A market overview by Jean Perret, Product Manager – Ironers, at Electrolux Professional
A couple of years ago I attended The Clean Show in Atlanta and one of the most eye-catching displays was a fully automated towel folding solution. All the operator had to do was position a basket of towels underneath the system and away it went, finding corners, placing the towels on the table, folding them and sorting them, with no need for manual intervention.
Needless to say, such a system would have to process a sizeable sum of towels to generate a good return on investment. However, it does reinforce one of the biggest challenges facing the professional textile care industry: staff shortages.
Plugging the skills gap
The average number of people working in the laundry and drycleaning industry has been steadily declining since 2001, while the importance of professional laundry equipment in delivering hygienically dry linen has undoubtedly increased since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Understandably, the industry faces several challenges in attracting and maintaining staff. It can be a very manual and repetitive role, and if not properly undertaken, the work can lead to potential musculoskeletal injuries such as sprains and strains.
It is also a skilled role, and failure to properly care for linen during the laundry process can at best reduce the lifespan of the material, and at worst turn it into a potential vehicle for the spread of infection.
This is where automation can work to a laundry manager’s advantage.
Let’s say you are running a professional laundry with a client base in the hospitality or healthcare industry, processing up to two tonnes of linen a day. That is a lot of sheets to feed and fold. There is a good chance you are still reeling from the impact of the global energy crisis on your operational costs, and you are struggling to find enough operators to keep up with demand.
While automation has the potential to revolutionize laundry productivity, not all systems are made equal. It is best to invest a system which is proven to be accurate and repeatable, otherwise any time saved will be overtaken by time spent fixing problems.
The FFS Vibe range features our patented FoldFlex function, which enables the operator to create up to 99 customizable programs for feeding, drying finishing, folding and stacking. Crucially, each program is able to be tailored to linen type, size, thickness and material; and the machine will automatically adapt its speed and heat accordingly, while discarding items not suitable for the program selected.
Trustable hygiene
However, productivity is not the only benefit automation can bring to a professional laundry. As already mentioned, the operator has long played a key role in determining when linen is ready to be stored. With a shortage of skilled operators affecting the industry, technology can also provide a safety net to those just starting out.
For example, if residual moisture levels are too high at the end of the ironing process, potentially harmful bacterial can quickly form in the linen and pose a serious infection risk for the end user. To protect against this, our FFS Vibe range includes several first-to-industry trustable hygiene features which help deliver effective residual moisture control.
These include DIAMMS™ technology, which automatically regulates the cycle speed depending on the residual moisture levels to deliver hygienically dry sheets.
If for any reason the retained humidity is too high, the patented Hygiene Guard feature will automatically reject the linen. This takes the pressure off the operator and removes the risk of human error, while ultimately ensuring every item processed by the FFS Vibe ironer complies with RABC international standards (Humidity levels under 8%).
Final thoughts
Ultimately, there is no silver bullet to solve the skills shortage in the professional textile care industry. However, the increasing accessibility and innovation around laundry automation systems can give operators much needed support in achieving more with less.
The Line 6000 FFS Vibe ironer will be on the Electrolux Professional stand at Texcare 2024.