THE WATHERFRONT HOTEL'S EMERGENCE - In-House Laundry Key to Cost Control & Quality
October 2013 | Download Testimonial
An eclectic investor group and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh (UWO) Foundation recently combined interests to rejuvenate a non-functioning hotel property situated along the banks of the Fox River, in Oshkosh, Wis.
Located near the heart of the city’s historic district, the new BEST WESTERN PREMIER Waterfront Hotel & Convention Center (The Waterfront) offers 176 rooms, 5,000-square-feet of function space, 18,000-square-feet of convention space, and the Ground Round at River’s Edge restaurant. It also harnesses an on-premise laundry capable of processing 2,400 pounds of laundry in a single eight-hour shift.
A Multipurpose Property
Within the next three years, UWO plans to use The Waterfront as a hands-on classroom for students involved in its soon-to-debut hospitality program. Campus is just blocks away. Additionally, The Waterfront serves the needs of area visitors, groups and business guests seeking upscale meeting and convention space, posh rooms, craved amenities, an on-premise restaurant and bar, and the scenic river walk just outside.
Emerging from the Vision of Many
The Waterfront – requiring $13 million in renovations – materialized thanks to UWO vision, private investors Rich Batley and John Pfefferle, dozens of shareholders, traditional financing, and city support in the form of $3 million in Tax Increment Financing (TIF), according to General Manager Dan Schetter. The property, which had operated under many hotel brands since the 1980s, was non-functioning prior to its rebirth in May 2013. It is among 25 North American hotels touting the BEST WESTERN PREMIER brand.
In-House Laundry Key to Quality
Rather than outsource its laundry, risking problems with timely delivery and quality control, The Waterfront handles everything in-house. It tackles food and beverage skirting, tablecloths and napkins; sheets, pillowcases and duvets; towels, bathmats and robes; pillows, comforters and blankets; and rags, mops and rugs.
“My experience with outsourcing laundry is that it becomes a struggle,” says Schetter. “You don’t always get your linens returned when you need them.”
The laundry features three 90-pound capacity Continental soft-mount E-Series Washer-Extractors and a 120-pound capacity dryer, as well as a GI 140-pound capacity ST-1300 Dryer with vacuum load. Highly automated, all towels, bathmats and blankets are automatically folded using a GI FT-LITE drywork folder; while sheets, pillowcases and tablecloths are processed using a GI 5-in-One Compact Ironing System. The Compact – a feeder, ironer, folder, stacker and accumulator – processes up to 82-feet-of-linen per minute.
Housekeeping Manager Misty Braun, who began her career in a hotel laundry at age 15, maintains the laundry facility delivers unsurpassed productivity amped by automation and efficiency. “I came from another property with 95 rooms,” says Braun. “When it was sold out, it took three, eight-hour shifts and three operators per shift just to get the towels and linens done. Laundry would spill over from Sunday to Monday. Here, when we are sold out, we have five operators on for eight hours. Yet, we have triple the rooms and process food and beverage items in addition to regular laundry,” she says. “We are saving a lot on labor as a result of the automation.”
Equipment Working in Concert
Key to cleanliness and production are The Waterfront’s E-Series Washer-Extractors. The washers are highly programmable to properly clean a variety of items, feature a soft-mount design for simple installation, and reach extract speeds of up to 381 G-force. Laundry operators simply select a program number to match the item type – food and beverage linens, towels, sheets, etc. – and press start. The washer automatically combines the correct chemicals, water temperatures and levels, mechanical action and baths to ensure high-quality results.
Unlike hard-mount washers, which must be bolted to a reinforced concrete foundation, soft-mount washers slide into place without bolts. This simplifies installation and resulting costs. Additionally, E-Series soft-mount washers reach considerably higher extract speeds when compared with hard-mount washers, and as a result, remove significantly more water from every load. This cuts resulting dry time by up to 50 percent, according to GI National Sales Manager Seth Willer, who worked closely with The Waterfront to design and outfit the laundry. “This catapults productivity,” he says.
The high-extract means terry items dry more quickly; sheets and tablecloths bypass drying altogether. A 90-pound load of towels takes just 50 minutes to wash and 19 minutes to dry using the ST-1300 Dryer, according to Braun. Meanwhile, the Compact feeds, irons, folds and stacks more than 120 sheets per hour—straight from the washer.
Washer to Dryer to Folder — Processing Drywork
The ST-1300 Dryer, used primarily for terry items, is simple to load and ergonomically friendly, according to Braun. With vacuum loading, the dryer inhales items fed by operators. “Thanks to the vacuum assistance, it’s easier to load the dryer because there is no twisting by operators,” says Braun. Once dried and automatically unloaded, terry items and blankets are fed into the FT-LITE folder. The FT-LITE folds small- and large-sized items and requires one operator. It is configured with an automatic stacker, as well, so like items are quickly folded and stacked with minimal effort.
“If we are sold out on Saturday night, we can fold 3,000 towels per day in one shift,” says Braun. “We perform the final fold on our pool towels by rolling them. Bath towels come out with a long fold and we perform the third fold.”
