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Do Dollars Spent on New Equipment Really Pay Off? (Part 1)

New machines, better efficiency for nursing home, uniform rental service

CHICAGO — Success in the laundry room for Judy McCollough, director of environmental services for Ramsey Village, a continuing care retirement community in Des Moines, Iowa, means keeping pace with all of the soiled underpads, diapers, sheets, blankets, comforters, table linens, towels and personal items that come through on any given day.

That’s a lot of textiles, which means a lot of wear and tear on the equipment.

Recently, the laundry retired an 18-year-old, 75-pound hard-mount washer. Ramsey Village made an investment in smaller soft-mount replacements, rather than hard-mounts, for significant gains in extract speeds, dry times, efficiency and overall productivity.

“We went from a bigger machine to a smaller machine and we get more productivity out of the smaller machine,” says McCollough.

Every laundry operation reaches a point where it has to make the investment in new equipment and technology. Most, if not all, manufacturers today highlight the efficiency and savings their equipment will provide.

American Laundry News spoke with four laundries to find out how investing in new equipment and technology translated into better efficiency in relation to water, energy and overall production. This installment focuses on Ramsey Village and Jackson Services Inc. in Columbus, Neb.

HIGH-SPEED SOFT-MOUNT WASHERS BOOST PRODUCTIVITY, EFFICIENCY

Ramsey Village allows mature adults to “age in place” without ever having to move for health reasons, says McCollough. With multiple levels of care—from independent and assisted living to rehabilitative, memory and skilled nursing—Ramsey Village is a 150-bed facility generating up to 50,000 pounds of soiled laundry per month.

McCollough works directly with Mike Ross of Ross Chemical Systems, Des Moines, for the laundry’s needs. A full-service provider of commercial laundry equipment, kitchen equipment and chemicals, Ross Chemical Systems monitors and ensures the facility’s laundry sanitation, productivity, efficiency, chemical mix and processes are the best they can be, according to Ross. 

Ramsey Village has worked closely with Ross Chemical Systems and relied on Continental Girbau laundry equipment for two decades.

The laundry’s Continental workhorses include a 50-pound-capacity L-Series hard-mount washer, a 55-pound-capacity Pro-Series soft-mount washer, a 55-pound-capacity E-Series soft-mount washer, two 80-pound-capacity D-Series Dryers, and two 50/60-pound-capacity Pro-Series II Dryers.

The soft-mount washer Ramsey Village installed to replace the hard-mount washer reaches extract speeds of up to 387 G-force, according to Ross, compared with a hard-mount washer’s max of around 75-150 G-force.

This made it possible for the laundry to continue operating with its existing 13- and 18-year-old dryers.

Because the soft-mount washers remove more water from every load, the dryers operate less often and consume less natural gas, according to Ross. Goods also experience less wear and last longer. In turn, Ramsey Village enjoys reduced linen-replacement and utility costs, along with bolstered laundry productivity.

The newest additions to Ramsey Village boosted productivity by six loads per day—around 330 laundry pounds—when compared to the laundry’s hard-mount washer, according to McCollough.

“I wish I could get another one,” she says.

Not only is Ramsey Village enjoying savings on costs, McCullough says saving cash on equipment installation was an added bonus. The soft-mount machine, unlike hard-mount washers, slid easily into place without reinforced concrete foundations and bolt-down.

Catering to the needs of Ramsey Village is important, according to Ross.

“We recommend advances in technology of newer machines to help the customer in total laundry operation costs,” he says. “We are interested in 100% of their laundry operating costs, not just in the 9% equipment replacement, or the 8 to 10% chemical operation. Everything goes hand-in-hand for us, so to speak, as we address a particular piece of equipment and how it will affect operational costs.”

In this vein, Ross says he has improved Ramsey Village’s laundry operation through the years while simultaneously keeping the older machines in prime working order.

NEW EQUIPMENT ENHANCES PRODUCTION

Another laundry service that has had success with integrating new equipment with the old, and seeing savings, is Jackson Services Inc., a family business headquartered in Columbus, Neb.

The company was born in the home of Minnie Jackson in 1924 as a family laundry service, says Jesse Jackson, president. The business, originally named Jackson’s Pantorium, grew and evolved to include a multitude of retail and B2B services, including dry cleaning.

In the 1970s, the business dropped all retail and drycleaning services and began focusing solely on the uniform, dust control, and other B2B textile rental services.

Jackson says the laundry has relied on Horwath Laundry Equipment, the local authorized Pellerin Milnor Corp. distributor, to fill its commercial laundry equipment needs. Milnor’s business relationship with Jackson Services has spanned the last 50 years. Prior to that, the laundry had purchased wooden washers manufactured by Andrew Horwath, Horwath Laundry Equipment’s founder.

Today, the laundry employs 76 full-time employees and processes approximately 6 million pounds of uniforms, mats, mops and towels annually, according to Jesse Jackson.

Last December, Jackson Services installed four new 6464 pass-through dryers (in a pod layout), one 48040 M7K 275-pound-capacity tilting washer-extractor and a 68036 M5K 400-500-pound-capacity tilting washer-extractor to enhance its washroom production.

Another major component to the recent washroom upgrades was the E-Tech rail system to expedite linen transport in the laundry. The new rail system enabled the dryer pod layout, which eliminates the need to wait for an available dryer.

One major piece of equipment the Jacksons chose not to upgrade was their 1996 G2 Milnor CBW® tunnel.

“Milnor equipment produces excellent product quality and lasts for a very long time. So long, in fact, that it creates challenges for their own people to integrate their old equipment with their new equipment,” Jesse Jackson says. “The 20-year-old Milnor equipment in our plant is still just working so well, that we couldn’t bring ourselves to replace it yet.”

Since the upgrade, dryer production is increasing steadily. The quicker dry times have made it necessary to turn off the dryers a couple times per day so the washers and post-dry portion of the laundry can catch up, according to Jackson.

“We choose to buy Milnor equipment, despite there being cheaper options out there, because we feel it is the best,” he says. “We believe in buying quality, and that is the same value proposition we present to our own customers. The Jackson family is proud to have worked with all four generations of both the Pellerin and Horwath families for so long. We look forward to continuing to work together in the future.”

Check back Thursday for the conclusion.

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Judy McCollough, director of environmental services for Ramsey Village, unloads a new soft-mount washer that has boosted productivity in her laundry room. (Photo: Ramsey Village)

Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].