CHICAGO — Manufacturers continually strive to do more with less, and that includes using fewer employees to get the same, or more, amount of work done.
Not just done, but done in a timely manner with high-quality results.
For laundry operations, that means using as few employees as possible to get soiled linens washed, dried and packaged properly and on time, and shipped back to the end-users or clients.
It may sound like the end result would be employees working their fingers to the bone and burning out, but that’s not the case. The idea is to have employees and equipment functioning at highly effective levels.
Graham Skinner, RLLD, general manager of laundry services, Mission Hospital, Asheville, N.C., relates this to the concept of running a “lean” operation.
“When I think of ‘lean’ in manufacturing, and especially in laundry, it is more of a mindset and process that has to be embraced at all levels of an organization,” Skinner says. “As far as equipment, any equipment from any manufacturer can be made to operate in more of a lean manner. It’s more about how it ties into the adjacent equipment as it pertains to scheduling, output, staffing and demand. It all starts with training of management and front-line staff. Everyone has to be on board.”
So how can a laundry manager help his or her employees process textiles and linens at the highest level? That state of effectiveness can be reached through analysis, training and using the right equipment.
VALUE STREAM ANALYSIS
For Skinner, creating a lean laundry operation is more about timing and controlling workflow. He says that every plant is different, but they all perform the same process. Therefore, it’s important to do a current-state value stream analysis (VSA) of the plant, which he says helps managers see and visualize where the wait times are that cost money and time.
“So many of us have been brought up to push the linen out the door. It is not always the best way,” Skinner says. “The best comment I ever heard about this was that the customer does not pay us for linen sitting around on a shelf or in buggies in our plant; they pay us for what we ship them.”
The VSA “map” can help managers and employees work more efficiently by identifying wasted movement, inventory, wait times and machine capacity, or lack of it, says Skinner. He says that the benefit of a current-state VSA map is that it shows a plant’s current efficiency percentage and where improvements can be made—then you get staff engaged to make it happen.
“You are trying to achieve a process of pulling the linen out you need, not pushing out quantities you do not need right now or have to sit and wait for finishing, ironing, etc.,” says Skinner.
One of the next steps, according to Skinner, may be to go back and do a future-state VSA. By using the current-state VSA, managers can create a new future-state map.
This future-state VSA can point out ways to eliminate the inventory of product not currently needed (that was simply being pushed through), according to Skinner.
Other factors the future-state VSA could help eliminate include wait times on products that were not at a machine yet, double handling, and eliminating bottlenecks in the flow.
“Sometimes you can actually improve efficiencies by slowing down certain areas of the process,” he says. “The map can help you do this.”
Skinner says that in many instances, if a VSA is done correctly, staffing requirements are reduced.
“For continued effectiveness, staff should not be laid off but redeployed, or utilize natural attrition,” he says. “Some staff can be used to implement deeper lean training for the facility, so the process can feed itself with improved efficiencies.”
Check back Thursday for Part 2.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].