WEBSITES OF VARIOUS LAUNDRY MACHINES MANUFACTURES

www.milnor.com
www.jensen.com
www.ponyitaly.com
www.sankosha-inc.com -------- Ajax
www.bowe-tc.com
www.edrodynawash.com
www.girbau.com
www.danube-international.com
www.forentausa.com
www.maytag.com
www.dexter.com
www.unimac.com
www.colmacind.com
www.unipresscorp.com
http://washex.lhtek.com/washex/home.htm
www.electrolux.com
www.cissell.com
www.danube-laundrysystems.eu
www.lapauw.be
www.ramsonsindia.com
www.stefab.com
www.fabcare.com
http://bandctech.com/index.php
www.accuratethai.com
www.welcogarmentmachinery.com
www.amdry.com ---------------- ADC
www.chinasealion.com
www.renzacci.it
www.bmmweston.com
www.speedqueen.com
www.supremaweb.com
www.corbettequipment.com ---------- Fibrimatic drycleaning
www.ipso.be
www.italclean.com

www.thermopatch.biz -------------- Marking
www.polymark.com ----------------- Marking

www.white-conveyors.com ---------- conveyors
www.andrews-automation.com/laundry-conveyor-system/ ------ Conveyors
www.vanriet.co.uk ---------------- Conveyors
www.lkgoodwin.com/ --------------- Trolleys
www.das-uk.net/laundryhome.htm --- Spares

Ozone Laundry Systems

What is Ozone Laundry?

Ozone Laundry is a term generally used to describe a philosophy of textile care that uses electricity and oxygen in a unique way to replace many of the chemicals normally used in a traditional washing process. Oxygen and electricity are used to create ozone. Ozone is dissolved into water and applied to the wash wheel in place of the chemicals. This fundamental change to one of the major aspects of textile care comes with a litany of benefits that all serve to improve the efficiency and reduce operating costs of a laundry. Water Energy Ozone Laundry Systems greatly reduce the environmental impact of traditional laundry operations.

A quality finished product requires a combination of 4 things:

1. Water (hot & cold)
2. Chemicals
3. Time
4. Mechanical Action

Each of these factors must be applied in the proper combination. If you reduce one, you must increase others to create the balance needed to reliably deliver a quality finished product. By properly applying ozone, you can REPLACE many of the chemicals with ozone which is environmentally friendly and is made right on the spot. Therefore you can reduce the chemicals without having to increase something else because you’ve actually replaced them with something that works much better. So much better in fact that you can also reduce water and time and still have the correct balance to produce a superior finished product. The mechanical action is still critical to quality results.
Ozone Laundry Uses Cold Water and Oxygen

The underlying foundation of ozone laundry begins with a paradigm shift in traditional laundry fundamentals.
Old School

1. Hot Water
2. Alkali
3. Detergent
4. Acid
5. Bleach

Today

1. Cold Water
2. Ozone
3. Detergent

The big shift is realizing that you can achieve high quality standards without using all the hot water and chemicals. Ozone is a highly effective oxidizer that actually delivers multiple cleaning factors to your laundry process using only cold water.

CBW – Continuous Batch Washer or ‘Tunnel’

CBW washers are truly marvels of modern ingenuity and engineering. They are also called tunnel washers in the industry. These computerized industrial laundry machines are designed to process large volumes of similar linens (type and soil loading) on a continuous basis with a limited amount of labor and a reduced amount of water. As the name implies, the device consists of a long metal tube called a tunnel. A huge metal spiral called an Archimedes Screw runs down the center of the tunnel, dividing it into sections called “pockets”. Linen is loaded into one end of the tunnel and water enters from the other. The screw is made to be porous and the tunnel is inclined to allow the water to move down the tunnel. The proper chemicals are added along the way. Linen is forced in one direction and water is forced in the opposite direction allowing the linen to move to progressively cleaner water and fresher chemicals. The screw partially rotates and reverses to provide agitation for the linens in each pocket. After an allotted amount of time has passed, the screw makes one complete rotation and the linens all move forward to the next pocket. Linen is forced from one end of the tunnel to the other. Soiled linen continuously goes into one end of the tunnel while clean linen moves continuously out of the other.

