Content about Linen

ROANOKE, Va. — A surefire way to improve the bottom line of your business or department is to increase the life of your linen. Increasing the number of quality servings you get from each piece of linen will dramatically decrease your cost of operation.

I recommend that the first step to increasing your linen life is to review each linen item with end-users to make sure that it is the proper item for the intended use.

If a bath blanket is being used as a lift sheet, excessive tears will develop. Are bath blankets or thermal blankets being used in place of mattress pads? Linen users find creative ways to use our linen and unless we engage in regular discussions with them, we will be unaware of just how our items are being used.

Bargain patient gowns usually do not have the sweep and coverage necessary to properly maintain a patient’s modesty. Ambulatory patients often use two patient gowns—one covering the front and the other covering the back—to make up for this shortfall. By purchasing a larger patient gown that provides greater coverage, you can decrease uses of the item by 30-35% and thereby increase its effective life.

I also recommend that you meet with your chemical vendor and review your wash formulas to make sure you are obtaining proper levels of cleanliness without excessively washing the linen.

Mechanical action and chemical action cause most fabric degradation. Wash each classification in such a manner to keep rewash below 3% of total volume produced. Some laundries sort all heavily soiled linen together and give it a special wash. High levels of alkalinity attack the cotton fiber and the finish on reusable barrier linen as well as the soil. One key to longer linen life is to reduce the alkaline concentration of the wash formula. Using enzyme detergents instead of traditional detergents can be an effective alternative.

Management should review the procedures for determining the proper size of each wash load. Overloading will cause poor quality wash and excessive stains. I have seen laundries that maintained excellent written procedures for weighing loads but their daily practice did not mirror what was on the page.

Carefully review all damaged linen to see if a pattern of abuse or product failure is evident. Once a trend is discovered, corrective action can be taken to adjust product quality or construction or to provide in-service education for personnel working in use areas.

We recently had a problem with small holes appearing in the barrier backing of our incontinent pads. We were unsure of the source but wanted to first eliminate the laundry. While brainstorming the problems, we figured that it could be happening in one of a number of locations: the soil-sort belt, tunnel washers, tunnel press, tunnel dryers, or one of the small-piece folders.

We determined to test our system by using brand-new pads. Our first step was to avoid the sorting belt and put the new pads directly into a sling. We ran a load through our No. 1 tunnel, its press and one of its dryers. The test load contained a number of damaged pads. We also ran a load through our No. 2 tunnel, press and one of its dryers and did not find any damaged pads.

We then ran a load through the No. 1 tunnel and press. Upon inspection, again we found damaged pads. Finally, we ran pads through the No. 1 tunnel and bypassed the press. This procedure still resulted in a number of pads being damaged. (It is interesting that we have not noticed damage to any other linen items going through this tunnel.)

Our short-term solution was to move all the incontinent pads from the No. 1 tunnel, where they had always been processed, to the No. 2 tunnel. This required us to make other changes in our pick lists to balance out the demand for the tunnel dryers. After a visual inspection of the interior of No. 1 tunnel, we found several possible causes for the linen damage. Today, we are still running pads through the other tunnel.

Check all dryers to make sure they are operating correctly. Excessive heat can damage linen and cause it to have a harsh hand. Inspect door seals and interior air-deflection blades to make sure everything is working properly. Dryers with poor seals that allow room air to enter the dryer without going through the burner area can cause artificially low outlet-temperature readings. These readings will cause the linen to be subjected to higher-than-programmed temperatures.

Thermal fluid ironers should not be operated at temperatures above 375 F. Ironing at higher temperatures will result in the loss of size stability in polyester fibers. Once the heat-set polyester fiber is no longer size-stable, the laundry will experience higher-than-normal shrinkage. I have seen contour sheets that started at 88 inches in length shrink to 76 inches. Resist the temptation to iron at higher temperatures to increase productivity, because you’ll be creating linen shrinkage problems.

These ideas do not represent an all-inclusive list, but they give you a good starting point. Determining ways to extend linen life is a never-ending task but one well worth the time and effort.

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.

KEYSTONE, Colo. — You might not expect a town of 825 permanent residents to have much need for production laundry services, but try adding 230 inches of annual snowfall, 19 ski lifts, 135 ski runs, cat skiing, night skiing, high-speed gondola rides, ice skating, and hockey.

Twenty-five thousand pounds of rooms linen each day adds up pretty quick for Richard Griffin, laundry manager for the Keystone Lodge and Spa.

