Textiles: Cecil B. Lee, Standard Textile, Cincinnati, Ohio
Innovation is the culture at Standard Textile, and high-tech fabrics have been a large part of the customer service we have put forth to the marketplace. Our concept of high-tech fabrics that offer higher-level performance and having the lowest cost per use is a fundamental principal.
From high-tech barrier fabrics for surgical procedures introduced in the ’80s to high-tech fabrics designed for better skin care and debuted recently, we have always worked to offer products that are designed for specific purposes, but understanding that they still have to function well in the laundries we serve.
Having been an operator for more than 30 years, my first thought regarding the challenges high-tech fabrics present has been “attitude.” In the past, I have had to check my attitude and open myself up to being receptive to the product being shared with me. It is so easy to quickly think about why a product won’t work and how it will inconvenience my facility.
The inconvenience could include the following: multiple formulas for washers and dryers; essential temperature controls for washing and drying; retraining employees; learning how to properly handle the product; stacking issues; movement along the conveyor issues; packing; final product look; rewash; acquisition; productivity; and respecting the product.
Quite frankly, I see similar consideration needs regarding operating traditional laundries using predominately steam, laundries using thermal oil or laundries that are considered steamless. In all cases, textiles are treated/handled differently.
A great example of the perceived inconvenience factor lies in the creation of synthetic barrier isolation gowns. While they definitely perform, from the laundry side, they are hard to fold, they are lightweight and can get sucked up between the dryer frame and basket, and you have to process them long enough to dry the synthetic knitted cuff yet not burn or damage the synthetic fabric.
Initially, they were viewed as a higher-cost inconvenience. Yet, they have become the new standard, and the laundries that have successfully managed this change have offered their customers better protection, more comfort, a green alternative to disposables and added revenue to their bottom line.
It comes down to the consideration of the “good” that various products do for our customers’ facilities and, eventually, the patient.
In the end, the laundries should have a “holistic” approach in the name of service to the customer. It might mean acquisition cost is higher, a change to current laundry process, and that the customer is the beneficiary of the savings and the quality gain.
From a laundry standpoint, if we can present better products and save customers hundreds of thousands of dollars over time, I am doing it!
Equipment Manufacturing: Kelly Outram, Kannegiesser USA, Grand Prairie, Texas
The laundry industry is constantly evolving, even more so today. Laundries worldwide are facing ever-increasing pressure resulting from increasing energy and labor costs, hygienic guidelines and requirements, marketplace pricing pressures, as well as the ever-increasing requirement to process the newer, “high-tech” textiles and the challenges they present.
Each capital equipment manufacturer’s designers are busy addressing each of these issues with the latest generations of tunnel washing “system” equipment. I will focus on some of the features and benefits offered to address the challenges of washing, extraction and drying these “high-tech” textiles that aid owner/operators in their processing of these fabrics.
Tunnel washers on the market today offer many upgraded technologies to provide an optimal wash environment and allow the chemical provider partner’s products to ensure optimal, hygienically clean washing and rinsing results.
Tunnels can be programmed to control the mechanical action by providing varying speeds of the drum’s rotation and angle for proper bath penetration within the fibers of each fabric type.
The individual chambers of a tunnel washer can now be regulated to the actual batch weight and classification in that individual module, ensuring consistent, proper ratios of wash liquors, chemicals and steam to the real textile’s weight for that load, not the nominal loading weight for all batches. Even the perforation on drum walls within many machines has been improved to be gentler on these new textiles.
Equipment manufacturers today are all looking to minimize water usage in tunnel washers, while at the same time striving to ensure optimization of the rinsing process. Otherwise, the potential water savings realized can be detrimental to rinse quality while also causing potential problems in the finishing department.
The latest technologies of many modern tunnel washers provide for a gradual cool-down of select fabric to help minimize “thermal shock” before transferring goods from the final hot-wash-zone chamber to the first rinsing chamber within the tunnel.
Many machines also provide drainage of “free” wash liquors and residues at this same transition point so that only “absorbed” liquors and chemicals left in the fabric transfer to the rinse zone of the machine. Improvements have been made in multiple tunnels as well as with more effective lint- and hair-filtration systems.
Process optimization of today’s high-tech fabrics carries on to manufacturers’ extraction units as well, both presses and centrifuge models. Each strives to ensure safe extraction to all linen types by optimizing extraction times and providing varying pressing programs for each classification—from several light tamps to maximum time under full pressure, depending on the fabric type.
When wearable items with buttons, snaps and zippers, or other specialty fabrics, are involved, it may be determined that one of the many centrifuge-spinning extraction units available today may be best for the application.
Equipment manufacturers’ designers have also met the challenge to process today’s high-tech textiles in the latest generation of system dryers. All strive to optimize and balance the drying process between performance,
efficiency and linen care.
To meet the linen care aspect of this goal, many dryers offer features to provide even airflow distribution throughout the width of the drum for optimal, even contact on each fabric type surface. Many dryers also can be equipped with an infrared system that monitors the surface temperature of a fabric to help eliminate over-drying that can cause damage and reduce the useful life of these fabrics.
Please be assured that many new machine technologies exist that assist in the streamlined and profitable processing of these materials and products.
Come back Wednesday to read what chemicals supply and commericial laundry representatives have to say.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].