Visitors to this year’s latest in-house exhibition by Kannegiesser, the German laundry equipment manufacturer, will have left with one clear impression – and that is the company’s unswerving commitment to constant improvement to its established ranges of laundry equipment, and to continuing developments in machine control.

Martin Kannegiesser, son of the company founder and present managing director, said the event once again helped to highlight to the industry the company’s range and its technical achievements.

The company’s avowed intention is to become the leading supplier of the complete industrial laundry technology – from washing and drying to finishing and sorting.

In addition, Kannegiesser is seeking to fully support this laundry technology by providing control and management information systems and complete support and customer service. It is the 22nd time the family-run company has thrown open its doors at its Vlotho headquarters in Westphalia.

The main European countries were represented amongst the 2,000 visitors from 38 nations to the week-long event, and there were large contingents from the USA, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. Visitors attending included customers, suppliers and distributors as well as members of the international press.

At the exhibition dinners hosted by Kannegiesser each night at the Maritim Hotel at nearby Bad Salzuflen, Martin Kanngiesser outlined the history of his family’s company. The company was founded in 1948 by Herbert Kannegiesser who began producing ironing machines for the garment industry, a major industry in East Westphalia at that time.

Martin Kannegiesser became the company owner after the early death of his father in 1974. His mother Irma remained active in the company until 1980 and has continued to take part in it with a great deal of interest and commitment ever since.

The present company is divided up into three distinct divisions:

Wetwork area (washing/water extraction/drying

Flatwork processing

Garment finishing

The exhibition allowed visitors to see at first hand the extensive range in each – and an opportunity to discover the various product innovations made by Kanngiesser.

Recent innovations have included the PowerSwing washer extractor, the DressCare Select garment hand-out system, Powertrans washing line, Infra-red controlled temperature measuring systems for dryers and a new generation of ironers with the HighPower heating band technology.

Growing importance

For Martin Kannegiesser, the growing importance of the show is to let customers gain an insight into the product range, and, as importantly, to develop the closest possible relationship between Kannegiesser’s staff and customers.

The highly competitive nature of the laundry and textile care industry in, was, he said, “sorting the wheat from the chaff”. “However, those who maintain their hold on the markets are gaining in relative strength,” he added.

An increasing number of laundry and textile care companies are coming to the conclusion that the level of technical equipment is inextricably linked to maximising profits. “Questions like energy consumption and supply, but above all productivity at optimum quality results and efficient logistics are all issues which management and owners are confronted with to a much higher degree than a decade ago,” said Kannegiesser. The exhibition, he said had developed to become “an essential platform of information”.

“The interlinking of the various technical areas and the networking with the entire plant organisation are topics that should be studied in detail, and which is only possible by means of the in-hoiuse exhibition.”

Greater efficiency

Greater efficiency is at the heart of the latest in ironer development from Kannegiesser. The company’s heating band technology is said to provide 50% more capacity, with its two-roll HighPower ironer offering the same capacity as a conventional three-roll ironer.

According to Michael Harre, Kannegiesser’s managing director for sales and marketing, the conventional bed design is no longer energy-efficient. For example, a standard three-roll ironer with a working width of 4,000mm means that 6,000kg of steel has to be heated and kept at a constant temperature, with just the heating-up process requiring 264kg of steam.

The solution provided by Kannegiesser is the heating band. Two stainless steel sheets are laser welded together as a sandwich element. The 3mm thick hollow space in between is provided with a narrow flow channels through which the heated air can move. The heating band comprises of a bridge that is fully steam heated over its whole area and is highly flexible, ensuring that it is perfectly aligned with the roll diameter.

The new design means that unlike conventional beds, a practically uninterrupted heating band that is concave in the area of the ironing rolls and convex in the area of the transfer sheet towards the next roll. According to Kannegiesser, this type of bridge is not only completely heated but also provides double the length compared to ordinary ironer design. Textiles have twice as much time to transfer moisture content to the ironing side.

The High-Power ironer is available with a roller diameter of 1,200mm with 1, 2 or 3 rollers. Working widths are 2,100, 2,700, 3,000, 3,300, 3,500 and 4,000mm. It is also available in the 4,200 mm working width for the high performance ironing of towel dispenser rolls.

Garment control

DressCare Select is a closed loop system and intended to automatically feed, store and distribute workwear, according to Kannegiesser’s Matthias Schafer. The new garment hand-out guarantees the control of the selection, distribution and hand-out of garments.

The system is connected to the garment logistics in the laundry. Garments can be monitored from their entry into the system and point of removal through to the return of the garments by the individual person and the information is stored in a database for evaluation.

In a healthcare environment, individuals requiring workwear would be given their own identificxation number, which is entered into the keypad located by the distribution point.

The entire process is allows the accurate control of the garment flow from the dispatch department to the hand-out system, to the person, then to the DressCare Select and, to close the loop, back to the laundry.

The wetroom technology area was dominated by the PowerSwing, which is described by Kannegiesser as a revolution in washer-extractor technology. The PowerSwing is able to rotate into an upright position for rapid top-loading, and then swivel into a horizontal position for washing and extracting. It finally tilts forward at a maximum of 25degrees for faster unloading.

Ducker Engineering in the UK has been part of Kannegiesser since July this year when the German company acquired 100% of shares of all Ducker companies. Ducker continues to trade from its Banbury and Kendal locations, said Ducker director Andrew Cartwright and has a new management team led by managing director Dirk Littmann of Kannegiesser.

The Supertrack division of Ducker has strategic importance for Kannegiesser and will be further developed. Supertrack monorails outside the UK are being marketed, commissioned and serviced by the Kannegiesser organisation.