Griffin, a veteran laundry manager and vice president of the Association for Linen Management, operates a tight but effective production hospitality plant at the Vail Resorts property. Service requirements include three different levels of linen quality serving 400 hotel rooms and 1,600 condo units.

He recently spoke to American Laundry News about the challenges of linen management and distribution at the seasonal resort laundry operation.

“The key to our linen management success is controlling the inventory,” Griffin says. “We provide linen services here at the Keystone Lodge and Spa, but also to a number of smaller properties in Keystone and over the mountain at Breckenridge, as well as for 1,600 condo units in the area.”

Q: What type of linen products do you use?

Griffin: We process the hotels by the batch as NOG (Not Our Goods) type work. Most of their products are very nice 240- and 400-thread-count blend and full cotton flatwork.

We are in the process of upgrading all of our condo linen to 240-thread-count cotton blend flatwork and high-end terry. It is a significant capital commitment. We spent a lot of time detailing linen specifications: weight, thread count, and other quality criteria. Then we requested samples and tested all the proposed linen solutions for months, to see how they would hold up.

Once the final cut came in, it was all down to who wanted to make the sale. The lowest-cost-approved vendor won the business.”

Q: What about production?

Griffin: The heart of our wash aisle is a 10-year-old, sling-loaded, seven-module Milnor tunnel. The staff calls it The Beast. We feed it, and The Beast keeps spitting it out.

The press operates much more efficiently when we under load a bit from the 110-pound rated capacity. Our target weight per module is 95 pounds. Our real-world production is about 2,000 pounds an hour from the tunnel, which translates to an average of 21 transfers per hour.

Managing what goes into the tunnel and in what order is very important. The lead person on the soiled side is the guy feeding the tunnel. He and the finishing-side lead are in constant communication so that the tunnel keeps pushing out the right products to keep downstream in full production.

We track production on the clean side after each break. We have hourly production standards that need to be met. I want the operators to know what is going on without taking all of our time getting bogged down in numbers.

Having dedicated lead supervisors on each side of the plant really helps our operation.

Q: How does operating a tunnel differ from a conventional wash aisle?

Griffin: Tunnels give you a lot more production in less floor space. It streamlines everything. The steady flow of tunnel production provides a consistent volume of goods for clean-side processing.

Tunnel washing also eliminates operator-related issues in the wash aisle. No more restarts, or idle, unloaded machines out of production. You feed the tunnel and it spits it out.

The key to tunnel production is paying attention to what goes in. Managing the batches to avoid “single caking” the dryers, or dryer line overloading, is important in order to maximize productivity. We also don’t start the tunnel until we know that we have enough linen to keep it going all day.

Denver-based Martin Ray Laundry Systems supplied the equipment used at the Keystone Lodge & Spa. President Bill Mann says that the tunnel was a natural solution for Keystone when the resort upgraded the plant 10 years ago.

“There was a mix of washer-extractors that had been added here and there over the years as the resort service base grew,” Mann says. “It got to a point where production requirements and the high cost of water out here made the ROI on a tunnel system the best solution.”

Click here for Part 1.

Textiles: Tom Langdon, Encompass Group

I am vice president of sourcing and purchasing for Encompass Group. I have spent the past 30 years in a variety of roles and responsibilities in the textile industry.

For the last 20-plus, I have traveled the globe, extensively developing and sourcing all types of textile products. My product experience spans from retail home fashions, to protective and military apparel, and into the medical textile products area. I am experienced in woven, non-woven, and knit manufacturing techniques along with all aspects of printing, dyeing and finishing.

My educational credentials include a Bachelor of Science degree from the Stetson School of Business at Mercer University, along with various continuing education certificates in customs, compliance, CTPAT, supply chain management, and ISO 9000 registration. I sit on the Techtextil North America 2012 Symposium Advisory Council and chair the Medical Educational Section. I see my role on the panel as giving readers the layman’s perspective on each monthly topic and how obtaining the actual textile items is affected.

Two of our biggest challenges in 2011 were the unprecedented run-up in raw-material costs and mitigating the impact to our customers. We also were faced with some historic geopolitical changes in the world, of which the unrest in Egypt created some specific obstacles to our industry.

I was already scheduled to visit Egypt at the end of January 2011, the week before the Mubarak regime fell. I remember spending the first half of the Super Bowl on the phone with my travel agent rearranging my itinerary to cancel the Egypt portion of my trip. Later, I found out that the head of the largest government-owned textile mill in Egypt was removed from his post and arrested.

