A logical approach to laundry planning

Netherlands-based WSP Systems is well-known as a software specialist for the laundry sector. Its expertise goes beyond that to include logistics in the widest sense of the word. Services include fully managed laundry design with aftersales support.

The company was founded in 1993 by Maarten Ploeg with the specific aim of applying expertise in logistics to improve productivity and efficiency in laundries. The development has centred on four areas.

Internal logistics and controls systems are concerned with ensuring a smooth workflow around the laundry. The service covers transport systems within the plant, including bag rail systems, and conveyors.

WSP has its own bag rail manufacturing company, in Germany, which it acquired about a year ago.

WinWash is WSP’s specialist logistics software that allows laundry managers to see and control what is happening throughout the plant from one interface. It covers all aspects including the ability to track linen from its arrival to dispatch, all internal logistics, the complete management of a tunnel washer and complete dryer management.

The system was launched in 1999 but has been continuously developed and is now in its third generation. It was extended in 2009 with a module designed to instruct production employees by providing basic visuals on touchscreen PCs.

Textile management and registration systems (TMR) allow laundries to manage all the data gathered within the business in a way that is simple to operate and provides direct access to the information via an internet browser, thus reducing paperwork. It is designed so that data can easily be exchanged between systems.

TMR systems were developed in the laundry to support the complete administration of flatwork, workwear and drycleaning processes. TMR can be used with either barcode–based or RFID systems and WSP works with customers to develop and adapt the system to specific requirements.

WSP’s Laundry Dashboard is a web-based system for monitoring data in real time, giving instant access both to the laundry’s targets and to the current status in achieving these.

The Dashboard has separate systems for monitoring water and energy use and machine productivity plus a management system that analyses data from both programs.

One of the company’s special advantages is that it has always specialised in the laundry industry.

Redmer Aarnink, commercial executive, brings practical knowledge of how a laundry works, which is important in helping to maximise the benefits of WSP’s applications for the customer. He has worked with the company for around 10 years but he already had a strong background in the laundry industry. His parents owned a laundry and Aarnink has worked for technical laundry machine suppliers all over the world. In the seven years before joining WSP he was director of operations at Modeluxe Linen Services in the Netherlands.

As a result he is in a position to apply the principles of best practice, learned through practical experience, to refine the logistics, deciding how to position the various sections and the best way to move goods around.

“We can design a laundry from scratch,” says Aarnink.

The Blycolin laundry at Bunschoten, the Netherlands, is a good example. The Blycolin Hotel Service group has been handling linen management and rental services since 1970 but until 2003 had not been concerned with laundry.

It then decided to take these services under group control and acquired the laundry at Bunschoten and another in Belgium.

At that point the group had no direct experience of how a laundry should be run. WSP was called in to modernise the Bunschoten plant, a project which developed over six years. The aim was to redesign the plant, gradually replacing machines when necessary, and to improve productivity, working on the principles of lean production. “The plant layout must deliver the right amount of linen to the right customers in the right order” says Aarnink.

The first phase of the project took around a year and was the most important as it established the basis for the modern operation that now exists at the Blycolin laundry.

The object of this phase was to change the plant’s internal logistics, introducing automation, using operators only where they were needed and maximising their productivity.

The first step was to put in a bag rail and automated sorting systems.

The bag rail system works on lean production principles and allows the laundry to call-off work by categories and/or customer so that it reaches the right destination in the laundry, in the right proportion and at the time that it is needed.

Sorting had been done manually on tables, which involved operators handling the work several times.

This labour-intensive system was replaced with a belt conveyor, which delivered the linen to the operators who then sorted it into the bag system behind the conveyor.

The relationship between related sections needed to be redesigned. The finishing section’s position was turned clockwise by a quarter to make it easier to deliver linen from the dryers. The buffer section in front of the ironers was removed with the intention that improved logistics would allow operators to call for work from the dryers as they needed it.

Another example of the re-organised layout was changing the area where the dirty linen was unloaded so that it was next to a section where empty containers were needed.

The implementation of WSP’s WinWash system was central to maximising efficiency of the internal logistics and increasing productivity.

WinWash controls were fitted to the bag rail system, the tunnel washers, the dryers and the conveyors. As well as smoothing the workflow, the WinWash controls also helped to reduce running costs.

The dryers were fitted with sensors, taking the guesswork out the operation.

These sensors improved the dryers’ performance by making it more accurate, minimising the risks of overdrying and so increasing their productivity.

As a result of the WinWash controls, the dryers showed significant reductions in their energy use.

Similarly the intelligent controls on the tunnel washer, achieved significant savings in water, chemicals and energy use.

The WinWash software allowed the laundry to have all the data it needed about its production.

It also allowed WSP to provide full support as the laundry is linked to WSP and when necessary the company’s engineers can access the equipment and controls remotely to deal with any problems.

This first stage of the modernisation was completed within a year without disrupting the laundry’s production.

In later stages, the dryers were replaced as was the tunnel washer, improving efficiency still further. However, this first stage laid the crucial ground work and showed that considerable improvements could be achieved with existing machines. Speaking after the completion of the modernisation, Aarnink told LCNi that productivity had been virtually doubled – a line that once produced 45kg per operator hour is now working at 90 – 95kg ppoh.

“We can achieve this because everything is automatic and human intervention is minimal,” says Aarnink.

The key is to work in real time so that you have what you want when you want it. So just as important as the plant layout is the way that the control systems are organised.

At the Blycolin plant all the machines have been refitted with WSP-designed controls. This is the most satisfactory route, says Aarnink.

Now that the Bunschoten laundry project is complete, maintenance can mostly be carried out by the customer. However, WSP has all the information it needs about the plant in its own database and its engineers can work remotely if there is a problem.

In addition an engineer calls at the laundry on a regular basis to check the system and if necessary attend to any problems.