By John Goetz, Global Product Manager, Hydro Systems
Editor Note: This is Part 3 of a four part series exploring the laundering of linens in healthcare and hospitality facilities. Topics to be explored include, meeting and exceeding guest and patient linen standards, linen stains and their origins in hospitality environments, exceeding laundry healthcare standards, the benefits of a laundry dispenser, how to find the right dispenser for your facility and maintaining hygiene expectations and standards.
The Benefits of a Laundry Dispenser
Some hotels operate an OPL to quickly launder items accumulated from guest rooms as well as on-site restaurants, bars, spas, pools and fitness centers. With the proper equipment, these operations can manage up to 100 chemical formulations to cover various load sizes and linen types. Without a dispenser in place, employees must manually measure chemicals and dose them at precisely the right time. This creates risks around safety and accuracy.
In addition to in-house laundry operations, dispensers are useful for industrial laundry facilities or linen supply companies that service clients like hotels and healthcare facilities. Today, most commercial laundry machines are built with connections for liquid detergents to allow laundry managers to use external chemical dispensing systems. In addition to detergents, dispensers can deliver other types of chemical, including de-staining products, alkali boosters, emulsifiers, sanitizers and fabric conditioners.
Laundry dispensers offer numerous benefits, including:
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- Accurate measurements every time: The laundry process requires the right balance of time, wash agitation, temperature and chemical. When these factors are at the proper levels, stains are more likely to be removed, and linen is sanitized properly. While it’s important to keep linen visibly clean, it’s also essential to remove microscopic bacteria that can’t be seen by the naked eye but may be present on items like hotel sheets and hospital gowns.
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- Sustainability and cost savings: When dispensers dose the right amount of chemical, this helps ensure that linen emerges clean on the first wash and is not damaged. If linen is not clean, it must be rewashed. Reducing rewash rates helps laundries save water, energy, chemical and time, while prolonging linen life. Not only do these savings contribute positively to the environment, they also support a laundry’s bottom line. For outsourced laundry programs, a portion of these savings may be passed on to the customer.
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- Brand image assurance: For a hotel, nothing is more important than ensuring guest satisfaction, as it has an impact on whether that guest will return and recommend the property to others.[1] For a healthcare facility, patient health, safety and satisfaction is crucial. In fact, scores from the national Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey can help healthcare facilities secure reimbursements.[2] Cleanliness, including clean linen, is an underlying component of guest and patient satisfaction. A reliable dispenser helps businesses operate an effective laundry program and can indirectly help secure rave reviews and higher HCAHPS scores.
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- Remote access and control for critical laundry data in real-time: Today, managers have the option to install smart dispensers that provide important data about the laundry process. For example, these dispensers can reveal information about the number of alarms that occurred during a shift and chemical usage. Dispensers can also keep detailed records on each load, outlining the exact amount and time of each dose. This is helpful for compliance and provides proof that the correct chemicals were delivered to achieve clean and sanitary results. Finally, dispensers can be used to run the laundry more effectively by providing insight on production, turn-times, and efficiencies. These measures help reduce costs and downtime so the laundry can operate as smoothly as possible.
Footnotes:
[1] https://www.jdpower.com/business/press-releases/2018-north-america-hotel-guest-satisfaction-index-nagsi-study
[2] https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/finance/better-hcahps-scores-protect-revenue
Read Part One of Hospitality and Healthcare Linen Operation Insights here
Read Part Two of Hospitality and Healthcare Linen Operation Insights here
About the author:
John Goetz is global product manager at Hydro Systems.
Hydro Systems is an independent manufacturer of chemical injecting, proportioning, dispensing and medicating equipment. Goetz can be reached at jgoetz@hydrosystemsco.com.
