Outstanding partnership for the next millennium

7 April 1999



Two laundry equipment manufacturers, based in the UK and serving world markets, have embraced the same ethos for a long period—so forming an alliance has been a natural step.


Both BMM Weston and H J Weir Engineering are independent companies and the driving force of each is provided by strength in equipment design and manufacturing.

Under the terms of the alliance, and using the name BMM Weir, BMM Weston is conducting sales and marketing activity for both principal companies’ products in the majority of markets round the globe.

With a long history of manufacturing finishing equipment, BMM Weston, based in Faversham, Kent, is further enhancing its reputation with its latest range of heavy-duty flatwork ironers.

Innovators in the field of feeding and folding equipment, Weir, which is located at Chepstow, Monmouthshire, has recently developed automation to significantly assist with pre-feeding preparation of flatwork.

Each company remains responsible for the installation, commissioning and warranty work for its own equipment, and, in the UK, while each has its own team of engineers, a sharing of technical information across the two organisations is being conducted.

More joint distributorship arrangements around the world are being established.

John Cleaver, managing director of BMM Weston, says: “Both companies are strong in design and manufacturing, but it was clear to both that, working together, we would be far, far stronger.

“The managements of the two companies have similar minds, and we form a highly experienced team.

“Our work on equipment integration means better production performance in the laundry.” Products of both companies meet international quality standards, and the wide selection of equipment offered under the BMM Weir umbrella can comprehensively meet a large variety of laundry finishing department needs.

Mr Cleaver underlines how H J Weir has invested substantially in design and development activity, and how fruits of this include the flatwork pre-feeding automation and a new towel folder.

As both John Cleaver, and John Weir, of H J Weir, are the owners of their companies, decision-making processes tend to be extremely straightforward and the bringing of products to market rapid.

Dick Fenner is sales and marketing director of BMM Weston. At H J Weir, Robert Weir is vice chairman, Wesley Jackett is technical director and Michael Parker is manufacturing director.

BMM Weston’s ironer range includes ironers with rolls ranging from 600 mm to 1300 mm. Currently, demand for the larger models is particularly notable.

The BMM Weston 1300 ironer is available with one to three rolls and standard working widths of 2.5, 3.0, 3.3, 3.6 and 4.0 m. A simple, electronic, variable speed motor and drive system achieves efficient slip-free power transmission plus very quiet running.

The integrated design of the rolls and beds ensures uniform heat transfer and optimises clothing life. Bed lifting geometry provides totally even pressure over the entire ironing surface. A special feed assister is designed to facilitate efficiency with both manual and automated feeding. Introduced has been an arrangement to further improve the way in which items are presented to the first chest.

The Weir AutoPrep is a unit designed for the automatic separation of flatwork after washing. Tangled flatwork from washer-extractors or cakes of work from a membrane press are presented to the AutoPrep via laundry trucks or a conveyor system. An innovative picking system is programmed to search for and select one item at a time.

Significantly, the unit means that cakes no longer have to be tumbled to break them open—tumbling action can cause problematic flatwork roping. Built in, as standard, is an intelligent, automatic overload protection on the twin jaw picking system to eliminate the possibility of causing any damage to items being handled.

Optionally available is an automatic truck mover. This moves a loaded laundry truck back and forth under the picking head mechanism. When the truck is almost emptied, a control system activates an audio/visual alarm to signal to staff that the unit requires more work.

The computer controlled AutoPrep can handle up to 1000 pieces/hour depending on how severly the items are tangled. The machine, which has a notably small footprint, creates a steady momentum of work for an ironer which is difficult to sustain with manual flatwork sorting.

It is estimated that ironer throughput can be increased by up to 30% if an AutoPrep unit is installed.

Creating much interest is the Weir Airspeed 43 towel and small piece folder which is a single lane machine that is easily programmable at the laundry. Items of different sizes can be French-folded and cross-folded. With the Autograde version of the machine, items are graded by length and stacked. Between 550 and 1000 pieces/hour can be handled depending on piece size and mix.

• BMM Weston’s laundry equipment range is one of four of the company’s product groups—the other three are sterilisers, rotary dyeing machines and foundry equipment.

MACHINE LINE-UP

Textile care equipment offered by BMM Weir includes: Flatwork pre-feeding automation unit Flatwork feeders Flatwork ironers Flatwork folders Flatwork stackers Rotary presses Double buck cabinet presses for workwear Garment tunnel finishers Towel folders Shirt finishing equipment




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