A commercial laundry, like any other business, must make the most of its resources — labor, machinery, technology, water, natural gas and electricity — while at max productivity. This requires careful planning. And, when it’s done correctly, commercial laundries enjoy low overhead costs and high productivity and profit levels. So, if you’re in the midst of planning your next commercial laundry, read on for tips on creating a super-efficient one.
Getting to Know Your GNA Distributor
Your first step is to contact your Girbau North America distributor. Your distributor will guide you through the process of developing or re-tooling a commercial laundry and provide valuable assistance with its design, equipment mix, workflow and more. Your distributor will analyze your production, quality, efficiency and labor needs and then provide you with quality, highly efficient solutions.
Laundry Design & Workflow
Starting with a workflow and laundry plan is essential to creating an efficient laundry. That’s why GNA works with you to develop a laundry design that offers ease of movement for employees and positions equipment sensibly so as the laundry grows, it’s easy to add or alter equipment. These designs also include necessary venting and utilities.
Select the Right Equipment
Through proper equipment selection, laundries can drastically conserve water, electricity and natural gas, decrease required labor hours and maximize productivity. See the recommendations below:
Open-Pocket Washers:
Continental and Girbau Industrial (GI) open-pocket soft-mount washers (20- to 255-pound capacities) are highly efficient with extract speeds reaching 450 G-force. The high extract removes more moisture from every load, which cuts drying time by up to 50 percent. This means dryers complete loads in half the time, using half the natural gas. The shortened wash/dry time maximizes throughput and allows operators to complete more loads in less time — saving labor.
Tunnel Washers:
When laundry volume exceeds 1,000 laundry pounds per hour, it’s time to look at a GI Continuous Batch Tunnel Washer for improved labor savings and greater efficiency and productivity. With 5 to 12 modules, these tunnels offer double-drum flexibility and programmability by module. Plus, you can continue to modify them once they are installed for capabilities including water reuse, filtration, heat reclamation and ozone sanitization. Only one operator is required, which reduces labor costs. Water, natural gas and electricity consumption are also less when compared to open-pocket machines.
Dryers:
Continental and GI Dryers are highly flexible and designed to contain heat and optimize air flow for unrivaled efficiency. Some models offer suction loading and the ability to work in concert with a tunnel washing system or as a stand-alone unit.
Ironing Systems, Feeders & Folders:
GI finishing systems are designed to handle damp linens straight from the washer. This means sheets and table linens bypass the dryers, which improves productivity and drastically reduces natural gas usage. As linens pass through the ironer, they are dried and perfectly pressed at up to 90 percent efficiency. Feeders and folders improve throughput and reduce labor time. Generally, these items offer a quick return on investment just in labor savings alone. That’s important because labor costs make up 40-60 percent of total commercial laundry costs. Next are water and power costs, making up 15-25 percent. Keeping these costs down is the key to profitability and efficiency.
It All Works Together
At the end of the day, equipment selection, laundry design and workflow are the greatest contributors to laundry efficiency. Each one works to save labor hours, conserve water, natural gas and electricity costs, and help maximize throughput.
About the Author
As Girbau Industrial’s (GI) national sales manager, Brennan Pollnow assists commercial and industrial laundries with laundry room design and workflow, proper equipment mix and sizing, as well as automation and efficiency recommendations. He interfaces closely with local distributors and customers to ensure seamless communication, installation and startup.