Maximizing laundry productivity.

An on-premises laundry can be a great time-and money-saving benefit to a nursing home. If the facility is not properly designed and outfitted for this, though, what should be an advantage can become a handicap.

Several factors should be taken into account. First, the type of home: skilled care versus self- (or assisted) care. In a skilled care home, depending on the degree of incontinence among residents, a facility can expect as little as 15 lb. or as much as 25 lb. of laundry per resident per day. A 100-resident home, then, at 15 lb. per resident per day, could expect a minimum daily total of 1,500 lb. of laundry.

Laundry requirements in a self-care facility, on the other hand, range from 50 to 75% of those for skilled care. The type of laundry is also quite different - more personal clothes and table linen, less diapers, pads and bed linen.

Finding the Equipment

Contrary to popular belief, the most expensive element of an on-premises laundry is labor, not equipment. To help decide on the number and size of washers and dryers, one should attempt to design a laundry that operates on one 8-hour shift per day. To calculate the laundry/hour requirement, divide the total laundry of 1,500 lb. per day by an 8-hour shift to determine an hourly production rate. In this example, that would amount to 188 lb. per hour through both the washers and the dryers. This capacity could be handled either with two 100-lb., 100G force washers, or two 60-lb., 235G force high-speed washers.

If future expansion of the nursing home is anticipated, it is prudent to oversize the laundry to require as little as four hours operation per day, so as to be able to add hours once the facility is enlarged. This can be accomplished, for example, by installing two high-speed or 100-lb., 235G washers rather than two 60-lb. washers. Even if expansion does not occur, the larger washers will offer greater operational savings for the existing facility. Budget constraints may prevent this from happening, however.

Becoming more common are the new high-speed washer-extractors, which can save both time and money. High-speed extraction removes moisture quickly from typical nursing home linens, by applying centrifugal force. Although these new machines necessitate additional installation requirements (thicker floors, for example), they produce 1.5 to 2 times their volume capacity per hour. The clothes washed in them will dry in 25 to 30 minutes because of lower water retention.

Ergonomics must also be considered when selecting the appropriate equipment. Tall and shallow wash cylinders are easier to load and unload than short, deep ones. Your equipment vendor can be very helpful in explaining the advantages and disadvantages of the various machines.

Programmability has become another highly desired labor-saving device. Gone are the days of four-cycle washers and manually controlled dryers. The ability to program washers as to temperature-controlled fill, thermal cool down, overnight soak, and through-the-door spray rinse can maximize cleanliness, minimize labor and extend fabric life.

The fabric to be washed must also be analyzed before selecting equipment. For example, incontinence pads may be difficult to extract because they tend to block the drain holes at high speeds. Terrycloth towels and cotton sheets, on the other hand, are perfect for high-speed extraction. Visa table linen tends to wrinkle when extracted quickly, and personal clothing may be too delicate for this process. Washers with adjustable or variable speeds may be the correct choice.

The types of linens being washed determine selection of dryer size. If all linens being washed are also dried, each dryer should have 1.5 to 2 times the washer capacity. The ability to program a dryer to dry based on percentage of dryness, as opposed to drying based on time alone, is important, as well. If the dryer stops automatically when the clothes are dry, it eliminates over-drying and lengthens the life of the fabric. Over-drying can result in spontaneous combustion, as well.

A well-tuned laundry will synchronize the programming of the washers and dryers and maximize the positive features of the machines, the linens and the chemicals, thus minimizing both labor requirements and the dangers of fire.

Life expectancy of nursing home washers and dryers generally ranges from 15 to 20 years, but divide that by two or three if you're running the equipment in two or three shifts.

Positioning for Maximum Efficiency

Once the proper equipment is selected, it should be positioned for maximum efficiency and convenience. Pay close attention to entries, exits, columns, drain locations, exhaust areas, ventilation and machinery access. Are door openings and hallways of sufficient size to bring equipment in or out? Will stairs or columns impede installation?

A good rule of thumb is to allow at least 18 inches between washers. Dryers can be placed side by side. Placing equipment in a manner that takes future maintenance needs into account is also important. If, for example, a washer were too close to a back wall, there would be no access for removing the motor.

Perhaps one of the most neglected aspects of nursing home laundry design is airflow, both in regard to dryers and to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements for cross-contamination. OSHA recommends - and may soon require - a complete separation of soiled linen from clean linen. This is not necessarily accomplished with closed doors, but via a negative airflow away from clean linen and toward the soiled.

In most laundries this is contrary to the actual layout because the dryers are pulling air toward them. All dryers require a significant amount of makeup air to operate. This air should come from behind the dryers by enclosing them next to an outside wall and providing sufficient openings to draw in fresh air. When dryers are not enclosed, this air is pulled from whatever direction is available, often the soiled laundry area. Proper laundry room design will eliminate this problem and may save nursing home managers significant remodeling costs, should OSHA's recommendation become law. The ideal scenario for a nursing home is to have three separate rooms for the laundry operation: a soil storage room, a wash room and a dry/fold/storage room.

Other Factors

Other areas of laundry design that deserve more attention than is commonly given are foundations; availability of sizing of the water and sewer lines; gas line size and pressure availability; and electrical voltage, wire gauge size and breaker availability.

Floors should be at least four inches thick beneath regular washers and 12 inches thick under washer-extractors. Concrete is the most suitable floor material and can be covered by one of the synthetic resinous materials offering a smooth, yet nonslip, surface.

Water and sewer lines should be sized to maximize drain times and minimize fill times. Electrical circuits should be properly sized to lower overall amperage draw.

A final consideration is the folding area. This should be as near to the sites for storage and distribution as possible. All nursing homes with 200+ beds will benefit from a $20,000 investment in a small piece folder. This eliminates a step in the cleaning process and reduces workers' compensation claims related to the physical stresses of folding laundry.

When designing a nursing home laundry, then, the facility manager should take the following criteria into consideration:

* type of facility (skilled care, self-care, etc.)

* room location in respect to the rest of the facility

* equipment size and shape

* equipment programmability

* equipment and task layout

* current government regulations

If the design and equipment incorporate the best selections to serve your specific facility, the average on-premises nursing home laundry should produce clean linen at an average of $0.20 per pound. This includes labor, equipment, utilities and chemicals. If a laundry were to utilize state-of-the-art, high-speed washer-extractors and folding equipment, this figure could be lowered another 20%. Compare this to as much as $0.50 per pound charged by outside linen sources, and the benefit to the institution is clear. In addition, management will appreciate the high productivity achieved by taking the time to plan a cost-efficient, worker-friendly laundry.

Randy Zimring is president, Allied Commercial Laundry Equipment, Inc., St. Louis, MO. The company is a major distributor of commercial laundry and dry cleaning equipment in eastern Missouri and central and southern Illinois. Allied sells and leases industrial and commercial laundry equipment to nursing homes, hotels and motels, coin laundries, dry cleaners, multi-family housing facilities, schools, car washes, health clubs, hospitals and prisons. For further information, [phone].