Ensuring a quality finish

hen it comes to looking at flatwork technology, a number of factors have to be examined. Speed, reliability, durability and efficiency, the right type of machinery for the size of operation – all are factors that must be taken into consideration.

Yet perhaps the overriding concern for any laundry operation, large or small, must be to achieve consistent quality in its finishing.

Nowhere is this more true than in the hospitality sector. Laundry operators have been under pressure for years from the hotel and restaurant industries to reduce their prices. This need to increase productivity has led to greater automation throughout the laundry generally, and on the finishing line in particular.

The type of operation will vary – laundries handling substantial volumes of large flatwork pieces such as sheets have different requirements to those of a laundry handling much smaller items, for example. In all cases, the right choice of feeder and folder will significantly increase feed rates.

Speed and cost-effectiveness have improved as a result of automation but this process has brought its own problems, chiefly in removing faults and operational control. As one major UK laundry operator points out, the level of rejects is one of the biggest criticisms levelled at the laundry industry. Laundries are under tremendous pressure to be both cost effective and to ensure quality of finish.

Automation is only part of the answer. “With the sheer volume being processed, something in the region of 900 sheets an hour, it is unrealistic to expect operators, no matter how skilled, to be able to keep an eye on the finish for every sheet,” he said.

It is a point that will not be lost on the manufacturers of finishing equipment. If they are to help their customers achieve high productivity and high output per operator, then their goal is to attain even greater levels of folding accuracy.

Jensen

Jensen has responded to customer demand for the improved presentation of laundered items by developing its high-quality combination folders Modusal and Universal to reach an even higher level of folding accuracy.

The folders have a lateral fold section which uses reverse conveyors to support the linen. These have been upgraded by changing to lighter materials, which allows higher speed and greater capacity due to reduced weight of the moving parts. As an added bonus, wear on clutches and chains is also reduced.

In the crossfold section, the first crossfold station has been redesigned, which now allows French folding to be performed in one lane for both the one- and two-lane combination folders – a feature that was only previously available on one-lane combination folders.

There is less sensitivity to varying linen qualities and thickness on the third crossfold, particularly relevant to combination folders designed to run mixed production with light/heavy linen for high quality purposes.

Jensen recently introduced the Compact 266M PLC control system, which the company says represents the latest advanced PLC control system with touchscreen, allowing the optimum control of the feeding and folding parameters.

On high quality ironer lines, this is especially important to ensure the accuracy of the folding positions, and also ensures correct feeding, spreading, and vacuum functions on the feeders, and the right speed and control through the ironer line in general.

Girbau

Girbau of Spain has a wide range of feeders, folders and stackers to satisfy the requirements of any laundry, whatever its size or speciality.

Its position in this sector was strengthened in 2001 with the purchase of Jean Michel, a French-based company that assembles automated laundry process equipment.

For one industrial laundry set in Madrid specialising in processing hotel laundry, Girbau supplied an ironer line comprising a Galaxy feeder 3p/1-2 with three working stations, one PS-8033/3 flatwork ironer with three rollers (3,300mm) and one Orion compact folder with dual stacker.

The laundry’s clients are from prestigious restaurants in Madrid who demand the highest standard of ironing.

The system supplied by Girbau can process 300 pieces per hour per working station. Given that the feeder has three available working stations, the output obtained is 900 pieces per hour, depending on the type of laundry being processed. The Galaxy installed in this laundry is fitted with a supplementary crease-guard system to guarantee the best possible feeding.

Once ironed, the compact Orion folds the sheets in two- or three-lane folds, depending on the size (king size or large sheet) and leaves them in two distinct stacks. The tablecloths are folded and stacked, whilst napkins are stacked to be folded later or to be delivered unfolded.

In assisted feeding, Girbau’s Galaxy is capable of processing 300 pieces/hour/station and in manual feeding, 1,200 pieces/hour/lane. It has two, three, and four automatic feeder stations with height adjustable clamps and can adapt to production requirements. It can work with one lane, two lanes, or a combination of lanes.

The Galaxy automatically identifies the width of the article being fed, and it centres it on the lanes being used.

When feeding small items, the feeder stations with clamps move away, making the suction table free for manual feeding.

The clamps deposit the article on the rail, and with a rotational movement, the article is placed onto the suction table.

The Galaxy can be set up simply and easily in most types of installation, says Girbau, and is adaptable to any flatwork ironer on the market.

Other feeders include the Minimax for polyvalent production lines. This machine is designed to work with small manually fed articles, with two to six lanes and equipped with a set of clamps permitting the automatic feeding of large articles with only one operator.

The Mini-Neptune from Girbau is a manual feeder for small pieces, whilst the company’s Uniside is a feeder for large production, with only one lane.

Girbau’s Orion folder can be placed after any ironer and can be configured with one to four longitudinal lanes and with one or two transversal lanes, allowing one to three primary folds and one to three crossfolds.

HJ Weir

One of the most time consuming and labour intensive jobs in the modern laundry is the manual handling of flatwork. There are too many operators adding the last fold by hand, hand stacking and moving completed stacks of work around the laundry.

HJ Weir’s latest range of folders is designed to provide accurate mechanical folding of even the most difficult pieces of work. Length folds and crossfolds can be added with great accuracy and specialist machines are available for table linen, duvets and bed sheets. A complete range of stacking and conveyor systems allow the modern laundry operator to further reduce the amount of manual handling required when processing work.

