LAS VEGAS — While there’s a lot of attention paid in our industry to the large, modern automated laundry facility that processes millions of pounds per week, there is an order of magnitude of small laundries that do a significant amount of American and Canadian laundry workload every day.
In North America, there are approximately 113,000 hotels and motels and approximately 15,000 long-term care or nursing facilities, as well as universities, exercise and sports facilities, and more. While urban locations may have a laundry “service,” these businesses and service locations in urban, suburban and rural communities often have on-premises laundry (OPL) equipment to service daily needs.
We estimate that of the nearly 150,000 locations requiring laundry service, about 70% operate on-site laundry services in one form or another.
While we are involved in the building of large laundries and small alike, we are often asked why everyone wouldn’t just send their laundry out to a service. The answer? Because there is often no one to send laundry to in some cases. Either none are available, or your location is too small for outside services to support.
It’s not openly discussed in our industry, but many large laundries have a size limit on the types of customers they will serve. Depending on the market, most large laundries do not serve hotels with less than 100 to 150 rooms or long-term care facilities with less than 200 beds. This service profile changes from market to market.
Whatever the reason, many businesses use OPLs that are often located in small spaces. Because of the small footprint and the best practice of functionally separating soiled and clean goods, it is vital to maximize the workflow of a small laundry operation.
WORKFLOWS FOR HEALTHCARE
Recently, we’ve been working on a number of projects supporting the development of new long-term care facilities. These facilities range in size between 150 to 350 beds per location.
Because these are healthcare facilities, we have worked with the architectural teams to ensure that we have two doors: one for taking soil in and one for clean shipping. By maintaining two points of access to the laundry space, we can ensure there’s no mixing of work between clean and soil.
In these smaller healthcare plants, we also plan for soil holds, cart washing, mechanical rooms, and a small desk or break area for staff.
We recently designed a laundry room located in a basement that was also a parking garage. The laundry received soil from a laundry chute on upper floors. Because this was a dedicated service space, we also added a staff bathroom, hand-wash station, cart wash and chemical areas.
A single door is most common in smaller laundry spaces because architects and facility designers don’t fully consider or have experience with the impact of cross-contamination planning.
We see layouts where washers are across from dryers. We see layouts where washers are in line with dryers, and, of course, where washers and dryers are at right angles to each other, usually in rectangular or oddly shaped rooms.
The ideal single-door layout is to offset the washers from dryers, which creates a small separation so that laundry operators can organize their work.
We set up a laundry where all soil was transported immediately to the rear of the laundry (across from the washers). Then, washed loads moved forward to dryers, then forward again to folding and forward again to storage and shipping.
If the space has not been laid out in an ideal fashion, we have some thoughts on solutions to manage exposure.
Throughout Europe, parts of Canada and select areas in the United States, there are plants that operate using a post-sort system.
Post-sorting textiles essentially means washing all soil together without separating into different items. That would mean towels, sheets, rags, pads and gowns would all be washed together. By washing everything together, the required soil-sort area is significantly reduced.
The benefits are greater washer efficiency because every load is full, as is every dryer load (unless the laundry has a small ironer). Furthermore, washing everything first limits staff exposure to soiled textiles. Limited items are touched without PPE (personal protective equipment) until fully sanitized.
In my experience, smaller laundries always benefit from limiting their sorts or eliminating them altogether. It solves washing capacity issues and relocates sorting, combined with packing of textiles, to the clean side.
While some may have concerns about wash quality, the operational benefits are clear for small laundries if you simply do not have the space.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Small-laundry workflows are limited to the space allowed. If you get to design a small laundry, keep in mind that the location for equipment sets the workflow.
Keep from multiple touches whenever possible. Always allow for work in process space, and for storage wherever possible.
Space is a premium. Never give up laundry space if you can help it.
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Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
