COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY
It’s all in the plan
Here, SEKO explain to us the many things to bear in mind when putting together either an on-premise or commercial laundry.
In the planning of a commercial or on-premise laundry, there are many considerations that must be made in order to ensure that the facility is profitable, efficient and environmentally sound – especially important during these times of economic and ecological uncertainty.
Laundry types
The most sizeable laundries are fitted with continuous batch washers and tunnel washers in order to meet demand from high-volume contract customers. These include large hospitals and hotels requiring the daily washing of vast quantities of linen and towels to the highest standard.
Small to medium-sized commercial laundries cater to the hospitality industry as well as factories, healthcare and offices, while some hotels and hospitals opt to wash in- house within an on-premise laundry (OPL).
Meanwhile, at the smaller end of the scale, there are public- use laundrettes fitted with coin and card-operated washers sized from around 8 kg up to more than 100kg.
Location
When deciding on where to locate a commercial laundry, operators must find a site within a town or city, or at least one with excellent transport routes. The cross flow of dirty and clean linen must be avoided, while movement of laundry in OPLs must be kept away from public areas. In new-build sites this can be worked into the design, but may be challenging to achieve when integrating an OPL within an existing building.
Sites must also have sufficient power and water supply as well as adequate drainage able to cope with significant wastewater output.
Equipment sizing
As far as budget allows, operators should aim for the largest feasible washer capacity, as undersizing can lead to problems later, when expansion may mean knocking through walls or reconfiguring the site in order to incorporate additional machines.
28 | TOMORROW'S CLEANING Machine selection
For a laundry demand of up to 500kg per hour, single front- loader washing machines are the most economical choice, while a facility processing more than a ton per hour would require a tunnel washer or a continuous batch washer.
There’s also the application to consider. For example, in some medical facilities, barrier machines are required which open from both sides to allow clean laundry to be extracted within a separate, controlled environment without the risk of contamination.
Chemical dosing system choice
Automated chemical dosing systems provide operators with freedom and flexibility when it comes to wash formulas, and while programmable systems have been commonplace for some time, recent developments in Internet of Things (IoT) technology has taken the injection of detergent, softener and other cleaning agents to a new level.
With access to live and historical data on demand via smart device, web-enabled dosing systems such as SEKO’s LS100 and Wash Series allow unprecedented access to usage statistics and system performance, while programmes can be adjusted 24/7 from any location for unprecedented operational efficiency.
As well as optimising performance and reducing water and chemical consumption, such systems enable engineers to access up-to-date downloadable manuals and online step-by- step technical support. This can accelerate installation, setup and commissioning, and reduce associated time and costs.
Other common features include the option to view chemical consumption in financial terms, which allows projected detergent savings to be precisely calculated and presented to key decisionmakers when considering dosing changes.
As the cost of energy, water and consumables continues to rise, it’s clear that making the right decisions during commercial laundry planning – including the integration of IoT technology – can significantly help managers protect their investment over the long term.
www.seko.com
x.com/TomoCleaning
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58
