Each year, a number of laundry projects are completed around the country, resulting in brand-new or retrofitted plants primed and ready to convert soiled goods to clean textiles for the benefit of end-users and customers.
But before one of these plants goes online, there are months, sometimes even years, of effort spent in preparation. As a way to celebrate all the hard work that goes into funding, designing, building and equipping a modern laundry plant, American Laundry News has created this feature coined Designing Success to feature portraits of memorable plant installations.
Here, institutional/OPL, commercial and industrial laundry equipment manufacturers, as well as firms that offer design/build, engineering and mechanical contracting services to the laundry industry, were invited to tout their latest and greatest projects of the past two years.
B&C TECHNOLOGIES, FOR SOUTHERN VACATION RENTALS
B&C Technologies recently partnered with Southern Vacation Rentals, Destin, Fla., to renovate its laundry. Southern Vacation Rentals represents more than 900 short-term and 750 long-term rentals, 30 associations and countless real estate properties. It services the laundry needs of condominiums in the panhandle of Florida, with a 2,000-square-foot laundry processing center located here in Destin.
Southern Vacation Rentals had a laundry with older equipment and could not process goods efficiently; its energy consumption and maintenance costs were too high, and the company did not have any folding equipment, B&C reports. After an increase in demand, company executives decided to streamline their laundry and convert to a complete B&C plant.
The laundry equipment was removed and the laundry room was remodeled with new paint, flooring and ceiling. An inventory area was added.
B&C aided with the planning and design of the project by assisting with the layout design (Mike Murphy of Greenwood Marketing and Design provided laundry layout design services), calculating machine needs and overseeing installation. The installation of all-new equipment also led to a new dirty-to-clean workflow in the laundry.
Removal of equipment and the facility renovation took approximately four months, with installation of new equipment and start-up taking one week. Southern Vacation Rentals has processed approximately 715,000 pounds of goods to date in 2013.
By using B&C’s high-extract, soft-mount machines, Southern Vacation Rentals was able to save on both labor costs and energy consumption. According to Chief Operating Officer Marie Babin, “Everything was installed in January this year, and we have already seen a reduction of 50% in employee as well as energy savings.”
Three SP-100 and two SP-60 soft-mount washer-extractors replaced five hard-mount machines that had low extract speeds and high energy costs; the SP Series features high-speed 350-G extraction, energy efficiency and minimum maintenance, B&C says.
To accommodate Southern Vacation Rentals’ drying needs, three DE-120 and two DE-75 high-efficiency dryers with humidity sensing were installed. The feature automatically stops the dryer when goods are dry, saving time and energy.
Also installed were a sheet folder with stacker and the new sorting PF-3 Professional Folder (the PF series is built in Panama City, Fla., B&C notes). The PF-3 sorts small pieces according to size and places them neatly in one of three stacks. The new folding equipment has allowed Southern Vacation Rentals to significantly reduce staff and increase production, B&C says.
Cost of the project, including remodeling of the facility and purchase of the equipment, was around $270,000.
Check back throughout the month for more Designing Success stories!
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].