Probably our greatest accomplishment realized was in educating our customers and others in the industry on market conditions. This entailed explaining how contributing factors such as the price of cotton, energy, and currency exchange rates affect the price, quality, and availability of laundry textile products.

Encompass benefited from an intercompany market update I published monthly, which helped our sales force reach out to all of our customers as well. The price of cotton became such a hot topic at one point that it even made it on to NBC’s The Today Show.

Let’s all hope we have a much calmer and more stable 2012. I look forward to participating on this panel and appreciate being selected.

Linen Supply: Stephen Marcq, General Linen Service

I’m the director of business development for General Linen, with corporate offices and the processing plant located in Somersworth N.H. I’ve been with the company for approximately 22 years, starting as a production manager. I worked as a production and depot manager for several other companies before returning in 1992.

While most of my time with General has been on the service side of the business, I’ve done everything from load diapers (remember those?) to running the service department and then the sales department, which has given me a well-rounded background that has served me well.

Today, I work extensively with the sales and service teams to manage, retain and expand our business presence with large corporate accounts, and especially with a variety of multi-site operations, both healthcare and hospitality. Setting up various customized programs designed to appeal to the particular needs of off-site management or ownership is an accomplishment I am particularly proud of.

We have 3,800 customers in four states, serviced from our main plant and two additional service centers in New Hampshire and Maine. Our plant mix consists mostly of hospitality and healthcare business, with lesser amounts of industrial and dust control.

With both of those areas affected by the economic downturn over the last few years, and healthcare especially hit hard in the last 6-12 months, a major challenge right now is in maintaining margins and sales increases while retaining customers in an increasingly competitive, cost-conscious environment.

We have implemented route optimization software to reduce distribution and delivery expense, installed a stack economizer to reclaim waste heat, increased our sales team, set up a key/multi-site customer and corporate visit program, and have many other projects in progress or in the works.

Our mixed-plant status can be, at times, both an asset and a liability. When one segment is down, we have historically grown in another and been able to protect jobs and revenue. But gaining maximum production and delivery efficiencies can be harder for a mixed plant as well, something that we are doing our best to address.

I am honored to have been selected to serve on the panel, and I am looking forward to contributing during 2012.

Hotel/Motel/Resort Laundry: JR Norris, Delta Linen

I’m the operations manager for Delta Uniform and Linen, the largest family-owned and operated commercial laundry in Albuquerque. I am honored to have been chosen for this panel.

The Randall family established Delta Linen in 1948 as a small drycleaning business. The decision was made to take the business into industrial linen rental, and Delta Linen has since flourished. It now services more than 300 restaurants, casinos and fine hotels, and is growing daily. Delivering clean and wrinkle-free linen and hospitality wear with 24-hour-a-day customer service has contributing greatly to our success.

I worked as a general manager in the restaurant business for almost 20 years, sitting on the other side of the table in dealings with linen companies. This experience has helped me greatly with my transition from restaurants to linen service and having the ability to under a restaurant’s needs. It encourages me daily that Delta Linen has had the same beliefs and integrity for more than 60 years!

I have faced several challenges after diving headfirst into the linen business, but that’s been the fun part. The biggest has been working with and understanding the quality and maintenance aspects of hotel linens.

I have seen sub-par cotton quality coming from many manufacturers over the past 18 months. We have had to change several processes, including how we order and wash, to ensure the longevity of the textiles. Because of this, production has almost been more challenging than the cleaning of the products themselves.

We were blessed with continued growth this past year despite the hard economic times the country faced. We have taken on several new, large accounts, along with a new contract with a resort. And we recently renewed our contract with the largest casino in New Mexico.

We continue to strive for the best every day, with the mind-set and commitment that our service is our contract and it is as good, if not better, than a golden handshake. I intend to see that Delta Linen maintains this philosophy for many years to come.

Tomorrow: Introductions to representatives from the equipment manufacturing and chemical suppy sectors, plus a member at large...
Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.

CHICAGO — Taking inventory is often cause for headaches at any laundry facility, and a recent webinar on linen inventorying addressed how to make the process work for each individual system.

Barbara Williams has more than 30 years of experience in the textile industry. As a consultant with Standard Textile Co., she frequently speaks about linen process improvements, linen management, and cost-reduction programs for healthcare operations.

