it is not, for the most part, in the equipment or processes they use. It is more in how management approaches the business and customer service sides of the operation.

In the past, the primary focus of a commercial laundry was the customers that paid for their service. By contrast, this was/is not always the case for the institutional laundry. But as we look to the future, I believe that we are seeing the philosophies of these two operations beginning to merge.

Institutional laundries are becoming more like their commercial counterparts because of economic pressures and because many of the organizations operating these laundries have realized the impact they have on the bottom line of the institutions they serve.

Commercial and institutional laundries are becoming more customer-focused, so both are looking at better, or more efficient, ways to improve the way they do business for the customers they serve. For both, it is a matter of survival.

Click here for Part 1.

RICHMOND, Va. — Cintas Corp.’s Chester, Va., facility has received the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) “Star” worksite designation from the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency’s highest recognition for the practice of and commitment to exemplary occupational safety and health.

It is the third Cintas uniform rental operation to receive the coveted status, and the fourth company-wide.

“This type of achievement can only be realized when everyone is working together for one common goal,” says Howard Baron, general manager of Cintas in Chester, near Richmond. “To say I’m proud of my team would be an understatement. It’s a great accomplishment that is deserved by a great group of employee-partners.”

“Receiving the VPP ‘Star’ award here in the state of Virginia is no small feat. Every year, only a small number of companies are awarded this status,” says Jim Cheng, Virginia’s secretary of commerce and trade.

As a facility with leading safety and health practices, the Chester uniform rental facility constantly integrates improvements to its safety and health programs. Cintas employs 120 people in Chester and 1,000 statewide.

ROANOKE, Va. — I once wrote about having an opportunity to use reusable barrier isolation gowns in all the hospitals that comprise the Carilion Clinic. The ability to start such a program was rewarding after having failed to gain approval over the previous seven years.

Product Packaging and Distribution Design

The key to success is to develop a packaging system for the reusable gowns that will work in the same manner as the disposable gowns.

The disposable barrier gowns were packaged in a bundle of 10 and then heat-sealed in plastic wrap. Some units used over-the-door caddies that held the gowns and various sizes of gloves, caps and masks. Large users used small isolation carts similar to a toolbox where the same items were stored in drawers.

We discovered the packaging for the disposable gowns didn’t work well in an over-the-door caddy; once the wrap was torn open, the gowns tended to fall on the floor. So, we tried a 14x16 zip-lock bag. We needed to make some small adjustments to the fold to get 10 gowns into a bag. Once a bag was filled, we were able to squeeze out all the air and create a nice-looking package. The 10 reusable barrier isolation gowns actually took up less space than the 10 disposable gowns.

The mini-distribution department and offsite warehouse handled distribution of disposable isolation gowns. When units needed an isolation cart or caddy, they called mini-distribution, which delivered one to the proper location. Once on location, the nursing unit was responsible for replacing any supplies. Nursing ordered replacements from the offsite warehouse.

Items for each unit were delivered weekly, so this meant a number of cases of disposable isolation gowns had to be stocked on each unit. Limited storage on the nursing units made this a real problem during peak flu season.

We designed a system in which the reusable isolation gowns were stocked on the units in predetermined quantities and delivered by the linen room staff. The staff inventoried the gowns each day and restocked as needed, greatly reducing storage space needs.

Quality Control

If you are going to handle reusable barrier linen, you must do it to the highest standards. Your presentation and quality must be above reproach.

No matter how carefully I washed the barrier linen, some degradation was unavoidable. I could slow repellency loss by limiting the amount of alkali, using a solvent-based detergent, and eliminating all bleach and softener, but slowing it was not good enough.

We added a small amount of a barrier retreatment product to the final rinse. Sutter testing showed not only that the loss was eliminated, the barrier on some items actually improved. There are basically three product types on the market: wax-based, fluoropolymer-based, and a mixture. I prefer the fluoropolymer, because it adheres to the fibers only, has no effect on the fabric’s air permeability, and will not cause yellowing.

We wash reusable barrier isolation gowns in our conventional washer-extractors so we can strictly control the wash chemistry. We have reduced the weight per load by 65-70% of stated capacity due to the gown’s weight.

We inspect and fold the gowns in our surgical pack room. Each gown is inspected for holes or tears, and checked to make sure all ties are in place and are the appropriate length.

