Mean green laundry machines

The cost of replacing botched washings and high water bills due to re-washings can add up to a small fortune.

New laundry technologies offer maximum efficiency and throughput, even helping to protect laundry itself while minimizing wasted time.“One of the things we couldn’t sacrifice with an energy-efficient dryer was dry times,” said Tony Regan, SVP of sales and marketing for American Dryer Corp. “So we ratcheted back from a 30 percent more efficient dryer from a gas-usage standpoint down to about 22 percent. On the EcoDry ES 76 we incorporate residual moisture-control, which senses moisture of the products and shuts itself off so there is no over drying or under drying. We’ve taken the guesswork out.”

“There is always further automation,” said Joel Jorgensen, VP of sales for Continental Girbau. “While natural fibers are actually quite durable, and can last a long time, it has to be handled properly, and that means exposing it to the correct amount of chemistry, the right amount of time, dilution, etc. That’s why automation is so important—it eliminates human error.”

While laundry equipment may not win any awards for aesthetic artistry, the design of every machine is becoming increasingly important from its physical shape to its accessibility and ecological impact.

“What we have found since the downturn in the hospitality business has been more attention to back-room operational impact,” said Jorgensen. “The engineers and architects are saying, ‘we’d like your input.’ We try to bring quality design to facilitate workflow. We discuss storage requirements and even provide some planning services so the architect is not surprised when they work with us.”
Ideally, these new machines will increase longevity—the more automated machines become, the less chance there is for human error and thus less chance for damaging machines and having to replace them.