During the webinar sponsored by the Association for Linen Management, Williams stressed the many rewards of taking a regular inventory and touched on a few challenges a laundry facility faces during the process.

Among the rewards, Williams says, are balancing supply with demand and assuring that an adequate supply is circulating. Too few linens causes shortages, which can lead to hoarding and a lack of confidence in the system. “Too much inventory can cause misuse and over-utilization of products,” she says.

An inventory also can help a laundry, whether it be on the premises or off site, determine effective allocation of linens, as well as replacement rates.

Determining those rates can lead to a planned purchasing program, thus helping to eliminate panic buying and rush orders. Administrative reporting is another advantage, she says, and allows a facility to have information on hand in the case of an insurance claim after a flood or fire. Budgeting is high priority during these economic times, and taking an accurate inventory can help determine future needs.

Other inventorying goals are ascertaining a facility’s loss rates, determining if a facility has a high rate of “mysterious disappearances” of linens, recirculating so-called “dead” inventory, and identifying locations that may be hoarding linens. As a result, facilities have the opportunity to implement security programs to reduce loss and are able to put some quantities of inventory back into circulation or reallocate supplies.

“As many of you know,” Williams says, “you end up with a lot more in circulating inventory right after a count is taken.”

She recommends taking a proactive approach to linen inventory to identify potential roadblocks or problems and take a closer look at shortages or overages.

Challenges Facing an Inventory

In today’s market, most facilities are being asked to do more with less, which can result in fewer staff resources available to help with an inventory. This can also result in a problem with time commitments and cooperation from a staff that already sees itself as overburdened.

Another challenge can be the large networks that many healthcare facilities are part of these days. “It takes a lot more cooperation and communication,” Williams says, “but many large networks are doing inventory successfully.”

Linen supplies are different from a product kept on a shelf; constant movement of the linens is a cause for concern when contemplating taking an inventory. A healthcare facility, for instance, cannot simply stop the movement of linen, so timing of an inventory is crucial. The number of locations where linen is stored and used, as well as the number of stock-keeping units in a healthcare facility, challenges an inventory manager.

Inventory accuracy often hinges on a cut-off point and a clear delineation between what is to be counted and what is not counted.

A commitment by management, as well as nursing management in a healthcare facility, is essential to an accurate inventory. If the results show a high return on the investment, this can help persuade management to cooperate. Determining what the actual ROI is important as well.

“Are you willing to act on the results of your inventory?” Williams asked participants. “If you aren’t willing to act, then there may be no return on investment. Acting on the results is crucial to making an inventory worthwhile.”

When to Take Inventory

“Today, most large laundries have gone to an annual inventory,” Williams says. “We recommend doing the inventory at the same time of the year so there is a consistency of inventory.”

Williams also recommends semi-annual inventories, more for on-premise laundries than large, shared or pooled laundries. Smaller operations, such as hospitality facilities, can do a quarterly or monthly inventory.

Another possibility is a cycle count. Williams says this works well if a facility doesn’t require a complete inventory, if the manpower is not available, or if there isn’t the level of cooperation required for a complete inventory. She suggests taking one or two of the highest use items and counting those. Then, the following month, select another two items and count those.

When the webinar participants were polled anonymously, 64% indicated they inventory once a year and 9% inventory on a semi-annual basis. Williams was slightly disappointed to hear the remaining 27% don’t take a linen inventory at all.

Also factoring into inventorying is choosing the best day and best time of day during which to act.

Base this on several elements, Williams says: staff availability, low-activity time, nursing practices, shift changes and linen delivery schedules. The important thing, she says, is to be consistent; take inventory at the same point each year, on the same day and at the same time of day.

Tomorrow: Your Inventory Involves What?

TORONTO, Ontario, Canada — Clairvest Group Inc., Clairvest Equity Partners IV Limited Partnership and Claire Equity Partners IV-A Limited Partnership have entered the linen rental industry via a combined $8.6 million investment in Linen King, an Oklahoma-based textile services company that provides commercial laundry services to the healthcare and hospitality industries.

“Our team has followed the textile rental industry for a number of years,” says David Sturdee, Clairvest managing director. “We are excited by the opportunity to partner with a strong and ambitious management team led by the founders of the company, who will continue to own a meaningful percent of the company.

“Linen King has an outstanding reputation for reliability and customer service, and we look forward to working with management to help execute their growth initiatives.

