LAS CRUCES, N.M. — American Linen & Uniform Supply, located here, has two ironers in its plant currently. One is an eight-roll ironer. The other is six-roll.
On the eight-roll ironer, the company has a large-piece folder to handle the goods coming off the ironer. However, American Linen had nothing on the back of its six-roll ironer.
President and CEO Michael Lutz had been searching a long time to find the right piece to back the six-roll ironer. Recently, the company purchased and installed an LF Series Large Piece Folder/Crossfolder from Leonard Automatics to handle the work.
American Linen purchased the LF due to its flexibility between large and small pieces, as the company needed small-piece draping capability, while being a back-up to its large-piece folder if it were to go down for any reason.
“Leonard’s folder allows us the flexibility to quickly change between small pieces and large pieces with the touch of a button,” says Lutz.
He had considered a Leonard Stack-N-Store two years ago, but what ultimately made Lutz decide on the LF was the versatility to handle any product, any time with one machine.
The installation of the LF was seamless, according to Leonard. The site was well-prepared when the team arrived. American Linen & Uniform Supply proved to be a great partner for this installation.
In the linen plant, all ironed product (i.e., sheets, tablecloths, napkins, aprons) flows directly from the wash floor to the clean sling storage system, where they are hoisted into the air and moved to the ironers. When the product is needed, the sling is dropped into a cart and the cart is advanced to the ironer where the operators load the product.
With the new LF folder, American Linen has automated folding, stacking and/or draping without the need for hand folding and stacking.
The employees have been very happy with the machine. The company says the simplicity of the Siemens interface, which is a very intuitive system, and the ability to quickly change products from large piece to small piece and back again has allowed it flexibility that American Linen never had before.
“The precision folding and reliability exceeded our expectations,” Lutz shares. “It has dramatically increased our quality and productivity while significantly reducing our labor. Leonard’s ongoing support is second to none.”
Since the installation, American Linen has increased its productivity by 40% on its six-roll ironer. The LF significantly increased capacity, throughput, reliability and overall on-time processing.
The company can now meet the changing demands of its customers or fill short notice orders easily.
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