Since their introduction in the late 1960s, tunnel washers have become progressively more reliable. Though extremely expensive, they are now common in major hotel, hospital, cruise ship and other high-volume laundry applications.

One of the machine’s major drawbacks is the necessity of using the same wash formula on every item. Modern tunnel washers have integrated microprocessor controls that can monitor and adjust the chemical levels in individual pockets, reducing the severity of this disadvantage.

Many times a laundry can actually have more success with the right mix of conventional washers and dryers as opposed to having a tunnel washer. Because of the one-formula limitation, required homogeneous product, space requirements and most of all price, a tunnel washer will limit your flexibility in the wash room.

* If you spend the majority of your budget on a tunnel, you will sacrifice the advantages of having more automated and more expensive ironers, folders, conveyors, scales, dryers and other workflow automation components. The right equipment will make a world of difference to your bottom line. You could get a complete Water Energy Green Laundry System for about the same price as a tunnel would cost for the same sized operation. This Green Laundry System will include Green Water Reuse and all essential components required to build a modern, successful and sustainable laundry. These components will include high-speed extract washers with an ozone laundry and water reuse system, high-efficiency and high Btu/hour dryers, boiler and hot water system, wide large-diameter ironers with feeders and folders, towel folders, take-away conveyors, cart dumpers and cart washers, scales, stackers, wrapping/banding equipment, laundry carts, folding tables, soak sink, laundry bags and a robust tracking system with capabilities that allow you to offer another value added service – pre-staging services for your clients. Our system stores customer instructions that in conjunction with bar code tracking allow you to pre-sort the customer’s linens and load their carts just like they want them. That saves them labor and makes your services even more attractive and valuable. You also get our experience and expertise to build and operate a laundry like this. So we just can’t see the need for a tunnel in the majority of laundries because you can get a lot more bang for your buck with a complete Water Energy Green Laundry System.
* If you install a tunnel, you might lose more of your floor space than you need to. If you don’t have enough space to efficiently perform all of the functions required in a laundry, your production volume will suffer and you will lose money on labor every single day.
* If you process linens from multiple customers with a variety of linen and soil types, you will never be able to achieve the efficiency of a bank of traditional washers with a tunnel.
* A Water Energy Green Laundry System will deliver greater water savings with traditional washers than you could ever expect to receive with a tunnel. Our Green Laundry Systems use ozone and cold water and a water reuse system to deliver 50% savings or more on net water use.

PPOH – Pounds Per Operator Hour

Pounds-Per-Operator-Hour, or PPOH is one of the most important efficiency statistics you can calculate for a laundry facility. This average value represents just how much linen each operator is processing every hour. It is a reflection of the design parameters, management, operating conditions and workflow optimization utilized in a laundry facility. You take the volume of linen processed, divided by the number of hours needed to process it divided by the number of employees doing the work. The higher the number is, the higher the efficiency of production and the lower the labor cost is. PPOH is absolutely a function of how well you design, operate and manage your laundry. You want employees to be able to accomplish the highest amount of work with the least amount of movement to do it. This is achieved by strategic placement of the laundry equipment within the laundry, utilization of appropriate automation components and by having many years of experience with how to design a laundry for optimum efficiency.

No matter how efficient the equipment is and how much energy is eliminated from the process, the biggest savings by far will always come from reducing the number of hours or amount of labor needed to process the linens. That is a very hard fact. We all know how modern advances help to reduce the amount of labor required to deliver a product. Better equipment and computer controls have enabled companies to provide higher quality products and services with less and less labor. A laundry is no different. Labor is the most expensive component.

HANDY FORMULAS

Example –

Hospitality (10,000 lbs. / two 8 hour shifts)
10,000 lbs. divided by 16 hours = 625 lbs per hour
4 / 135 lbs. washers = 540 lbs x 1.25 = 675 lbs / hr. x 16 hrs. =
10,800 lbs.