Bolstered Ironing Line
Quality is critical, according to Rone, who strives for a perfect finish. In order to boost quality and production of finished bed and table linens, he added a new Girbau Industrial ironing line that includes a DRF Feeder Spreader with four feeding stations, a PC-120 two-roll chest ironer in natural gas, and an FL-King Flatwork Folder with a Dual Stacker that sorts by item type. The new ironing line complements two existing ironing lines, according to Rone, and boosts productivity and quality a step further.
Duvets, sheets, pillowcases and table linens are run through the Girbau Industrial line with little pre-sorting, which saves time, labor and improves productivity. The machines work in tandem. First, The DRF Spreader Feeder seamlessly and automatically straightens and feeds large-sized items per hour into the ironer. It accommodates one to four operators and feeds from large pieces from multiple stations simultaneously. It also converts to handle both large-, medium- and small-piece goods – adding to the laundry’s flexibility. Goods are then finished in the PC-120 Chest Ironer, is up to 93 percent efficient. Linens then travel through the ironer and into the FL-King Flatwork Folder, which performs up to three primary folds and three cross folds using one, two or four lanes. The dual stackers then sort and stack items by dimension.
Rone maintains he wanted to increase production by adding the line, and was focused on improving quality. Laundry attendants don’t need to pre sort by dimension, which saves time. Rather, they sort by customer, running items of all types through the line. The stackers at the end of the line then sorts by item type—boosting productivity and quality.
Handling a lot of clients with duvets, Rone has established a variety of configurations and processes duvets at impressive speeds – at much higher speeds than his other ironing lines. The laundry runs high-quality king sheets at 142-feet-per-minute – exceeding 840 units per hour. Heavy duvets speed through the line at 110-feet-per-minute, producing 600 units per hour. The DRF Spreader Feeder, he adds, is so flexible it not only feeds large pieces, it offers a dual function that goes into small piece-feeding mode. This, according to Rone, allows for multiple lanes for small pieces – adding flexibility to the ironing line and laundry.
Washer to Compact — Processing Flatwork
Superior productivity flows out of the laundry’s Compact Ironer, as well. All flatwork items – sheets, tablecloths, table skirting and pillowcases – are fed directly from the washer into the Compact, according to Braun. The nice thing about the Compact is it takes on items of different dimensions, she says. It is configurable for one, two or four working lanes, with one lane for sheets, two for table linens and four for small items. It delivers up to three cross folds in one lane. Additionally, small items run through multiple lanes can by-pass folding. The Compact control features 20 pre-set and 20 customizable programs.
“We normally use one operator on the Compact. That person attaches items using clips, and the Compact spreads, feed, irons, folds and stacks them,” she says. The laundry can easily process 960 sheets in an eight-hour day.
Once complete, laundry is stocked on each floor of the hotel for housekeepers. It’s a smooth process—one that will no doubt improve further as management gains experience with the new laundry operation, according to Schetter.
The Waterfront’s laundry is equipped to handle the hotel’s growing sales volume, while ensuring a high-quality product for hotel guests. “It allows us more control over linen inventory and quality – and over time – will save us significantly in outside vendor costs,” maintains Schetter. “It also allows us to schedule labor based on our business demands.”
And, like all the other areas of the hotel, the laundry will serve as a hands-on learning area—showing UWO hospitality students how laundry productivity and quality impact overall hotel operations and profits.
ROI in Three Years
Superior productivity flows out of the laundry’s Compact Ironer, as well. All flatwork items – sheets, tablecloths, table skirting and pillowcases – are fed directly from the washer into the Compact, according to Braun. The nice thing about the Compact is it takes on items of different dimensions, she says. It is configurable for one, two or four working lanes, with one lane for sheets, two for table linens and four for small items. It delivers up to three cross folds in one lane. Additionally, small items run through multiple lanes can by-pass folding. The Compact control features 20 pre-set and 20 customizable programs.
“We normally use one operator on the Compact. That person attaches items using clips, and the Compact spreads, feed, irons, folds and stacks them,” she says. The laundry can easily process 960 sheets in an eight-hour day.
Once complete, laundry is stocked on each floor of the hotel for housekeepers. It’s a smooth process—one that will no doubt improve further as management gains experience with the new laundry operation, according to Schetter.
The Waterfront’s laundry is equipped to handle the hotel’s growing sales volume, while ensuring a high-quality product for hotel guests. “It allows us more control over linen inventory and quality – and over time – will save us significantly in outside vendor costs,” maintains Schetter. “It also allows us to schedule labor based on our business demands.”
And, like all the other areas of the hotel, the laundry will serve as a hands-on learning area—showing UWO hospitality students how laundry productivity and quality impact overall hotel operations and profits.
To discover more about The Waterfront, visit www.oshkoshwaterfronthotel.com, or call 855-230-1900. To find out more about Continental and GI laundry equipment, visit www.continentalgirbau.com and www.girbauindustrial.com, respectively, or call 800-256-1073.