CHICAGO — Folding is a critical part of the finishing process for industrial and institutional laundries.

Clean, even folds offer customers professional-looking textiles, but achieving these folds consistently and efficiently can be challenging for an operator.

Folding technology has advanced on many fronts in recent years, and American Laundry News conferred with several providers of folding equipment to learn about those advances, how laundries can make solid folding-equipment selections, and what enhancements are to come.

Joe Fleming, president of Yamamoto North America, says that the biggest benefit with folder advancements may ultimately be consistency or reliability. 

“A laundry doesn’t process one perfect towel under laboratory conditions all day long,” he points out. “Textiles vary in size, thickness, age, moisture content, and construction, and employees naturally vary in experience and technique. The more intelligence that can be built into feeding, sorting, and folding, the less those variations affect the finished result. 

“For the laundry, that means fewer jams, fewer manual adjustments, less rework, easier training, and more predictable piece counts.”

“On a plant level, these upgrades allow operations to establish clear performance metrics across multiple departments,” says Joseph Amaral, partner and executive vice president of business development for Lindsey Enterprises. “Reducing jams, misfeeds, and misalignments significantly lowers the strain on engineering and maintenance teams. Furthermore, managing static and utilizing data tracking allows associates to consistently hit production goals.

“For the end customer, these advancements ensure an exceptional, well-folded presentation. The automated vision-inspection systems provide peace of mind by guaranteeing that guests and clients receive only the highest-quality products.”

Folding equipment upgrades help laundries create a more reliable and consistent folding operation, says Joe Chenot, interim vice president of customer development for Foltex USA. 

“Improvements in folding control, sensing, and machine design help produce uniform folds and stacks across a wide range of items, reducing misfolds, rework, and the day-to-day variation that can occur in a manual process,” he says.

“Just as important, modern equipment is designed to reduce downtime. Simple, accessible designs and readily available parts allow maintenance teams to address issues quickly and keep production moving. For a laundry, dependable uptime is often more valuable than a high production rating that cannot be sustained.

“For customers, the result is consistent, professionally presented linen delivered on time. When a laundry can depend on its folding equipment to produce the same quality fold every day, it strengthens service reliability and gives customers confidence in the operation behind the product.”

Tim Crimmins, Eastern regional sales manager for LAVATEC, points out that staging is often overlooked in laundry design, and many laundries are challenged with adequate space. “Thus, having proper folds to most effectively pack into carts has become very important. It also helps with production, as efficient packing will also reduce cart handling.

“Looking at it from the client’s perspective, specific folds can often be requested, as it may help how linens are stored and the challenges that many facilities, especially hospitals, have regarding storage spaces. 

“There also can be operational effectiveness with the folds of certain linens. For example, if a laundry services hospitals with surgical towels or packs, some doctors may prefer folds that help assist in how the linen is utilized during surgical procedures.”

Jim Shaw, LAVATEC’s vice president of sales, says upgraded folding will resolve both the protection of the textile finish and offer a better presentation to the customer.

“When trying to preserve the finish of a textile through the folding process, we use air jet, reverse belt flow, and knife folding. The first, second, or third primary folds are typically done by air unless the products are heavier or have an open weave,” he explains. “In these instances, we tend to use knife folds.

“When we get to the cross-fold section, many cross-folders use air and reverse belt folding. These methods tend to cause creases at the edges of the fold. Knife folding eliminates these creases for the most part.”

Turning clean goods into customer-ready stacks sounds simple, but folding can be one of the biggest labor drains in a laundry, points out Casey Lott, marketing director for Kannegiesser North America. 

“Automated dry-work lines that feed, fold and deliver stacks directly to a central pack-out area let a small team handle a huge volume of work,” he says. “Even smaller laundries can benefit from modern folders that improve consistency while reducing hands-on labor. 

“The same is true for garments, where robotic folding technology helps reduce repetitive tasks while delivering a more consistent finished product. We’ve seen strong adoption of these solutions from customers embracing SMART Laundry technology, helping them increase efficiency, address labor challenges, and build a more connected, future-ready operation.”

Check back Tuesday for advice on analyzing a laundry operation for folding equipment needs.

Click HERE to read part 1 for recent advancements from industrial laundry folding equipment providers.