Healthcare (10,000 lbs. / two 8 hour shifts)
10,000 lbs. divided by 16 hours = 625 lbs. / hr.
5/ 135 lbs. washers = 675 x 1: 1 = 675 lbs / hr. x 16 hours =
10,800 lbs.
Other Calculations
Calculating Cylinder Volume

Cylinder Diameter and Cylinder Depth are both expressed in inches.

Cylinder volume in cubic feet =

(Cylinder Diameter) x (Cylinder Diameter) x (Cylinder Depth)
2,200

Moisture content after extraction

Moisture content is a way of expressing how much water remains in a load of linens after extraction. This is water that must be removed by turning into steam in a drying tumbler or ironer. To calculate moisture content, use this formula:

WAE = weight of load after extraction, in pounds
DRY = weight of load before washing, in pounds

% Moisture Content =

(WAE) – (DRY) x 100
(DRY)

Example: A load of linens weighs 60 pounds before processing. After washing and extracting, the load weighs 90 pounds. The % moisture content would then be:

% Moisture Content =
(90 – 60) x 100
60 = 50%

GREEN LAUNDRY

What is ‘Green Laundry’?

Green laundry is an idea whose time has come and an idea that demands great attention. The term Green Laundry is applied to a philosophy of textile care that focuses on reducing the total environmental impact of traditional laundry operations.
Why is Green Laundry Important?

It is not commonly known, but textile care operations around the World consume an enormous amount of water and energy every day. The textile care industry is one of the largest, perpetual consumers of fresh, drinking water and energy on the Planet.

Textile care facilities also produce an enormous volume of wastewater every day. Wastewater from a typical laundry is loaded with Chlorine, alkali, acid, surfactant, soil, high BOD and COD and low to no DO. All of this means that typical laundry wastewater is harmful to the environment and to our limited fresh water supplies. A laundry built on green principles will not use the harsh mix of chemicals that produce all of these wastewater problems. A truly green laundry using a Water Energy Ozone Laundry System will actually produce wastewater with almost no chemical residues, low to no BOD and COD and a raised DO (Dissolved Oxygen) level.

In addition, textile care facilities produce a large volume of VOC’s, suspended particles and other undesirable airborne contaminants. Chemical residues in fabrics being processed in the dryers are liberated in the heat and discharged into the parking lot through the dryer vents. Many of these chemicals we know are toxic and some we don’t even know what they can do to us. Chlorine in tap water and bleach used in traditional methods mixes with organic matter (body oils and fluids, food, etc) in the dirty linens to produce trihalomethanes. A more common name for this class of contaminant is VOC’s or Volatile Organic Compounds.

These unhealthy compounds are released from all the washers and propelled from the dryers into the environment around most typical laundry facilities. Manufacturers of many familiar products have had to alter their production methods to limit the amount of VOC’s their products release into the environment. Paint, glue, siding, plywood and other well known products have all been modified to limit human exposure to these undesirable pollutants.

A Water Energy Green Laundry System will replace the chemicals responsible for this environmental scourge with environmentally friendly ozone, eliminating the VOC problem altogether. Ozone’s less-damaging effects on the linens will also reduce the amount of lint produced in the dryers.
Why Have a Green Laundry?

The primary reasons you should convert to a Green Laundry System are to save money and to help save the Earth. Laundry Consulting and Design has developed the Water Energy Green Laundry System to address a growing crisis in the textile care industry, a crisis of epic proportions.

Historically, laundries have been huge consumers of limited resources. Today’s market price of those resources reflects their scarcity and demand. Traditional laundering methods require an enormous amount of water and energy to clean the mountains of linen used around the World every day. Most people aren’t even aware of the magnitude of the problem. A typical laundry uses a tremendous amount of energy and an average of 3 gallons of water for every single pound of linens processed. This resource-intensive process has pretty much escaped the ire of environmentally-conscious groups because it’s just a ‘dirty little secret’ you can’t do anything about. Well, that’s not exactly true any more.

WHY SOP NEEDED???

Standard operating procedure for any organisation is not a want but its a need. It gives people working in the organisation a predefined role and actions expected from them in cases where things go wrong.

