Laundry performance: Just play the music faster.
by Mark Heymann, ISHC - UniFocus Chairman & CEO
Ever since I started working in
the hospitality business, onpremise
laundry operations
have always had a mystique about
them and been treated as that "other
operation," because they don't really
fit into the core expertise of a
hotelier. I actually remember seeing
my first laundry operation in a
limited-service facility back in the
1970s. I was there to help measure
and improve productivity in a very
basic laundry operation. The hotel
had washers, dryers and a sheet
folding process that was all done
by hand. So, how did we improve
productivity? We observed, then we
measured, then we simply played
faster music and the productivity increased
- not a very scientific method,
but we achieved results.
In today's world though, for those
operations that have a laundry, and
especially for ones that also clean
food and beverage linens, faster
music is not the answer, although
it may help the overall work atmosphere.
Before getting into the specifics
of analyzing and thereby improving
laundry performance, it
is also important to realize that an
unproductive laundry has negative
consequences for the entire
property operations. Frequently,
a hotel's housekeeping staff does
not have all the supplies that it
needs to meet standards, and costs as well as frustration increase. For instance, food and
beverage services can waste time trying to find the
right linen and thus customers do not get the linens
they requested because these linens are not available
at the moment. When this occurs, it is not uncommon
to see laundry operations become burdened by excess
processing needs because clean linens are accidentally
mixed in with dirty ones or the staff has not been careful
enough to ensure proper inventory control, so "crisis"
production becomes the nature of the laundry operations,
which is very unproductive.
In the simplest sense, an on-premise laundry is a
manufacturing plant stuck in the middle of a hotel service
facility. A laundry operation's raw materials are
the dirty linens, towels, napkins, and it outputs clean
linens, towels, and napkins. Like any manufacturing
plant, there is equipment to be maintained as well as an
optimal layout to ensure an effi cient work flow, thereby
attaining optimal performance. One of the key differences
in hotel laundry operations is the correct linens
per available room (PAR) levels; unlike other parts of
operating laundry service businesses that are based on
"just in time" delivery, hotel laundry operations can actually
control inventory during operational peaks and
valleys.
Laundry facility layout measures are relatively simple.
Where there is enough space, the layout should ensure
that there is no "backflow" of product during the process.
When one draws the flow from dirty to clean, lines
should not cross. If lines cross, there is probably a more
efficient way to lay out the operation. A basic circle is
effective if there is only one ingress and egress. If there
are two, dirty should come in from one side and clean
should come out from the other.
Next, you should balance machine capacity with
proper staffing levels. Laundry facilities that ensure balanced
staffing to meet optimal machine throughput are
the most efficient. Here are a few basics to look for:
Generally, if there is one person assigned to only operate
the washers and dryers, especially with newer
tunnel facilities, there is other work that can be done
such as assisting in sorting. Washer staff should generally
start earlier than the rest of the staff to help with
the production process so as not to leave clean linens
to be ironed the next day. One of the biggest production
roadblocks is normally the ironer. This is often because
staffing is not adjusted to maximize throughput.
Everyone pretty much knows that to iron sheets and
table linens, you have two people feeding and one person
catching. In reality, the catcher has time to also catch
towel folders at the same time if the equipment has a
stacker on the end. But what about ironing the other
items such as napkins, runners and pillowcases? Frequently
the same staff simply stops processing sheets
or table linens and switches to the smaller items, which
can cause the ironer to not be at capacity. To improve
throughput, the average ironer should be staffed as follows:
- Pillow cases: Three employees to feed and one person
to catch
- Napkins: Four employees to feed and two to catch
This may not seem like much, but here's the difference
in ironer time used: If one person can feed 720 pillowcases
per hour (five seconds a case), with two persons
feeding and one catching, the machine produces 1,440
pillowcases per hour of machine time or 480 cases per
person hour (1440/3). Now with the three and one staffing,
the machine produces 2,160 pillowcases per hour
or 540 per person hour (2160/4). Productivity just increased
by 12.5 percent with one small staffing adjustment.
As importantly, let's assume, for example, 400 occupied
rooms with an average of three pillowcases per
room, which would yield 1,200 pillowcases to be ironed.
In our two and one staffing, the machine would have to
operate for 50 minutes to process these pillowcases. In
our three and one staffing, the machine now operates
for only 34 minutes or a third (1/3) reduction in time,
reducing machine operating costs and making more
time available for other items to be ironed. The example
for napkins yields the same results from a machine
time usage perspective, actually cutting time needed by
50 percent with the same productivity. With machines
that stack on a rail, one catcher can actually handle four
feeders and then productivity jumps also. There are other
staff balancing issues that can improve overall productivity
while reducing crisis production, but there is
not enough time to go into all of them here.
Turning now to productivity, most operations measure
performance using pounds per hour which is reasonable
when the laundry is only producing one type of product;
for example, guestroom linens. But once you add
food and beverage into the mix, a more accurate measure
combines the work capacity of each type of indicator
into what is known as an equivalent unit. As most
people know who have worked in a laundry, a pound
of dirty does not necessarily equate to another pound
of dirty. One thousand pounds of room linen does not
have the same work content as 1,000 pounds of food and
beverage linen, so performance based purely on pounds
per hour can create false measures. An equivalent work
unit (EWU) is created by assessing the work content of
each key business indicator that impacts the laundry
(occupied room, banquet cover(s), restaurant cover(s),
meeting cover(s).
An EWU is created by relating the production rate of
each indicator to a common denominator. For example:
- Occupied room = 10 rooms processed per person hour
- Banquet cover = 250 covers processed per person hour
- Restaurant cover = 350 covers processed per person hour
Therefore, 250 Banquet covers equal the work content
of 10 rooms and 350 restaurant covers equal the work
content of 10 rooms. Converting to EWU would be as
follows:
Rooms divided by one, banquets covers by 25 and restaurant
covers by 35.
Using this method, you will always have an accurate
measure of performance based on work content by dividing
the number of EWUs by the number of hours
expended (EWU/HR). With this method, each day's
production can be assessed with good performance
highlighted and appropriate corrective action identified
as needed.
Finally, a good system requires the use of a forecast
of all key business indicators that impact the laundry
operation as well as production controls to measure
throughput and productivity throughout the shift. If
the ironer should produce 600 sheets per running hour,
this should be measured and recorded. This will prevent
backlogs which are highly discouraging to the staff. Daily
controls are critical in any processing plant, and the
hotel laundry is no exception. As noted earlier, if staff is
shifted around to ensure that the machines produce at
correct capacity, backlogs will be lessened, clean product
will be available when needed, and the staff will be
more motivated with a sense of accomplishment regularly
perceived.
...And the music will be used for atmosphere, not as a
means of promoting faster work.
This article appeared in AAHOA Lodging Business in the January 2008 issue.
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