Laundry Operation Review

We were invited to attend a boarding school accommodating approximately 260 boarding students in Oxford to review their laundry operation and discuss potential improvements.

During our meeting, the following issues were identified:

  • Their existing setup consisted of three 18kg washing machines and one 8kg washing machine, paired with three 37kg gas dryers and one 9kg dryer. This resulted in significantly more drying capacity than washing capacity.
  • The smaller washer and dryer were only being used for small or specialist loads.
  • The school also required greater flexibility to create bespoke wash programmes tailored to specific garments and load types. For example, they wanted the ability to run dedicated cycles for items such as the boys’ red sports socks.
  • The school had experienced RPI increases of 10.8% in the previous year and a further 12.4% in the current year, in addition to the ongoing costs associated with annual duct cleaning and servicing.

Their objective was to better align laundry capacity with the number of boarders and daily load requirements, reduce excessive drying capacity, improve operational efficiency, and stabilise running costs moving forward.

Electrolux Washing Machine Recommendation

Following our assessment, we recommended changing washing capacity to three 20kg washing machines, providing a combined capacity of 60kg across three machines, whilst reducing the number of machines required at the same time. This maintained a comparable overall washing capacity while improving operational flexibility and workflow efficiency. These machines would then be paired with three 30kg dryers, again losing the fourth, small Dryer, creating a far more appropriate wash-to-dry ratio.

We proposed the installation of three 20kg Electrolux Clarus Vibe washing machines, which feature integrated intelligent savings technology. This allows the machines to automatically adjust water and chemical consumption based on load size, ensuring that smaller loads only use the resources required. In turn, this reduces processing times and lowers electricity consumption by heating less water. This also eliminated the requirement for a separate pair of smaller-capacity machines to process smaller loads.

Additionally, the Clarus Vibe washers provide the ability to create fully bespoke wash programmes tailored to the school’s individual requirements. Programmes can also be customised with names and images, making operation considerably simpler and more intuitive for the laundry staff.

For the drying process, the proposed dryers include “Moisture Balance” technology, enabling the machines to detect when a load has reached the correct dryness level and stop automatically. This significantly reduces drying times and gas consumption while also helping to prevent over-drying.

 

Reduced Costs and Increased Efficiency With a Bespoke Laundry Solution

The net results of the changes implemented were as follows:

  • The overall monthly rental cost was reduced and converted into a fixed cost structure, with no annual price increases or additional servicing charges.
  • Bespoke wash programmes were created and installed on the washing machines, providing a tailored solution that met the school’s exact operational requirements.
  • The school subsequently reported a reduction of more than 30% in chemical expenditure, alongside comparable savings in both electricity and water consumption within the laundry operation.
  • Gas consumption was reduced from approximately 40kW per load to 24kW per load, representing an efficiency improvement of around 40%.

In summary, the project delivered higher-quality, more reliable, and significantly more efficient equipment. This not only reduced the school’s monthly rental costs, but also generated substantial ongoing savings in day-to-day operating expenses, providing an effective and long-term solution for the site.

If you’d like to discuss a review of your laundry operations to see how we might reduce costs and increase

 

If you’d like to arrange a review of you laundry operations to see how we might make improvements, please get in touch via our online contact form or by phone on 0333 8003400.