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Grand Strand Keeps Rental Housing Linen Flowing

Q&A highlights technology adopted by on-premises laundry to deliver high volume

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Every business has a specialty, and churning out clean linens is the bread and butter of Grand Strand Linen. During peak tourist season, the linen supply service processes and delivers up to 120,000 pounds of towels, bedsheets and tablecloths weekly for the area’s rental housing community.

My company, UniMac, sat down with owner David DiMarino to discuss the tools and technologies that allow Grand Strand Linen to efficiently process such a high volume of linens—even amid the sand, bronzers and suntan lotions that come with the territory.

Q: Describe Grand Strand Linen’s customer base and how it affects the laundry operation.

DiMarino: Guests come from around the world for a vacation in North Myrtle Beach. Upon their arrival, it’s our job to have a customized assortment of perfectly folded, packaged and labeled linens already waiting at the rental condo or house.

Our goal is to contribute to a hassle-free vacation experience for the 2,550 rental units we service, yet we are simultaneously challenged to protect the large investment we make in those premium linens. Linens are often treated as if they’re disposable—for example, using hand towels as bike polishers or pillowcases as laundry bags—and that means wear and tear. Additionally, we frequently face stains that are not water-soluble.

These challenges make reliable, state-of-the-art equipment a critical component of Grand Strand Linen’s success and customer’s satisfaction. Our industrial-strength machines are engineered to stand up to a high throughput and their advanced control systems offer the technology and flexibility for optimal fabric care.

Q: What technologies are integral to your facility’s efficiency?

DiMarino: Our throughput has increased and our utility costs have decreased since we’ve installed more and more machines equipped with state-of-the-art technologies. One technology critical to processing linens quickly and more effectively is the spray-rinse technology on our washer-extractors, which uses less water and leaves less residue on linens compared to a bath rinse alone. Thanks to spray rinse, the percentage of linens we must spot-treat and rewash has dropped from 15% to 6%. These washer-extractors also have fantastic extract speeds, saving us approximately 10 minutes of dry time because less water is left in the load.

That time savings is extended again at the tumble dryer with over-dry prevention technology. This feature allows us to set moisture levels so the machine shuts off exactly when linens are dry—not after a standard such as 40 minutes. It takes the guesswork out of dryness, preserves our linen’s integrity and doesn’t waste our employees’ time, utilities or natural resources. The machine pays for itself in the first year of use based on utility and labor savings alone.

Q: Linen replacement represents 13-25% of an OPL’s annual costs. How do you keep this cost low?

DiMarino: We can’t control how guests or the beach will treat our linens, but we can control how our equipment does. We used to spend approximately $70,000 a year on bath towels alone—that amounts to about 22,000 new towels purchased annually. Combining the benefits of spray-rinse technology and over-dry prevention, we are getting three or four seasons out of these towels, rather than one or two. That amounts to about $40,000 in savings per year on towels alone.

Overall, we’ve cut our linen replacement costs in half. Those numbers are even more impressive with the busy season getting longer. It’s currently about 24 weeks, compared to 12 weeks when we started doing business in 2010.

Q: With such a high volume of linens that need to be cleaned, what strategies are in place regarding wash formulas?

DiMarino: We’ve worked very closely with our chemical company to select and fine-tune wash formulas, regularly test pH levels and effectively program the 41 wash cycles offered by our washer-extractors’ advanced control system.

Each machine is hooked up to a chemical pump and programmed to automatically match the right chemical and wash program for the items being laundered.

For example, an employee presses “white towels” and can walk away knowing the wash formula is correct. The advanced control system gives us the confidence and flexibility to select cycles based on our unique wash needs.

Additionally, the custom water circulation system installed throughout our 22,000-square-foot facility helps us further maximize the wash formula. In such a large building, the circulation system ensures water temperature is accurate when it enters the washer-extractor. We’ve found that water that’s at least 160 F does the best job of getting linens bright and clean the first time.

Q: Any other advice for OPL managers?

DiMarino: Grand Strand Linen started out with just three washer-extractors and three tumble dryers. Those numbers are now 18 and 14, with capacities ranging from 35 to 255 pounds.

With so many machines and such a high volume of linens coming through our doors, the advanced control systems’ reporting functions allow us to pull performance reports, be reminded of regular maintenance checks, ensure throughput is on track with client billing and more.

Another tip when dealing with such a large throughput is to sort linens by type—towels, sheets, pillowcases, etc.—before putting them in the wash. This makes the transition from dryer to iron or dryer to folding station much smoother.

My last piece of advice is to work closely with your distributor to select the right equipment mix for your needs. We plan to expand further and add five more 100-pound-capacity washer-extractors in the near future. We attribute much of the rapid growth we have had in just four years of doing business to that relationship.


 

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Grand Strand Linen, North Myrtle Beach, S.C., processes and delivers up to 120,000 pounds of linens weekly. (Photo: Grand Strand Linen) 

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Grand Strand Linen washes premium linens for 2,550 vacation rental units. (Photo: Grand Strand Linen) 

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