Optimizing laundry operations can enhance the efficiency of laundry facilities and improve outcomes for your customers and business. What you may not realize, though, is that true optimization of laundry operations, requires a new approach: rethinking traditional laundry systems as less a sum of disparate parts, and more an interactive process.

The need to launder clothes and linens has always been an essential factor in domestic life, even affecting the ways that people plan their time or structure their living space. Most of us think of laundry as consisting of separate functions: sort, wash, dry, and fold, for example. However, in modern laundry operations, these functions are more interactive than you might realize.

This is the idea behind laundry systems: as Laundrylux CEO Neal Milch said,

The whole concept of laundry systems is to break out of the mindset that a washer is a washer, and a dryer is a dryer. Drying begins in the washer, and the different functions benefit one another; and if products are designed with the entire system in mind, they work together to complete this system.

To understand the transition from laundry functions to laundry systems, consider:

Drying Begins In The Washer

Water Efficiency

Using the correct amount of water to start with means that there is no excess to deal with, saving money by using less water, and less energy to deal with removal of excess water.

The more water-efficient a washer is, the less energy used in the dry cycle. In Electrolux machines, the AS (Automatic Savings) setting for water efficiency can save up to 50% in water automatically, by accurately determining the correct amount of water to be used in each wash, based on load size and weight.

High Water Extraction

High water extraction in the washing machines removes more water during the rinse and spin – making drying your clothes easier before they ever reach the dryer. This is often a function of faster spin times, measured by the rotation speed on the spin cycle. Electrolux H-Series commercial washers have a 450G-Force water extraction speed, to minimize drying time and provide significant savings in gas and electrical utility costs.

Learn More: 5 Signs to Upgrade Your On-Premise Laundry Equipment

Settings Are Key

Managing the settings on the machines in your laundry systems are key to speeding the process, improving utility efficiency, and prolonging the life of clothing and linens.

Water Level

A setting that customizes the water that will be necessary for effective washing can bring enormous savings in water costs, while reducing the time needed in the drying cycle for additional savings.

The Automatic Savings (AS) feature on Electrolux commercial washing machines measures the necessary water for each load, for a customized water level that can result in 50% cost savings and is far better for the environment.

Sanitization

A regular cycle is usually fine for regular laundry – but if you have particular need of a sanitizing cycle, you may look for a machine with the option of a Sanitizing Rinse (SR) that can be completed between loads. This feature provides a quick, sanitizing rinse of the washer drum between washes and can be used at the operator’s discretion, with or without an additional charge to the user.

Related Blog: Modernizing Hospital Laundry Systems for Operational Efficiency

EcoPower Drying

The EcoPower drying feature measures the moisture level of a load of laundry throughout the drying cycle, automatically lowering the dryer temperature when the optimal ‘dry’ level is reached. This helps to prolong the life of linens and clothes by eliminating ‘over-drying’, as well as providing up to 15% savings in gas and electric costs.

Reversing Drying Cylinders

Drying cylinders that reverse periodically throughout the drying cycle help to prevent tangling, helping clothes to dry more quickly, with lower energy consumption and less wear-and-tear. Drying is more uniform, improving results while providing additional savings in utility costs and cycle time.

Laundry Is An Integrated System

Ensuring that your machines have been engineered from the start to work together is the best way to maximize the benefits of optimizing laundry operations.

Speed

For example, if you would like to make your laundry operation faster, to process more volume and save time for your employees and customers, you may consider pairing the Electrolux H-Series 450G-Force washers with Electrolux professional dryers.

The 450G-Force high water extraction and custom, automatic water level sensing work together with the energy-efficient, Eco-Powered moisture level sensing of the dryers, for a full laundry cycle that can be completed in under an hour.

Capacity

If you are more interested in increasing the volume of each load, consider pairing the Wascomat High-Capacity Commercial Washers with Wascomat High-Capacity Dryers. Working together, the Wascomat High-Capacity machines can handle up to 135lb. / load, combining volume with energy efficiency and temperature controls.

Pairing water-efficient washers with energy-efficient dryers optimizes the laundry system as a whole, to improve outcomes including efficiency, productivity, and cost savings.

The best choice for a laundry system is to select washers and dryers engineered from the start to work together. Integration is key to optimizing laundry operations, moving from a functional point of view to the idea of a complete, interactive system.

Rethinking the traditional laundry function and viewing it as an integrated system can help a laundry improve efficiency, productivity and costs, managing volume and capacity while positively impacting the bottom line. Electrolux and Wascomat machines have been engineered from the ground up to work together, optimizing business outcomes and customer satisfaction by creating an integrated laundry system.

Looking to optimize your laundry operations with a seamless laundry system? Get in touch with our commercial laundry experts to learn your best options.