An SOP is a set of guidelines or instructions one follows to complete a job desirabely, with no adverse impact on the surroundings, and which and which meets regulatory compliance standards set by Govt. or different governing agensies, and in a way that maximizes operational and production requirements. We can write SOPs for any processes involging an individual or a team: Billing, Cash Handling, Movement of patinent for different diagnostic facilities, their report delievery, Laundary procurements, Removal of shoes by patients at the doors of ICU or burn units and many other many activities.
For many years, Quality Assurance people have been writing operating guidelines or procedures, called Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to help the workforce produce quality intabngible and tangible products that help the company to meet its objectives without any bump rides.
Who Should Write the SOPs
SOPs should always be written by those who supervise activities for which SOP has to be written and who has a good experience of actual activities and not the bookish knowledge. SOP is always customised thing and it cant be copied and pasted from one organisation to other organisation. Obviously help can be taken somethings cab be copied but ultimately there will be SOP individually for an individual . SOP is something which needs periodical reviews and there will always be alterations to make it more somooth and specific according to the changing environment within and otuside the organisation

We write SOPs primarily for the following reasons:
1. To provide individuals who perform operations with all the operational information required to perform their job properly.
2. To ensure that operations are done consistently to maintain quality control of processes and products;
3. To ensure that processes continue and are completed on a prescribed schedule;
ensure that no failures occur in manufacturing and other processes that would harm employees or anyone in the surrounding community.
4. To ensure that approved procedures are followed in compliance with organisation and government regulations.
5. To serve as a training document for new recruited employees.
6. To serve as a historical record of the how, why and when of steps in a process for use when modifications are made to that process and when a SOP must be revised.

SOP for Hospital Laundry

ABC HOSPITAL

LAUNDRY DEPARTMENT

INDEX
1. OPERATING PHILOSOPHY
2. AIMS & OBJECTIVES
3. WORKING PRINCIPLES
4. FUNCTIONS
5. WORK FLOW
6. ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
7. INTERFACE WITH OTHER DEPARTMENT
8. LAYOUT
9. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
10. DRESS CODE
OPERATING PHILOSOPHY
The operating philosophy of the Central Sterile Supply Department would be in conformance with the goals and objectives of ABC Hospital i.e. Excellence in patient care, Excellence in clinical care and Excellence in service. The path leading to achieve these objectives would be to have a participative approach and process oriented way of thinking and developing systems that assure continuous improvement involving people at all levels so that quality service is provided to the patients on a continued basis with high reliability and reproducibility.
Not a day should pass by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere in the system. The focus should be on improved quality, prompt delivery, lower costs, lower inventory, compressed cycle time, profitability and effective and responsible organizational system.
AIM: The aim of the Laundry Department is to provide all the hospital departments served, adequate supply of clean linen conforming to highest standards of cleanliness and hygiene immediately and constantly available for routine and emergency use from a central place thus reducing the overall cost and contributing towards the efficient and effective supply of linen to all Hospital Departments.

OBJECTIVES:
The objectives of the Laundry Department are as follows:
1. To provide linen free of dirt, soils and stains to all User Departments.
2. To monitor and enforce controls necessary to prevent spoilage (wear & tear due to washing) of linen and reduce the frequency of linen turn over by increasing their life period.
3. To maintain record of effectiveness of cleaning, disinfecting and turnover.
4. To stay updated regarding developments in the field in the interest of efficiency, economy, accuracy and provision of better patient care.
5. To undertake studies for improvement of clean practices and processing methods to provide supplies economically.
6. To develop a cost effective program by cost analysis of personnel, supplies and equipment.