“I’m thrilled to have Clairvest as our partner to help fuel the next stage of our expansion,” says Leonard McCullough, Linen King’s CEO. “We’ve spent the last 12 years rapidly becoming one of the largest textile rental companies in the central U.S. and are enthusiastic about working with Clairvest to expand our footprint throughout the country.”

Linen King operates plants that serve the Oklahoma City, northwest Arkansas, mid-Missouri and central Arkansas regions. The company was formed in 1999.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Faultless Laundry Co., commonly known as Faultless Linen, has decided to sell its hospitality business and focus entirely on establishing itself as a healthcare-only textile provider in the Midwest.

The company operates two healthcare-only plants in Kansas City and two more in St. Louis. The Spence family has continuously operated Faultless since Sam and Cora Spence founded it in 1896.

Faultless has served the hospitality market for decades from its downtown Kansas City plant, but that facility has aged to the point that significant repairs and reinvestment are required. Due to the financial and competitive pressures in the hospitality market, such a reinvestment doesn’t make good economic sense, the company says.

Faultless has decided to transition its hospitality business to two other Kansas City-based, family-owned linen providers: Excel Linen Supply, owned and operated by the Brancato family, and Ace Image Wear, owned and operated by the Heilman family. Faultless’ accounts are being divided between the two companies, which will retain nearly all affected Faultless employees.

Faultless continues to expand its healthcare services throughout Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, and will be opening a 103,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art plant in St. Louis next summer.

ROANOKE, Va. — In discussions with my fellow laundry managers, no topic creates the deer-in-the-headlights look more than talking about standard operating procedures. Everyone knows we should have them and that they are an essential part of a good policy and procedure manual, but most managers put off creating them at all costs.

Creating a standard procedure is much like planning a trip from Myrtle Beach, S.C., to Seattle. There are an infinite number of routes that can be taken to make the trip. The planner needs to make a choice based on several options: speed of travel, historic sites, national parks, traffic, type of vehicle, weather, and interesting tourist traps. After all, everyone should experience Wall (Drug), S.D., once in his or her life.

Creating a standard procedure on how to do a job in your laundry is just like planning a trip. Your procedure needs to be designed around your laundry facility and your operational goals. The most common mistake that inexperienced managers make is to assume there should be a “nationally” correct way to do a job. They struggle with creating the procedure, because they do not want to set it up the wrong way. They fail to understand that the purpose of the standard operating procedures is to supply a uniform way of doing things in their laundry.

Why should we spend the time and effort to develop standard operating procedures? A manager can argue that they can operate their laundry without them. The best reason to develop standard operating procedures in your laundry is the knowledge you gain by reviewing the way linen is handled in your laundry.

I guarantee that, as you follow the flow of linen through your laundry and develop an understanding of how each step is completed, you will find ways to improve the workflow, reduce labor and lower your costs. Standard procedures should be developed with the entire laundry in mind, not just a single department or process.

For example, if you are operating a pre-sort laundry, the categories that you sort into are dependent upon the volume of linen processed, the way it is dried or conditioned, and the way the item is finished. There are times when the needs of the cart makeup area may override the needs of production.

Sorting washcloths and bath towels into separate categories will speed up the operator on the towel folder, but it will also slow down the processing of washcloths because it will take longer to get a load to wash. The key question: Will the laundry benefit from a constant flow of both bath towels and washcloths entering the cart makeup area, or can it handle washcloths in the feast-and-famine mode?

The laundry manager could overcome the problem of feast or famine on washcloths by increasing his inventory on that item, provided there is enough money in the linen budget. Both procedures will supply clean towels and washcloths to the cart makeup area. Each possible procedure has its pluses and minuses; neither one is perfect. The final answer may hinge on how other items are processed. If there is not much space to sort soiled linen, there may be an overriding need to keep sorting classifications to a minimum.

The standard operating procedures for your laundry reflect the unique challenges you face in receiving and handling soiled linen and processing it into clean linen. Procedures need to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis as changes are made to the equipment or linen items. Improving the overall performance of the laundry is a constant, never-ending process.

“Our resort has upgraded its linens everywhere, from the guestrooms to the pool to the five-star restaurant. So, the pressure is on to clean, handle and store these goods so they give us the longest useful life possible. What advice can you give me about processing high-thread-count linens?”

Textiles: Elizabeth Easter, Ph.D, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.

High-thread-count linens, especially cotton sheets, were introduced to consumers in the ’90s. In the past five years, the hospitality industry has begun offering these so-called “luxury linens” to their customers. Thread counts that traditionally averaged 180-200 have been replaced with thread counts up to 1,500.

