Healthcare Laundry: Joseph E. Samuel, JVK Operations Ltd., Amityville, N.Y.
In the Tri-State commercial laundry market, balancing the drive toward automation with our responsibility to provide employment is not simply a philosophical challenge; it is a question of competitiveness and survival.
The market is unforgiving. Labor, insurance, and utility costs continue to rise, while customers demand tighter pricing, faster turnarounds, and consistent quality. Add to that the unpredictability of today’s political and regulatory climate, and there is no margin for error.
Our company has always valued the loyalty and work ethic of our team. However, sustaining those jobs requires maintaining a business that can compete effectively in this environment.
We are reviewing several new technologies, including tunnel washers with integrated load tracking, smart chemical-dispensing systems, and automated sorting and bagging lines designed to increase throughput, improve quality control, and reduce waste.
We implemented a fleet management platform to optimize routing, improve delivery reliability and strengthen visibility across our logistics network. To address rising energy costs, we have signed with an energy service company to secure more competitive natural-gas pricing.
On the administrative side, we outsourced select back-office functions to a U.S.-based third-party partner — specific tasks we determined were necessary to streamline — allowing our internal team to focus on plant operations, customer satisfaction and strategic growth.
We are also reviewing the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in our operations and exploring how it can enhance office administration, sales, human resources (HR), customer service and production planning. The goal is to leverage AI to improve responsiveness and decision-making without losing the human judgment and relationships that define our service model.
These steps are not about replacing people. They are about protecting the company’s long-term health and ensuring stability for the workforce that depends on it.
In this market, hesitation comes at a cost. The competitive, regulatory and economic realities of our industry demand that we evolve quickly and intelligently. Automation, energy efficiency and data-driven management are not optional. They are essential to preserving both the business and the jobs that make it possible.
If you are not finding ways to move forward, a competitor already is.
Commercial Laundry: Edward Arzouian, Bates Troy Inc., Binghamton, N.Y.
This question about automation is a very hot topic. Before delving into that, you really have to ask whether your primary desire is to create employment or process more laundry. I’ll leave you to ponder that.
Personally, after 18 years in the laundry industry, I have never been asked to create more jobs, though in certain government grant funding, I did have to meet certain job milestones, but those followed production increases.
The balancing act referred to in your question is more than employment for hard-working people versus with automation, which is to say more high-tech, new machinery. There are a couple more factors or variables to consider.
Do you have the capital necessary for the purchase of new automated equipment, the cost of which is spiraling? Do you have the physical plant necessary to install such equipment? Finally, perhaps the most important consideration, do you have the maintenance staff with the necessary skills and proficiency to maintain the new automated, and often very complex, equipment to realize its full potential?
I will make this clear upfront: I’m not an experienced engineer who has built multiple laundry facilities to answer all those questions. I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (remember that ad campaign?) ... but I have read numerous articles by guys like Bob Corfield, president and CEO of Laundry Design Group, and Gerard O’Neill, the president and CEO of American Laundry Systems, a division of E&O Mechanical, and others in our laundry industry who have built a great many new laundries with plenty of automation.
I’m acquainted with Bob and Gerard. We have worked with both of them, and they have visited our facility. So, I’m not reinventing the wheel and want to give credit where it is due.
The lure of automation is appealing. You go to a trade show and see the latest machine that promises to double or triple pounds per operator hour (PPOH). What’s not to like, right? No PTO required, no overtime pay, no health benefits required, etc. Those are pros, obviously.
To quote O’Neill, “Automation in any department is worth taking a look at, but it should be evaluated fairly.” He adds, “Operators need to carefully consider maintenance capabilities and likely impact on throughput. If you can’t maintain it or use it to gain efficiency … then think twice about making that capital expenditure.”
Balancing automation in one area with production in another is also an important consideration. If you eliminate a bottleneck in one area, are you creating one somewhere else?
I can offer a successful automation example we undertook back at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The demand for isolation gowns skyrocketed. We had four to eight employees folding them. We still could not keep up.
Like everyone, we also had trouble finding more employees. We purchased a new folder that quadrupled output and required only two employees to operate. It worked so well, we bought a second machine.
If your current maintenance team already has its hands full, is it in a position to take on more tasks, tasks that will probably be more complex? Are you in a position where you can hire more maintenance technicians? Today, experienced technicians are in high demand, and are not flocking to the laundry industry.
In closing, I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I’d like to thank American Laundry News for giving me the opportunity to contemplate some of the topics we have discussed.
Finally, I’d like to thank readers of this publication. I hope you have enjoyed some of the words we have had to offer.
Click HERE to read part 1 with insights from linen supply, consulting services and uniforms/workwear manufacturing experts.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