A gown is marked on the quality-control grid with a number or letter assigned to only one employee. It allows us to track a quality-control problem back to a specific employee.

We also built in random inspections by our supervisor. This allows us to check the finished work for problems and adjust our training program or take appropriate disciplinary action.

Wednesday: Initial user training and product rollout...
Click here for Part 1.

Equipment Manufacturing: Kim Shady, Laundrylux Corp.

Since graduating a long time ago from the University of Wisconsin-Stout with a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management, I have been involved in the hospitality industry in some form. I managed private country clubs for three years, owned a restaurant and banquet facility for five years, and have managed professional laundry sales organizations for the past 24 years.

Laundrylux, founded in 1955 by Bernard Milch as Wascomat of America, has been a leader in North America laundry equipment sales. In the past three years, with the introduction of the Electrolux brand in North America, the company changed its name to better match its future. Now, we offer two world-class brands—Wascomat and Electrolux—and both bring something unique and valuable to the table.

Our core business is providing laundry solutions for lodging and long-term care facilities, but we are also strong in the fabricare and athletic industries. The challenges we face include helping our clients understand how to operate an on-premise laundry professionally and profitably.

The majority of our clients are focused on their guests or customers, and laundry operations tend to attract little focus. Lack of expertise in the laundry operation keeps them from understanding how to reduce costs and operate at their highest efficiency. There is a lack of understanding that all washers and dryers are not built the same. Selecting the proper laundry equipment can significantly reduce labor and energy costs. There can also be great savings in linen replacement with properly featured washers and dryers.

Our most impressive accomplishment for 2011 was assisting a nursing home group with 30-plus facilities in reducing its energy and labor costs. We brought an integrated system in which all pieces of laundry equipment communicate to a central computer. The nursing home group has taken control of its laundry operations through machine controls that monitor every facet of laundry costs. It outfitted most of its laundries with state-of-the-art equipment to monitor every location via the Internet. The information allows the group to compare facilities and set operational baselines. They can easily identify problems within days and define corrective actions to reduce energy or labor waste.

I look forward to sharing my industry experience and further building my knowledge from this panel.

Member at Large: Douglas Story, Swisher Hygiene

Most people call me Doug. I started as a researcher responsible for creating something new from the by-products of the papermaking industry. That research yielded various types of surfactants (detergents) and coupling agents that are now widely used in the laundry industry. That research effort, and leaving South Carolina to live with my bride in North Carolina, is the core of how I moved from research and development to the laundry industry.

I’m a biology/chemistry graduate of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., with an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago. For more than 30 years (25 in the laundry industry), I have worked in a career that has crossed many boundaries within today’s laundry business organizational structure.

From research chemist to global marketing and portfolio management, I have gathered a diversity of experience that has allowed me to develop a unique 4-D view of how organizations and their employees must work to accomplish the strategies and objectives of a viable laundry operation and business.

From personnel to operational needs, I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from the best our industry has to offer. I hope that I can pass along some of those “learnings” in this publication.

I am vice president of innovation for Swisher Hygiene, an international service organization that provides full-service programs for a wide range of cleaning and cleaning service operations. From the special expertise of servicing laundry needs or operation to the expertise required to handle solid-waste programs, Swisher Hygiene is a single source supplier.

My team and I are continually looking to the challenge of providing new technologies and services. We not only want to make everyone’s life easier but also aid our customers in reducing costs and enhancing the sustainable future of their operation and business.

Swisher Hygiene has been on the leading edge of driving a wide range of programs and services that will take the day-to-day burden of many operational procedures off the collective backs of management so it can focus on customer service and business growth.

Our challenges are also our accomplishments: we use innovation models to create new solutions to old and new problems for our customers. We are also looking beyond “what we’ve done for you today” to the next generation of ideas and innovative solutions.

Chemicals Supply: Marlene Williams, Anderson Chemical Co.

I am the lab/research and development manager for Anderson Chemical Co., a family-owned business in Litchfield, Minn. My background is in product development and support for laundry, kitchen and housekeeping for the institutional and industrial markets as well as sanitation technology and water management. I manage our R&D laboratory and have responsibility for quality control and our technical service network.

