Materials handling specialist MIT has helped Sunlight Services' Healthcare plant in Camberwell sort out the tangles in its workflow.
As with many laundries, the plant had followed the trend to larger batches to achieve economies of scale, but at times this was causing problems further down the line, especially in the post-wash sorting area.
Janet Cartwright, general manager, said that to cope with peak times, the entire packing department had to struggle to drag theatre gowns out of floor trucks. The gowns arrived in 180kg batches which were in a tangled state, making handling them hard and heavy work. She added: "The work was often too hot to touch. Staff had to wear cargo handling gloves for protection and it really wasn't very pleasant." The garments also needed more careful handling as they are made of an expensive microfilament fabric and had to be delivered to a cleanroom environment.
In devising a solution, MIT's first aim was to spread the workload automatically. "This was achieved by discharging clothes from the tumblers onto variable speed, reversible conveyors. Work is then taken up an incline through a barrier and onto a sorting conveyor in the clean area where it can be sorted and classified by three or four operators." The conveyors are constructed entirely from stainless steel to AISI304 specification. Drive and gearboxes have special coatings to prevent motors overheating and the entire system conforms to the relevant ISO/BS standards for Class 8 cleanroom operation.
Janet Cartwright said she was pleased with MIT's approach. "They demonstrated experience and professionalism and delivered on time and within
