CHICAGO — Folding is a critical part of the finishing process for industrial and institutional laundries.

Clean, even folds offer customers professional-looking textiles, but achieving these folds consistently and efficiently can be challenging for an operator.

Folding technology has advanced on many fronts in recent years, and American Laundry News conferred with several providers of folding equipment to learn about those advances, how laundries can make solid folding-equipment selections, and what enhancements are to come.

The biggest advancement in folding in recent years has been the integration of automation, sensors and intelligent controls, according to Ed Kirejczyk, president of Sea-lion America. He says modern folders offer greater flexibility, improved product handling and more precise control of fold configurations. 

“The primary benefits (of folding advancements) are consistency, labor efficiency and throughput,” says Kirejczyk. “Automated folding produces a more uniform finished product while reducing repetitive labor. 

“Modern equipment also provides greater flexibility when processing different textile sizes and customer specifications. This can improve order accuracy, turnaround time and overall customer satisfaction.”

Tom Kindy, executive sales director for Chicago Dryer Company, points out that many healthcare laundries have started utilizing more sorting small-piece dry folders to sort items such as gowns and scrubs rather than manually sorting them.

“Some manufacturers provide folders that have sorting sensors to allow operators to place a linen item where it can automatically fold in the pattern desired and stack accordingly,” he says. “Hospitality laundries are also finding a benefit to automatically sorting towels by size. Sorting small-piece folders offer this opportunity.”

Kindy says that some institutional laundries have added garment folders that provide a superior precision fold. Items that can be folded on these types of folders include scrubs, warm-up jackets, lab coats and more. Garment folders offer many advantages over a typical small-piece folder and have been growing in popularity. 

“Still others have started incorporating fully automated systems that will feed, fold and deliver towels without the previously required operators to manually feed,” he continues. “This level of automation will offer the laundries the opportunity to optimize labor.”

Many on-premises (OPL) laundries have limited space, which requires systems that address that challenge, he points out. 

“For many years, OPL laundries have upped their game and utilized ironers with built-in folder/cross-folders to provide finished packages of sheets and pillowcases,” says Kindy. “With built-in spreader-feeders, some of these operations have reduced the required number of operators that have been needed prior. 

“In an increasingly competitive market, the appearance and comfort of ironed linen is an added enhancement to a guest experience in hospitality and patient comfort in healthcare settings. 

“OPL laundries also often incorporate small-piece folders to speed the folding process of towels. More common lately has been the request for sorting small-piece folders to reduce the necessity of presorting before automated folding.” 

These systems allow laundries to optimize operations and utilize the available labor for other critical tasks, he shares. 

“Laundry operating costs have risen for many reasons. By finding opportunities to automate processes and optimize labor, the cost of operation can be reduced, therefore offering savings to the customer,” Kindy says. “In addition, systems that are less reliant on physical labor can offer superior dependability on production and delivery requirements.”

Brennan Pollnow, national sales manager for Girbau Industrial, agrees that over the past decade, folding technology has become significantly more flexible, programmable, and automated. 

“Industrial flatwork-folding systems now offer multiple longitudinal and cross-fold configurations, multi-lane processing capabilities, automated stacking/draping technology, and extensive programmable settings that allow laundries to quickly adapt to varying product types and customer requirements,” he shares.

“Towel-folding systems have also advanced through features such as automatic size recognition and sorting capabilities, allowing equipment to automatically adjust folding parameters based on the article being processed.”

On the OPL and smaller-system side, integrated finishing solutions have become increasingly popular, says Pollnow. These systems combine feeding, drying, ironing, folding, and stacking functions into a single compact footprint, making automation accessible to smaller operations while minimizing labor requirements and floor space needs.

“The primary benefits are consistency, productivity, product quality and reduced manual handling,” Pollnow says. “Automated folding systems allow laundries to create repeatable folding programs for different textiles, ensuring a consistent finished product regardless of operator experience.

“Features such as automatic size recognition and programmable folding recipes help reduce manual sorting and setup time, allowing operators to process a broader mix of products more efficiently. For customers, these advancements translate into professionally presented textiles, improved quality and more reliable turnaround times.”

With a model that offers a sorting feature, an operator can fold different sizes of goods without presorting, says Al Adcock, vice president of sales for B&C Technologies. 

“For instance, you might have a load of bath towels, hand towels and bathmats that need folding,” he says. “The folder will fold, sort, and place them into stacks automatically for you. One more thing the laundry owner and operator doesn’t have to worry about.”

Joe Fleming, president of Yamamoto North America, says, “One of the biggest changes over the past decade has been the transition from relatively simple, timing-based folders to equipment that can make more decisions on its own. 

“For OPLs and smaller laundries, the advancement we think matters most is making this automation practical without making it complicated. Smaller operations usually cannot dedicate several employees, a large floor space or specialized technical staff to a folder. Compact equipment, easy program selection and maintenance, along with auto-sorting, is key to helping them find success.”

Check back next Thursday (Oct. 22) for information about folding equipment performance upgrades.