I’ve been the lab/R&D manager for 22 years and am part of a group of specialists with similar longevity who provide services for formulating and textile evaluation. We have developed laundry chemistry, most recently green products, in partnership with the EPA’s Design for the Environment Safer Product Labeling Program. We service institutional and industrial laundries through distributors across the country.

Our daily operation is variable, balanced between product development, quality, and support for chemical specialists in the marketplace. We provide machine and chemical program information, and laboratory troubleshooting support for our accounts. In addition to a well-equipped laboratory, we have established a network of industry specialists to cover the gamut of laundry challenges.

Challenges for the future include green chemistry product development for both chemistry and performance. Increased awareness and regulation requiring green formulations are with us now and will continue to expand in the coming year. Raw-material availability and cost will continue to be challenges as global markets compete for limited and specialized materials. Effective cleaning and sanitizing at lower temperatures and against a larger base of pathogens will require an expanded focus in 2012.

Our company has just celebrated its centennial. During those 100 years, we expanded our offerings from local to national/international. Our fourth-generation leaders are dedicated to moving the company forward in response to new and developing industry needs. I am excited to be a part of this year’s panel and look forward to the opportunity to learn and share with others in the industry!

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.
Click here for Part 3.

Healthcare Laundry: Scott Beaton, Kaiser Permanente Northern California

I am the Kaiser Permanente Northern California regional product manager for linen and laundry, overseeing and maintaining a system that serves 21 Northern California hospitals with more than 27 million pounds processed annually.

Previously, I was operations manager for Sodexo in Stockton, Calif., one of the largest COG healthcare laundries in its laundry division. The plant processed more than 44 million pounds of linen per year while serving 30 hospital and 47 clinic customers in accordance with HLAC and Title 22 healthcare standards.

I’ve been in the commercial laundry industry for more than 20 years, having operated healthcare, hospitality and uniform plants throughout the West. I developed and implemented initiatives that contributed to increases in productivity and quality at each location while operating in union and nonunion environments.

I began my career at ARAMARK as a group merchandise control manager and worked at several different facilities throughout the Southwest in merchandise control and production. I later joined UniFirst Corp., where, as Western regional production trainer, I was responsible for the development of production managers and the implementation of all production-related best practices and procedures in the region.

My goals this year include enhancing the patient care experience and healing environment through enhanced linen quality and product upgrades. I also plan to increase the velocity and utilization of products by training stakeholders through the implementation of best practices at the user level while at the same time reducing our carbon footprint.

It’s an honor to be selected for this Panel. I hope to share the benefit of my experience with you.

Equipment/Supplies Distribution: Steve Clark, Laundry Equipment Services Inc.

Most of my laundry knowledge comes from hands-on experience, which I hope to be able to share while serving on this panel.

I grew up in the laundry industry; my father worked for Economics Laboratory for 32 years. I began transporting and installing laundry equipment when I was 16, and worked as a service technician for Ecolab in my early 20s. The latter position allowed me to understand general laundry procedures, applications, and the challenges that laundries face on a daily basis.

After several years, I decided to move into sales as a territory manager with Diversey and explored the chemical aspects of the industry. All of this experience primed me to open Laundry Equipment Services Inc., a commercial/industrial laundry equipment sales and service company. We supply new and refurbished equipment, as well as ancillary items, to hospitals, hotels, resorts, nursing homes, prisons, Laundromats, etc. We also have a large coin-operated division and parts department.

Operating LES allows me the diversity of managing a great group of employees, training customers, designing locations, constructing and/or rebuilding laundry facilities, and doing so within budgets. We focus on proper equipment sizing, correct equipment mixes, professional installations and continuous service after the sale.

Because so many of our customers are financially challenged by the economy, we’re forced to continually look for ways that they can save money. Our biggest challenge is keeping our customers operating safely while maintaining quality with the lowest costs possible, but it’s one we conquer.

Textile/Uniform Rental: David Dersheimer, SITEX Corp.

I am the plant manager for SITEX Corp. in Henderson, Ky. SITEX is a well-established uniform and linen rental company that has been serving customers in Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee and Indiana for more than 50 years. We provide outstanding image programs for our customers and reference that in our company’s tag line – SITEX, The Image Makers.

I am responsible for the day-to-day production, maintenance, and safety of our Henderson operation. I’ve been with SITEX for six years.

