Multi-Housing
Laundromat
On-Premises
Every savvy business owner or manager wants to save money, increase profitability, and improve efficiency. For many businesses, that starts right in your on-premise laundry room. From hospitality to health care, Coin-O-Matic has been working with OPL facilities throughout Illinois and Indiana since the 1920s. We’ve learned a thing or two about running a successful laundry operation along the way. With that in mind, we’re sharing some easy ways you can improve your on-premise laundry room.
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Upgrade your machines. Energy-efficient machines will help cut down on utility costs, which remains one of the top concerns among laundry, hospitality, and health care business owners throughout the Midwest. In addition, adding Quantum Controls from Speed Queen will make your laundry equipment easy to use and monitor. -
Get the right capacity washers and dryers for your industry and space to make sure you’re meeting the laundry needs of your business. A fitness center may want smaller capacity machines so they can do smaller loads of towels on a consistent basis, whereas a hotel may want bigger capacity machines that can handle comforters and sheets a few times each day.
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Monitor your soap usage and always measure. Many OPL facilities use too much or too little detergent. That can impact machine effectiveness, damage your linens, and lead to spending more money on additional soap or new linens.
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Make cleanliness and maintenance a priority. Not only does it make for a better (and safer) working environment, but it also helps assure your commercial laundry equipment will operate at peak efficiency. Routine cleaning and maintenance also help you catch major issues like leaks before they cause more damage.
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Organize your OPL facility in a way that makes sense. If need be, consider moving around your machines, folding tables, laundry carts, and other laundry accessories to help improve flow around the space. The experts at Coin-O-Matic offer room consultations for businesses from Rockford, Illinois to South Bend, Indiana and beyond to get your OPL facility organized and running smoothly.
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Change your soaps and detergents. There are plenty of options on the market and they’re not all created equal. Try some different detergents until you find a good cost vs. effectiveness ratio for your on-premise laundry room. Keep in mind that what works for some fabrics may not be the best option for others.
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Have processes in place for laundry collection, sorting, and stain removal for employees to follow. This helps prevent contaminated clothes from getting mixed in with the other laundry, allows stains to be treated quickly (see #11), and improves the organization and flow of the room.
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Train your staff properly regarding safely using commercial machines and follow up with them often. The last thing you want is an employee accidentally damaging a machine or injuring themselves or a guest. Ongoing training is crucial to success.
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Follow all directions and warnings on detergents and chemicals to avoid damaging your laundry equipment or injuring employees. The safety precautions and recommendations are there for a reason.
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Always use a laundry scale to make sure you’re filling washers and dryers to the correct capacity. This will help avoid overfilling or underfilling machines and wasting time and money. They also come in handy when tracking how much laundry you’re actually doing on a regular basis and track benchmarks to improve profitability.
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Tackle stains, spills, and rips quickly. Of course, you may tackle cleaning thousands of wash clothes, towels, and bedsheets every day, but it’s the ones that slip through with stains that patrons and managers are going to notice. The sooner you can treat a stain, the less likely it is that the linen will have to be replaced or washed multiple times.
Got questions about improving your on-premise laundry facility? We’re here to help. Learn more about the industries we serve around Illinois and Indiana and contact us to get started.