There are some misunderstandings about what they actually are. Most people believe that quality, softness and durability increase in a linear way with increasing thread count number. This is not necessarily true. The truth is that it’s just not that simple. Thread count is only one measurement to examine when considering luxury linens.

What are the quality indicators of high-thread-count linens?

• Fiber Quality — 100% cotton sheets are by far the most popular among high-thread sheets. The highest-quality cotton is long staple. Staple refers to the length of the cotton fiber: the longer the fiber, the better. It creates stronger and finer yarns. Among long-staple cottons, the longest are Egyptian extra-long staple and Pima (Supima).
• Yarn Size — This is a measure of the fineness of each yarn: the higher the yarn number, the finer the yarn. The yarn size in sheets is typically between 40 and 100. The size will determine how many yarns can be woven in a square inch. Higher thread counts are created with finer yarns, as more of them can be woven into a square inch. Also, super-fine yarns can be twisted, creating two-ply yarns that can then be woven into sheeting.
• Thread Count (Yarn Count) and Construction — Thread count is the number of yarns per square inch of fabric, i.e. add the number of warp and weft yarns. Construction refers to how the thread count is achieved (number of warp and weft yarns, number of picks in the weft, use of two-ply yarns, etc.) To achieve higher thread counts, sometimes two-ply yarns are used, and sometimes multiple yarns (picks) are inserted into the weft.

Chemicals Supply: Carrie Armstrong, Ecolab, Eagan, Minn.

The upgrade of linens throughout the facility creates an opportunity to develop a partnership with each department. Training the end-user on the linens, development of quality standards, par levels, and linen-abuse potential will assist in linen management. Written procedures and standards that are specific to each department for handling the upgraded linens can then be established and practiced.

Processing high-thread-count linens in the laundry has its challenges. High thread counts provide for luxurious linens and often require specific guidelines for processing. It is important to consult the manufacturer and/or read the care labels before laundering and processing. The manufacturer and/or labels will provide guidelines for processing based on the thread count, fabric type, color and manufacture.

Upgrading to high-thread-count linen does not indicate an increase in industrial wash durability. More often, these linens are more delicate due to the nature of the manufacturing of the cotton, the yarn size, and production of the thread count.

Here are items to review and document when upgrading linen, with a goal of reducing mechanical, chemical and stain damage in processing:

• All linen type specifications
• Wash formulas — revise per manufacturer’s recommendations
• Wash processes — water levels, chemical concentrations, temperatures, wash/rinse/extract speeds and times
• Load weights — do not overload or underload
• Dryer temperatures — do not over-dry
• Spreader/feeder tensions
• Ironer cleanliness and temperatures
• Stain program
• Sorting procedure
• Quality assurance program
• Par levels
• Storage space
• All equipment maintenance — no rough edges, clean
• Test-wash all linens multiple times

After this review, put written procedures and standards into place and begin monitoring. Continued training and education for laundry personnel, as well as the various departments, is necessary. Soon, processing the upgraded linens will be routine, and you’ll be prepared for the challenges of optimizing the life of your high-thread-count linens.

Textile/Uniform Rental: John Shoemaker, General Linen & Uniform Service, Detroit, Mich.

Marriott in New Jersey has a large laundry. Per its policy, processed linens are allowed to “rest” for a 24-hour period. In order to make linens last, be sure to maintain plenty of par and avoid quick wash turnarounds.

Likewise, it would be a wonderful time to have the chemical company visit and do titrations with increased regularity.

Full checks should be done. All four pieces of the “washroom pie”—time, temperature, mechanical action and chemical action—should be addressed to assure longevity of life.

Are the washers being under-loaded, resulting in too much chemical action? Is the temperature too hot? Is the run time correct for the upgraded products? Check and recheck all washroom elements to assure the maximum longevity of your textile products.

Tomorrow: In many ways, cotton is easier to wash, but finishing is another issue …

ROANOKE, Va. — The escalating cost of textile products is causing many organizations to refocus on reducing linen-replacement costs.

During my years in this industry, both as a laundry manager and as a laundry consultant, the challenge of reducing linen-replacement costs has been a recurring theme. Some years ago, I had the pleasure of working with a major hospital on a linen-cost-containment program.

The immediate goal was to lower the hospital’s annual expenditures on linens; the hospital had been trying to accomplish this for several years. It was making the same mistakes that many U.S. healthcare facilities make: It was looking for a quick and easy solution.