I’ve been in the commercial laundry industry on the production side for 29 years, and have worked for companies that produced from 3 million to 30 million pounds annually. I served one company briefly as a service manager. I have extensive experience in work measurement and production standards, as well as safety.

One of our challenges over the last couple of years has been dealing with the continued increase in the cost of raw materials that go into our end products. With the volatility in the cotton and petroleum markets, we have all seen price increases on our rental textiles as well as processing supplies.

SITEX has been able to maintain operating expenses by carefully researching alternate textile products and operational supplies and procedures. We have been able to offer our customers alternate and, in some cases, better products to suit their needs. I would consider this challenge met to be a success.

I am excited about what 2012 holds for my company and our industry, and I am proud to have been selected to serve on this panel. I hope that my experience and input helps my peers not only meet but exceed their expectations in 2012.

Tomorrow: Introductions to representatives of the consulting services, commercial laundry, and uniforms/workwear manufacturing sectors.

CHICAGO — Flatwork ironing systems have become the workhorse for healthcare and hospitality laundries around the world. When soliciting a new system, the following represents the basic requirements to keep in mind:

1. What space—height, width, length, etc.—do you have to accommodate a flatwork ironing system?

Such a system could feed goods to employees, plus include a feeder, the ironer, a folder/cross-folder for sheets, possibly a drape stack system for small pieces, a stacker for large pieces (sheets), and possibly a transverse conveyor that takes stacked goods from the stacker and places them on another conveyor (this device historically named The Gilmore could be the topic of a future column).

2. What are your existing energy components, and do you plan to use them?

What is your steam pressure at the ironer? Usually, 120 psi is the minimum expected. What about the steam temperature at the ironer? What are your electrical requirements, and what is your air pressure situation? Your specifications need to address all of these issues. Have you considered using other means for heating the ironer, such as thermal oil? If so, then you need to explore the cost benefits, space savings and production benefits these systems can offer.

3. What are the actual sizes and fabric mixes and weights of the items that you are processing?

This, along with the performance expectations you require of each, is one of the most important requirements. Don’t just say you want to process sheets and pillowcases; be explicit about their makeup. Do you wish to feed, fold and stack fitted sheets? When laundering, will the items be preconditioned in some fashion? If so, what amount of moisture will be removed, and will the goods come directly to the flatwork feeding area from washing and extraction?

4. Examine the state-of-the-art system controls.

These not only monitor production, steam and energy usage, but also can monitor all facets of the system operation (maintenance needs, etc.).

5. Examine new methods of exhausting and recovering heat from the ironer, as well as cleaning techniques that will permit the system to last for many years.

6. When you compute production needs, explore the various benefits of feeding.

How many FTEs (or full-time-equivalent workers) do you plan to use to meet your performance expectations? For example, could your feeding systems take two, three or four FTE to achieve the same production? Examine the ergonomic conditions that will face your employees during the act of feeding.

Finally, take a common-sense look at the feeding picture. Do sheets come in contact with the floor? Could an employee trip when feeding a sheet or any other item? If so, what other requirements can you insert in your specification to eliminate such possibilities?

While there is no scientific evidence available, the general concept of a sheet dragging on the floor before being fed into an ironer just doesn’t look good, and there have been situations in which OSHA and JCAHO have cited facilities for such conditions. Suppliers can provide remedies to eliminate this.

Once you have entertained each of these points, your specification should look like this (assuming you are purchasing one ironing system that will be used only for sheets):

1 flatwork ironing system that includes a system that feeds goods to the flatwork feeders (optional) consisting of _____ FTE; these FTEs will be able to feed 1,000 sheets per hour or 500 each. The system will be able to dry textiles 100% dry (with some small deviation) and to fold, cross-fold and stack these items in true dimension, 20 each, and convey these items to the linen accumulator.

After you conclude the FTE requirement, answer items 1-6 and address your specific expectations as they apply. Then add these provisions:

• Use manufacturers’ representatives for installation.
• Insist on a designated warranty.
• Determine installation provisions and times available. Closely examine the need to roll away certain items for maintenance, i.e. feeders, stackers and folders. If required, have the manufacturer supply a method of achievement.
• Require that you have on-call emergency service available from trained representatives within a specific time, i.e. no longer than 48 hours.
• Make sure the company you are working with has training programs for operators and maintenance personnel.
• Develop an inspection program.
• Establish a payment program, such as paying 90% on delivery and the remainder once the system purchased is tested and meets your expectations.
• Check past performance on all systems you plan to purchase.