WORKING PRINCIPLES
1. RESPONSIBILITY
The first basic principle is that the responsibility of the supervision of routine cleaning, collection and distribution tasks should be clearly defined, clearly understood and undivided.
2. UNIDIRECTIONAL WORK FLOW
There are three categories of dirty linen to be dealt with in Laundry. Soiled items that are drenched with faecal matter, Urine and Blood stains. Stained items due to stains from some injections that can be removed only through bleaching and caustic soda. Dirty linen with normal dirts and dusts. It is safe to consider all used items as contaminated. The term clean supply covers all articles, which have been washed, pressed and ready for the User Departments for further processes of sterilization and usage. It is important that unidirectional flow of activities is followed and all steps should be taken to avoid mixing up of contaminated and clean articles at any stage of processing or transportation.
3. CONTAMINATED LINEN TO BE TRANSPORTED SEPARATE FROM CLEAN SUPPLIES
In accordance with the second principle stated above, never should clean supplies and contaminated articles be carried on same trolleys at the same time as there is a real risk that the two may get mixed up. No persons undertaking delivery can be supervised. There will always be pressure to allow staff delivering clean linen to collect contaminated articles at the same time. It reduces the number of journeys if they do so. Such pressures should be resisted and delivery always kept from collection. Separate rounds one for delivery and another for collection should be insisted upon.
FUNCTIONS OF LAUNDRY DEPARTMENT
Functional flow of activities in Laundry shall be specified as follows:
1. RECEIPT OF ARTICLES: To receive used and dirty linen from various user departments like operation theaters, ICUs, emergency, IPD, OPD and radiology etc.
2. CLEANING & DISINFECTION: All reusable linen are thoroughly cleaned with bleaching powder/ caustic soda and disinfected using disinfectants depending upon the type of soil and its to the compatibility with the linen.
3. INSPECTION AND ASSEMBLY: Each item to be washed is inspected for wear & tears, defects, stains and then appropriately put in the washing machine. After washing, the linen is drained of for excess water using water extractor and dried in drier before assembling for press in the pressing machine. The operation of the machines shall be entrusted to responsible and fully trained person. It should be kept in a state of good maintenance and repair.
4. CLEAN STORAGE: clean and contaminated supplies are stored separately. Clean storage environment is designed primarily to prevent contamination of Clean Linen.
5. DISTRIBUTION: Refers to distribution of clean goods to the patient care areas.
USER DEPARTMENTS
OT, IPD, OPD, Support, Casualty

STORE Receipt of ENGINEERING
Dirty linen


Consumables Preventive Maintenance
LAUNDRY

SORTING OF
DIRTY LINEN

SOILED STAINED NORMAL

Dip & Rub in Bleach/
Caustic Soda/ Stain Removers

WASHING MACHINE
(Preferred Hot Water)

WATER EXTRACTOR

DRYER

Remove & send torn
clothes for tailoring STEAM
FOLD &
PRESS

DISTRIBUTION TO
USER DEPARTMENTS
LAYOUT OF LAUNDRY

The layout of the Laundry should be done in such a way that there is a unidirectional flow of materials so that mixing up of the dirty linen and clean line is avoided.

· Reception and Sorting Area
· Scrub Area for Soiled and Stained Linen
· Machine Area (for Washing, Water Extracting and Dryers)
· Sorting Table for torn Clothes.
· Press Machine
· Clean Storage and Tailoring Room

In Laundry, the importance is given mainly to the Storage Area.

Storage Area

SURFACES:
The walls, ceilings, floors and work surfaces should:
Not have difficult to clean corners and crevices;
Be made of non-porous, smooth, easily cleaned and maintained materials.

TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY
Temperature range approximately 22-27 degree C
A relative humidity range of 35-75%

ACCESS TO PERSONNEL
Access should be limited to personnel who:
are authorized to be in the area.
are free of communicable diseases and observe good personnel hygiene.
are wearing freshly laundered attire provided by the hospital.

STORAGE SYSTEM
The storage system should be designed as to:
Enable items to be stored at least 8 inches from the floor, 2 inches from the outside walls and at least 18 inches from ceiling fixtures.
Minimum dust collection on the material.
Have enough space between storage units.
Receipt of Dirty Linen
The Linen inventory shall be maintained in the wards itself by the respective Sister Incharges with a copy of it in the Materials Management and Laundry.

Every morning, the Laundry attendant will go to different wards, O.T, O.P.D and collect the dirty linen. It is preferred that the trolley has different chambers for soiled and normal dirty linen. Whenever the attendant collects the linen, it has to be clearly mentioned about the different linen and quantity along with the signature of the Sister I/C. A separate register has to be maintained in different wards for the same.