There is no such quick fix available. But it is interesting and educational to review the efforts of this hospital and compare them with the eventual solutions. In order to save money on the purchase of replacement textiles, this hospital began an aggressive purchasing program designed to:

• Limit the amount of new linen stored at the hospital.
• Obtain the lowest cost per item based on purchase price.
• Reduce the number of linen items in circulation.
• Educate the linen users on the cost associated with linen service.

Goal One: Reduce Stored Supplies

This can be done simply by not ordering more linen until the current stock has been put into circulation. The catch then becomes having new linen available when it is needed. This requires an understanding of the hospital’s linen system and its seasonal fluctuations, knowledge beyond that possessed by most purchasing agents.

Often the linen vendors will attempt to assist the hospitals in understanding their linen system. There are many linen “control” systems on the market, but the majority of them are little more than advance-order systems for the vendors.

This particular hospital made the mistake of becoming overly dependent on the textile vendor’s promised one-week delivery on all linen items. The vendor was able to meet most of the orders for the first couple of months, but then the sporadic ordering (no towels one month, then triple the monthly order the next) caused delivery times to stretch out until two and three weeks became the norm.

The hospital was ill prepared to cope with projecting its needs in advance and routinely ordering predictable amounts of textiles, especially when it had been promised one-week delivery. The natural result was periodic linen shortages that made patients and staff unhappy. These problems caused the administration to return to the former policy of stocking linen items in the storeroom in an effort to ensure an ample supply at all times.

Goal Two: Reduce Per-Item Costs

The hospital adopted the philosophy of buying on purchase price instead of cost per use. It began to purchase muslin (T128) sheets instead of percale (T180), and the textile vendor assured the purchasing agent that patients and staff would never know the difference.

The hospital entered into a period of buying lower-quality items that were “just as good, only less expensive” than what it had been purchasing. There were some short-term savings by doing this, but the test of any good purchasing program is the test of time. Problems began to develop within the first year.

1. Gowns that had so nicely covered the patients no longer performed in the same manner. There was less material per gown, so IV’s were harder to handle, resulting in increased cutting of sleeves. Ambulatory patients began to wear two gowns, one on the front and one on the back. This practice almost doubled the usage. Net result was a cost increase on this linen item.
2.  The muslin sheet—that had seemed to be such a good buy—wore out more quickly than the percale. The greatest concern was the speed with which the cotton disappeared from the 50/50 blend. The majority of the cotton was worn out of the sheet during the first year, leaving a coarse 100% polyester sheet.
   
   
   The nursing staff found these sheets unacceptable and therefore took it upon itself to rag them out. The muslin sheets weighed more than the percale sheets and cost more to process. Net result of the economizing effort was to increase the monthly input of sheets, increase poundage in the laundry and decrease user satisfaction.
3. The washcloth was another item affected by the attempt to lower costs. This certainly seemed like a prime target for a lesser-quality product, especially because of the high replacement rate. The hospital began to purchase a lighter-weight washcloth but stayed with the usual 12x12 size. It was not long before complaints began to come in from the nursing floors.
   
   
   The new washcloth was shrinking a lot more than the others. After three or four washings, the washcloth became closer to an 8x8 size. The net result of this change was an increase in utilization. Respect for the product dropped and its abuse increased. The replacement rate more than doubled.

Next page: Reducing the number of items in your inventory...

It is the last day of the show, and my home is calling me. It is nice to see Las Vegas and the Clean Show, but there is no place like home. Yesterday was a great day to get answers and visit with vendors. The third day is a little less busy than the first two. Today is a day to make final contacts, nail down the need for proposals and then hit the road. If you missed this show, you really missed a good one.

Eric Frederick is director of linen services for Carilion Laundry Service, Roanoke, Va., and a two-time Association for Linen Management manager of the year.

Where is the buzz at this year’s Clean Show? The most popular topic always is how sore are one’s feet and legs.

The next most popular topic with those I have talked with is the advancements made in instantaneous productivity measurement: the need to provide accurate and timely performance data to the laundry workers at their assigned workstation.

I have talked with several companies about this type of system, and I am impressed with the systems being developed. I can easily envision such a system becoming standard operating procedure in the next five years.

Eric Frederick is director of linen services for Carilion Laundry Service, Roanoke, Va., and a two-time Association for Linen Management manager of the year.