Weir’s Foldmaker 66 Universal Towel Folder is the latest version in a long line of towel folding machines, which have been supplied to laundries over a period of many years.

This machine is capable of folding towels at a rate of up to 600 items per hour, substantially faster than folding by hand.

As an alternative to the Foldmaker 66, which provides quarter folds, the Airspeed 43 gives the French fold preferred by large hotel customers.

Weir’s range of flatwork folders for use with calender ironers is extensive, with a variety of machines being available for specialised folding of table linen, small pieces and bed linen.

The traditional Foldmaker 35, known to most laundries, is still available but is usually now replaced by a series of new generation machines.

These high tech machines have a new centre crossfold for accurate folding of table linen and can include Weir’s new WISE control.

Designed to be user friendly with a full colour touch sensitive screen, the system marks a positive turning point and substantial advancement in machine control technology.

Weir has also recently introduced a new range of feeders.The Vacfeed 37GP feeder is a versatile, multi-lane, general purpose manual aid to feeding designed to handle small, medium and large flatwork.

The 37GP machine is fitted with a high efficiency ventilator system that produces a vacuum and rapidly agitating airstream with low power consumption.

The feeder’s high speed input roller, together with vacuum hold on the feed bands, ensures maximum tail end agitating and smoothing even on small articles.

The overall depth of the machine is less than 1,200mm, making the 37GP feeder suitable for small laundries with space problems and low capital outlay requirements.

Kannegiesser

Kannegiesser of Germany offers a wide range of feeding and folding machines, providing equipment suitable for flatwork processing as well as small piece and towel folding.

The four station feeder HighSpeed GEM allows the feeding of large pieces in both one and two lane operation up to 1,800 pieces/hour. Due to the proven and robust spreading mechanism all kind of large pieces can be fed – from single sheets to king-size duvet covers. By raising the spreading head within seconds, small pieces can be fed easily directly on the feeding belts.

Where it is essential to have a continuous flow of linen, output per operator can be increased by between 15-25% as a result of using the PU12 linen separator. This untangles and separates articles out of the batch, and items are supplied to the operators by means of a belt conveyor system.

High productivity and high output per operator can be achieved on high capacity ironer lines for sheets with the Kannegiesser EMS, a one-lane spreader feeder that is available with either one or two loading stations. Its unique design eliminates the need for operators to search for a corner to clip to the feeder.

Only one leading edge of the item has to be found and loaded, and the operator can then turn to the next item to be fed. This feeding principle keeps the manual motions of the operator to a minimum, while the height of loading stations can be adjusted.

Once the linens are fed, the items are spread out via the delta belt conveyor and prepared for feeding.

After spreading, the items are passed to motorised clamps that centre the goods prior to feeding into the ironer. This ensures a consistent quality fold for the finished product.

The leading edge of the items is then transferred to the vacuum feed table by means of an air blade. Smoothing brushes in conjunction with vacuum on the trail edge spread the article and stretch it for a good presentation to the ironer.

Through the use of the Kannegiesser EMS Spreader-Feeder, operators can achieve efficient high production without sacrificing consistent quality. An automatic self-calibrating clamping system ensures safe operation without the need to manually adjust the machine. This, combined with easy access to all components, reduces maintenance to a minimum.

While there is a large variety of large piece feeders and principles, small pieces are fed mostly the same way, either directly on in-feed belts of the ironer or a vacuum table.

The Kannegiesser Multilane EML feeder comes with movable vacuum transfer bars. The operator only places the leading edge on a resting vacuum bar. This is easier than placing it on moving belts, and always gives a straight leading edge.

The small piece folding and stacking machine RFS offers customers a compact design, high folding quality and versatility. The machine is suitable for up to six lanes and provides up to two length folds.

Excellent fold quality can be achieved thanks to reverse belt folding technology. Because items are placed entirely on the belts, even apron with strings can be processed.

Lifting stackers underneath the machine ensure a consistent stack quality.

The lanes can be coupled in every possible combination so that medium-sized and larger items can be length folded.

Lapauw/Armstrong

The most recent innovation from Lapauw in Belgium is the Universe feeding machine. This is available in two or three station, single or two lane versions for the automatic feeding of large pieces, with the head raising for manual folding of small pieces by means of a vacuum box.

A perforated bar places the work on feeding bands, while suction supplies a perfect grip to the bar, so providing improved feeding.

Armstrong Commercial Laundry Systems in the UK supplies and supports the range of equipment produced by Lapauw.

“Our commercial laundry customers are judged on their quality of finish and quality machinery is the key to their success,” says Armstrong director Tom Lowes.

“Lapauw quality combined with our support has generated continuous growth over the past 25 years.”

One increasingly popular development is the versatile Laco Comfort with working widths up to 3.3 metres and roll diameters of 500mm, 600mm and 800mm. This is a four-in-one machine comprising integral single station feeder, ironer, folder and stacker.

The machine is microprocessor controlled with the folder providing multi-combination primary folds and cross folds prior to stacking.

At the top end of the Lapauw folder range is the Superfold. This features all-knife folding, with pieces being centred prior to cross folding with single or double stack, so allowing different size pieces to be stacked separately.

The Unifold can provide primary folding by either air blast or knife with cross folding by knife, handling working widths of up to 4.2metres.

The folder can operate as many as six lanes with automatic fold and lane selection, dependent on size of piece.

The Lapauw folder range also includes the Eurofold primary and cross-folding machine with integral stacker and the Lacofold basic primary folder without cross folding and stacking.