There is a laundry in Bad Kreuzneuch,Germany that is supplying numerous clinics, care facilities and commercial customers with hygienically prepared laundry every day. The company , Kreuznacher Zentralwäscherei (KZW), processes several tons of textiles – from surgical clothing and hotel linen to residents’ laundry from retirement homes, using state-of-the-art technology, certified hygiene standards (e.g. RAL quality mark 992) and a sophisticated logistics concept. KZW prides itself on meeting the highest standards of quality, efficiency and sustainability and it is now fulfilling that mission with the active support of the first Jensen Express Pro feeder for combined one- and twolane operation in Europe.
Now in its fourth generation, KZW services more than 2,000 customers that regularly use the service for workwear and protective clothing, bed, table and terry towels, dust control mats, washroom hygiene and machine cleaning cloths. Over 35,000 people wear workwear washed at KZW and above 30,000 beds are regularly made up with fresh linen from KZW. The company is owner-managed and reached its capacity limit last year, so several expansion stages were planned.
“At Texcare International 2024, we discussed with Jensen’s Tobias Witzler how things could continue. We quickly realized that we would go for the Express Pro. It is so much faster and more efficient than an all-round ironer and we are fully satisfied with the quality,” reports Leon Schäfer.
As one of the largest employers in the regional service sector, KZW employs several hundred people. It also sets standards in terms of environmental awareness: investments in energyefficient machines, water recovery systems and an optimised vehicle fleet significantly reduce the ecological footprint – and underline the industry’s desire to innovate.
KZW makes targeted investments in modern machines, environmentally friendly systems and future-proof technologies. One such investment has been the new Jensen Express Pro feeder, which says Jensen, is the first and only feeder for cornerless feeding with combined one- and two-lane operation. It is based on proven Jensen feeding technology and has a range of new functions that enable fast and highly precise spreading and feeding of flat linen in one- and two-lane operation.
The design of the feeding stations enables fast, cornerless feeding as it is designed to guide the linen edge into the feeding area quickly and efficiently. Cornerless feeding allows each operator to feed the flatwork quickly, doubling the number of pieces per operator hour, explains Jensen. “The new cornerless feeder allows the operator to easily feed 600 sheets per hour. With four operators at the feeder, up to 2’400 pieces per hour can be fed onto two lanes. The productivity for our customer has therefore increased enormously,” says Witzler, regional sales manager at Jensen
High feeding quality and high capacity are achieved by automatically correcting the corners before spreading and feeding onto the transfer beam. During the transfer of the leading edge of the linen, the trailing edge is quickly and efficiently fed into the vacuum box, ensuring optimum processing of large flat linen such as king-size sheets. After spreading the linen, the transfer beam pulls the leading edge over the feeding table quickly and efficiently with the help of servomotors.
The combination of cornerless feeding and mechanical transfer beam is unique in the industry and makes the Express Pro feeder a great solution for laundries that need fast and high feeding results and minimal service requirements.
Thanks to the new mechanical transfer beam, the feeding quality is high and uniform for all types of flat linen. An additional advantage is that cleaning and maintenance time is reduced compared to a transfer beam operated with vacuum suction.
“With the Express Pro, we were able to experience a further increase in quality,” Schäfer reports enthusiastically. “As the Express Pro is a pure sheet ironer, we were able to optimise the entire production process. We are now able to process our range of articles according to their type on the dedicated and specialised machines.”
“In the next few years, we are planning a complete reorganization of production,” says Schäfer. “We will discuss and plan this with Jensen again and are looking forward to the next steps and how we can further increase our company’s success.”
