LAS VEGAS — Apex Linen was built in 2011 to provide a high-tech, cost-effective, environmentally conscious laundry plant for the local resort and business community. The company combines state-of-the-art laundry technology, scientific concepts, advanced plant design, purchasing power and strong work values in an effort to elevate local industry standards.
Incorporating equipment from manufacturers such as Kannegiesser and UniMac, Apex’s strategic partner, AJ Industries West, helped to develop, design, set up and manage the state-of-the-art facility.
Apex maintains a $6 million inventory of hotel linens, uniforms and textiles at all times for rental purposes, backed by an $18 million equipment investment, computerized laundry applications, use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology, and a high-level management system.
Large enough to handle 300,000 pounds of linen per day, the plant interfaces laundry/uniform software and hardware for a seamless production and inventory system.
The plant’s machinery incorporates overhead automated rails that feed the two Kannegiesser 17-module batch tunnel washers, plus press extractors and dedicated flatwork and small-piece finishing units. UniMac washer-extractors and tumble dryers are used to process smaller load classifications.
Apex says it is one of the first industrial laundry services in the world to invest in Union drycleaning machines using non-toxic, biodegradable SolvonK4 solvent for sustainable dry cleaning.
Each equipment station houses an automated interface and computer system for all processes, the company says.
Apex employs its own service technicians, computer support specialists, engineers, maintenance staff, dispatchers and training personnel. The company maintains a controlled environment at all times, taking extra steps to ensure employee safety, reaping the benefits of 90% staff retention.
Apex’s unique plant design was formulated based on years of combined experience with principals from Kannegiesser, UniMac and AJ Industries West.
“I’ve had the privilege to work with teams from over 160 companies and seven different countries who operate Kannegiesser equipment,” says Phil Hart, president of Kannegiesser USA, in describing his company’s relationship with Apex Linen President/CEO Joseph W. Dramise. “[The Apex] team is among the elite in that they extract the best end product that the equipment can supply.”
He continues by saying that Apex Linen should take pride in the fact that it has a “European-class laundry” and is producing linens that “would be at home in the finest hotels of Paris, Berlin or Zurich.”
UniMac Sales Manager Scott Peregoy credits his 20-year working relationship with Dramise, and the manufacturer’s product performance, for being able to bring the proper mix of equipment to the plant to ensure premium results.
In working together for nearly two decades, Kannegiesser, UniMac and AJ Industries West have designed and retrofitted facilities in the U.S. and overseas, according to Peregoy.
“The partnership has resulted in improving the efficiencies and productivity of many laundry operations around the world,” he says.
A quality control aspect that Apex Linen says makes it unique in Southern Nevada is its use of RFID technology.
Wherein early units were complex, sizable systems of metal coils, antennae and glass used to track large items such as railroad cars and cattle, innovations have made it possible to store up to 2 kilobytes of data on a microchip.
RFID chips are inserted into uniforms and linens and provide a computerized management system that allows for full order accountability. These tags communicate with an electronic reader that detects every item in a cart and relays that information to a POS computer monitored by technicians. The system is safe and secure, enhances loss prevention and eliminates invoices for mysteriously missing linens, Apex says.
The company believes using RFID technology provides huge advantages, in that client partners are able to track their textiles in real time, with online access to transportation and delivery status.
Apex’s total loss percentage and reject factor amount to less than 2%, according to the company. Working in a high-volume industry demands the level of accountability that RFID technology provides.
“Simply put, we’re motivated by our commitment to provide our clients with accountability, quality end products and value,” says Dramise. “Our dedication to our customer base, combined with the incorporation of Kannegiesser’s and UniMac’s quality industrial laundry equipment and team knowledge, has established Apex Linen as a leader in the industry with a strong track record of success for being on time and on budget.”
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].