Each linen should have an identity of its own. The proposed identity for the Linen is as follows:

· Name of the Organisation : ABC Hospital
· Name or No. of the Ward/ Room : Ortho II or 6
· Name of the Material : BS (Bedsheet), PG (Patient Gown), DS (Draw
Sheet), PC (Pillow Case), etc,.
· Number of the Linen : 1 to …..

Example ABC Hospital/13/BS/25 or ABC Hospital/Ped/BS/25 refers to the bedsheet belonging to paediatric Ward and it is 25th bedsheet among Hundreds.

This system can enhance the inventory management and avoid loss of inventory.

Sorting of Linen
The linen after collected from the different wards has to be sorted out in the Laundry. The Soiled, stained and normal dirty linen have to be sorted out.

Removal of Soils/ Stains
It is recommended that 4 gms of bleaching powder for every litre of hot water(20 – 43 C) and dipping the clothes for atleast 20 minutes is recommended for removal of Soils and stains. If necessary rubbing the stain area should also be done to remove strong stains & soils. Now a days, good stain removing detergents are available in market itself.

The persons handling the soiled/stained linen should use a thick rubber gloves that can tolerate Bleach and Luke Warm water.

Washing
Hot water (20 – 43 C) is recommended for using in washing machines. This can act as an disinfecting agent too. The time of linen in the washing machine depends on different types of linen. Usually it is recommended for 30 minutes n the mode of strong wash.

Water Extractors & Dryers
The washed linen is put in the water extractors for 3 – 5 minutes and then sent to dryers for drying.

Sorting of torn linen for tailoring
After drying, the linen is checked for wear and tears. The torn clothes should be sent for mending/ tailoring. If the linen is out of the scope of mending, then the condemnation committee should condemn it.

The Condemnation Committee should consist of the following members.
1. Laundry Supervisor
2. Tailor
3. Store Officer
4. Responsible person from the User Department.

Separate register has to be maintained for the condemnation materials and record has to be kept for the replaced materials, which can help us in knowing the linen turn over.

Folding and Pressing
A pressing machine that can generate its own steam is recommended. This can help in saving the electricity and wastage of steam while traveling a long distance. Now a days, the systems that are self dependent are preferred to save the costs.

Distribution
The finished goods are to be stored in the clean storage area before distribution. The clean linen should be checked for quantity before delivery. Then the linen should be distributed to different Departments in a separate trolley which are not used for collection. The receipt vouchers that were used during collection should be checked and signed again by the Sister Incharge while getting back the clean linen from the Laundry.

RECORD KEEPING
Following records shall be maintained for all instruments processed in CSSD:
a) Dispatch record
b) Receipt record
c) Storage record.

Following documents should be maintained:
1. Instruction manual for all the equipment.
2. Records of all preventive maintenance, calibration and repairs of equipment.
3. Load Records including contents of each load, initials of the operator, equipment number or other identification and the date and time of cycle.
ORGANISATION STRUCTURE

Medical Superintendent
EXECUTIVE LAUNDRY

(1) Laundry Technician

(5) (Unskilled)

CRITERIA FOR MANPOWER SELECTION
1. LAUNDRY OPERATOR TECHNICIAN
10+2 or Graduate
Preferred: Diploma in Laundry Techniques
Experience: 5 years

2. UNSKILLED - 10
DRESS CODE

STANDARD ATTIRE
1. The uniform MUST NOT be worn out side the hospital.
2. Uniform shall consist of clean scrub attire, provided by the hospital.
3. Head covering – caps shall be worn, completely covering the hair.
4. Jewellery – wearing of jewellery is discouraged, due to contact with chemicals.

SPECIAL ATTIRE
1. Shoe Covers: shall be worn while working in the Laundry.
2. Gowns: which covers arms shall be worn by all while working in the decontamination area, linen and packing area.
3. Gloves: Shall be worn while working in any section.
4. Masks: Shall be worn by all.

Exceptions:
1. Clerical / Supervisory Staff: Shall wear ordinary clothes covered with a clean lab coat.
2. Visitors: Shall wear a cover