ITHACA, N.Y. — The Statler Hotel, a full-service luxury property located on Cornell University’s campus, will soon install the GIMS™ UHF-RFID uniform tracking and White Conveyors’ automated U-Pick-It uniform delivery system to streamline operations.

The hotel is Cornell’s showcase property for the world-renowned School of Hotel Administration. Students work there as part of their training and studies.

When installed next month, the uniform tracking system will be interfaced to the delivery system to automatically distribute uniforms to employees, according to Jeff Welles, vice president of InvoTech, developer of the GIMS system. Employees will scan their ID cards, and the system will automatically deliver their uniforms and record the transaction.

“The new systems will provide a dual advantage for us,” says Richard Adie, general manager at the Statler. “We will be more efficient and cost-effective in our uniform management operations. We also have the opportunity to give our students hands-on experience with some of the most innovative technologies in the hotel business.”

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has launched a program that will enable many employers to resolve past worker classification issues and achieve certainty under the tax law at a low cost by voluntarily reclassifying their workers.

The Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP) is available to many businesses that erroneously treat their workers as nonemployees or independent contractors, and now want to correctly treat these workers as employees.

It will allow employers the opportunity to get into compliance by making a minimal payment covering past payroll tax obligations rather than waiting for an IRS audit.

Employers accepted into the program will pay an amount effectively equaling just over 1% of the wages paid to the reclassified workers for the past year. No interest or penalties will be due, and the employers will not be audited on payroll taxes related to these workers for prior years.

JOPLIN, Mo. — The Sisters of Mercy have made a commitment to spend as much as $543 million on a new state-of-the-art hospital—slated to open in 2014—to replace St. John’s Regional Medical Center, which was destroyed by an EF-5 tornado.

The May 22 tornado, which packed winds of up to 198 miles per hour, killed five patients and one visitor at the 367-bed hospital. The victims were among a total of 154 people killed by the severe weather in this southwestern Missouri city of 50,000 people.

The late-afternoon tornado made a direct hit on St. John’s and then appeared to stall over the hospital for a minute or more, according to emergency management personnel. It tore off portions of the hospital’s roof and peeled off entire sections of its façade.

Walls in the modern nine-story building were knocked 10 feet out of place; windows were blown out and rooms and corridors strewn with broken glass, fragments of concrete, and ceiling tiles. Virtually every patient and visitor suffered cuts from flying broken glass. Medical records and X-rays were sucked up by the tornado and dumped two counties away.

On the morning after the storm, the hospital—one of Joplin’s tallest buildings—appeared bombed out.

“The hospital was completely devastated,” says Jeff Hamilton, emergency management coordinator for the Sisters of Mercy Health System, which operates 28 hospitals and more than 200 outpatient facilities in the Midwest. “The tornado twisted the building 4^1/2 inches off its foundation. I’ve never seen anything remotely like it in my life.”

Employees in linen services escaped injury and death, according to Marilyn Endicott, director of materials management, which includes linen services. Linen services distributes clean linen provided by Healthcare Linen Specialists, a commercial service in Joplin.

“It’s miraculous that no one in linen services was killed or injured,” says Endicott, who credits the health system’s emergency evacuation plan, dubbed Condition Gray, with saving lives and sparing injury to the employees.

Remarkably, the only major loss involved damage to linen inventory, according to Endicott.

By the morning after the tornado struck, the hospital, which is a major trauma care center in the area, had moved all its patients to other facilities, says Cora Scott, a spokeswoman for the hospital.

Hospital staff worked all night caring for patients. The most critical patients were taken to Freeman Health System hospital, about two miles east. Patients who were able to walk were taken to Memorial Hall, a community building in Joplin, where a makeshift clinic was set up. Still others were taken to a Catholic high school, at least temporarily.

St. John’s Regional Medical Center set up as a Mobile Surgical Hospital near the ruins of the hospital and received linen twice daily from Healthcare Linen Specialists. Under a talent-sharing program, employees of linen services did not lose their jobs; they were dispersed to work at other hospitals in the area, as needed.

Tomorrow: The twister cut a swath of damage nearly a mile wide and four miles long…