SAUDI ARABIA – When the owners of the Saudi Airlines Catering Company (SACC) were building the largest industrial laundry in Saudi Arabia, they knew the equipment they chose would have to be hard working and reliable enough to handle 45 tons of linen daily. So after considering their options, they chose JENSEN-GROUP to equip the 86,111 sq. ft. facility located in the industrial zone of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC).
The facility is the second industrial unit for SACC operating laundry services under the name of “Saudi Laundry Service” (SLS). In the capital city of Saudi Arabia, SACC processes 20 tons of goods daily for hotels, airlines, healthcare and industrial companies.
OTC – from Offer to Commissioning
“A project of this size is very complex and requires more than merely lining up highly productive laundry machines,” General Manager, David Winter, JENSEN-GROUP says.
To ensure the overall success of a turnkey project – from the initial idea to the laundry’s final layout – the project team at SACC teamed up JENSEN-GROUP experts and got to work.
JENSEN has been operating a sales and service company in the Middle East for many years. Winter and his colleagues managed the turnkey project from the JENSEN office in Dubai following the OTC (Offer to Commissioning) principles.
The OTC process is an aligned way of managing large and complex projects within the JENSEN-GROUP, with a common approach that is applied to all international key accounts. The OTC process comprises clearly defined Key Deliverables and supporting templates for each phase of the project allowing Laundry Managers and others involved in the process a clear idea of the projects progress.
Versatile Laundry Technology
It was decided that two Senking Universal P50-12 tunnel washers capable of a combined 4,760 lbs per hour, based on a 30-minute wash time with a 90% utilization factor, could handle the facility’s workload.
Due to its bath rinsing method, the Senking Universal P50-12 boasts complete load separation throughout the entire system, making it very versatile for washing loads with different colors. This increases capacity and reduces energy consumption. The patented rinse process ensures that the consumption of fresh water is reduced by up to 10%. Furthermore, the tunnel washers reuse energy and water internally, making it a very ecological solution. This is especially important in areas where water is a scarce resource – and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is classifiable as such.
Also installed were two high-performance water extraction presses, the Senking SEP50 Plus with the patented TopDrain System. This closed drainage system of stainless steel is mounted on the base plate, which is made of a solid steel block and is provided with a durable anti-corrosive coating. The extracted liquid is fed into the rinse process of the tunnel washer without the use of any intermediate buffer tanks. Standing water is avoided, and outstanding hygiene is guaranteed.
Nine batch transfer drying tumblers (Seven JENSEN Senking DT 60 and two DT 120s) and a CB1000 cake breaker complete the washroom area. The two DT 120s are equipped with Vacutrans, a vacuum loading system. VacuTrans adds one more piece to the puzzle of automation: speeding up the production flow between the machines, and increasing productivity while making optimal use of available space.
Together with the project team of SACC, JENSEN succeeded in designing a modern laundry that will be able to cope with the requirements of today as well as tomorrow – a sustainable automated laundry that increases productivity by synchronizing product flow and reduces resources.
The Finishing Touch
Three high-performance ironer lines are in charge of adding a finishing touch to all flat linen, with a wide range of material and sizes. The feeding machines as well as the folding/stacking machines are adapted to the specific needs of each category.
At the center of each line, a Jenroll EXP12 with two rolls was installed. The Jenroll EXP12 makes efficient use of the evaporation capacity through its flexible chest, guaranteeing top-quality finishing. The key to optimal heat transfer is a turbulent steam flow inside the steam distribution channels, combined with a flexible chest made of carbon steel.
The turbulent steam flow flushes condensation away from the surface, ensuring that no insulation water film will arise, while carbon steel gives optimum thermal conduction and low friction with wet linen. The flexible chest adapts to the roll like a band-brake. Full contact is maintained, resulting in a higher capacity compared to the fixed chest of a traditional ironer.
All JENSEN finishing lines are designed and built according to the company’s philosophy that the entire line should form one single system – easy to install, easy to control, easy to maintain, easy and safe to operate.
The items that cannot be ironed are folded on three small piece folders: two Jenfold Tematic Pro – predominantly terry towels – and a Jenfold Blanket for the blankets that are offered to guests on long-haul flights.
Pro-fashional Garment Finishing
From the washroom section, the garments are transported into a tunnel finisher via the customizable, automated conveyor system for garment handling, the JENSEN Metricon.
A unique system for buffer accumulation of garments (that can also be placed under the ceiling of a laundry to make best use of the available space) further ensures synchronization between the various workstations.
The computer control system can be designed to control all movements and handles the sorting of garments by delivery route, account, customer, size, locker bank and wearer. As such, there will be no mix up of the garments of the cabin crew working for Saudi Airlines and those working for other airlines utilizing the same linen services from SACC.
The Jenform Omega Pro tunnel finisher guarantees a top quality finishing of garments. The conveying system is based on the Greek ‘W sign. This simple and simultaneously ingenious solution considerably decreases the processing time. The drying zone and the air circulation system have been noise-insulated, and the thermal insulation minimizes the heat loss. The air from the drying zones and outlet zone is recirculated into the inlet zone: Incoming garments are heated up in the inlet zone using recirculated hot air. The exhaust air is reduced to a minimum. Once finished, the garments are folded and stacked in a Jenfold Butterfly Fox, an automatic folding machine with a constantly high performance. This versatile, highly reliable system is capable of processing up to 1000 garments per hour.
Ready for take-off with linen processed on JENSEN equipment
Saudi Airlines Catering Company (SACC) is a national leader in catering solutions for airlines since its creation in 1980. SACC serves Saudi Arabian Airlines as well as a number of foreign airlines with onboard catering services for flights operating from airports based all over the Kingdom. Since its privatization in 2008, the company started a strategic diversification, offering also catering and housekeeping services to non-airline businesses. Among their customers are factories, schools, hospitals and travel agencies taking care of pilgrims that visit the Kingdom during Umrah and Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimages to Mecca.
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Image Caption: The new industrial laundry serving SACC’s employees and guests with premium linen services
Credit: The JENSEN-GROUP
For more information, contact the company: JENSEN-GROUP
