Engineering the future of laundry
We talk to one of Christeyns’ Engineering Managers about the important role of engineering in today’s laundry industry.
There is much talk about improving the chemicals used in the laundry industry, and hygiene chemical manufacturer Christeyns has come a long way in formulating detergents that not only produce improved wash outcomes, but are also kinder to the environment.
However, the future of the industry relies heavily on innovation in engineering as well as in chemical formula. Technological advances over the past decade have made a huge difference to laundry operations and, as we look forward, engineering developments will continue to shape the future for this ancient, yet progressive, global industry.
Peter Jackson, Engineering Manager for Christeyns, stated: “Engineering is without doubt at the heart of laundry. Be that in the design of the washers, auto-dosing, energy and water saving equipment or monitoring systems. Laundry is now most definitely high-tech.”
We live in a world that is increasingly environmentally conscious, and the laundry industry is under pressure to ensure it keeps up its part by reducing the negative impact it has on the environment. This includes reducing carbon footprint, water and energy use and chemical waste. And all of this without reducing quality of output.
Christeyns sees engineering as a crucial part of its business offering, so much so that it has recently opened a new engineering unit to provide a hub for its commercial laundry engineering division, currently handling multi-million pound contracts for laundries nationwide.
Peter continued: “As the largest player in the UK commercial laundry sector with around 75% market share, high-tech engineering systems have become a critical part of our customer offering. We have expanded our efforts on providing laundry expertise rather than just chemicals and our bespoke solutions help to reduce water, energy and improve wash results through all round laundry efficiency.”
Christeyns intend to continue to grow their engineering expertise, adding to the current team through both external recruitment and its apprenticeship programme. Although Bradford is the division headquarters, the team operate across the UK and Ireland and work in close collaboration with the commercial team to put together tailored chemistry and engineering packages.
In 2013 the Textile Services Association negotiated the Climate Change Agreement with the government to encourage laundries and textile rental services to use energy more efficiently. Participating businesses committed to reducing their water and energy consumption in return for substantial rebates on the Climate Change Levy tax.
Christeyns has been at the forefront of enabling many commercial laundries to achieve these targets and claim the rebates. Peter explained: “Lower water and energy bills, and of course the positives in terms of conservation, are attainable as we have seen with many customers. With the right systems in place the typical tunnel wash process has changed from 15 years ago when for example, water consumption was 8-10L/kg. Now a modern or modified wash process can be reduced to as low as 2L/kg.
“Water can be captured from the main wash and then filtered and redirected to be used in pre-wash and washer extractors. At the same time, clean press water is recovered and recycled for rinsing: previously this water would generally have gone down the drain. Also recovering heat from this water, via heat exchanger technology, allows for lower temperature washing and Christeyns’ Cool Chemistry chemicals were developed to facilitate this. The use of neutral pH chemicals, low temperature washing and safe effective bleach also minimise damage to textiles.”
Christeyns Engineering doesn’t just install the equipment. At any project outset, an Engineering Project Manager will
46 | COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY
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