How Can a laundry plant Process 3,000+ Pieces Daily with Only 8 Workers?

There is a central laundry plant in Suzhou, China, which is a new plant built by summarizing the experience of the previous four generations of laundry plant operation and management. It was officially put into use on July 17, 2021. It covers an area of more than 1,000 square meters and has 8 front-line staff. The daily processing capacity is about 3,000 pieces. During peak time, the output can be as high as 5,000 pieces/day through manpower deployment. So efficient? Let’s find out.

Reason 1: Good Layout Planning

The company’s laundry plant covers an area of more than 1,000 square meters, and the overall planning adheres to the principle of “let employees take the least way to do the most”. From the beginning of the clothes sorting area after entering the factory gate, to the dry cleaning area and the washing area next to each other, the end of the two areas leads to the post-wash finishing area, followed by the quality inspection area and the packaging area. The layout between the regions is quite compact, and some are only 2-3 steps away. The time employees spend walking and transporting clothing is minimized.

Reason 2: Basic Configuration

In addition to greatly improving the automation and operational efficiency of the laundry plant by selecting advanced laundry equipment, post-wash finishing equipment, packaging equipment, and the sorting system of each store in the later stage, the company also exercised more brains on the equipment: The red, yellow and green warning lights are installed on the dry cleaning, washing, and drying equipment respectively, representing three different states of the equipment is running, resting and in fault, so that the operator can know the operation of the equipment at a glance. This not only facilitates the staff in making reasonable arrangements for laundry but also greatly improves the efficiency of the staff's equipment management.

● The Kingstar industrial washing machine comes with a three-color indicator light, green, orange, and red, to reflect the different operating status of the equipment. Employees can see the operating status of the equipment at a glance. In addition, Kignstar industrial washing machines, wet cleaning machines, and dryers are equipped with intelligent control systems that can edit laundry and drying procedures. Employees simply put the clothes in, select a program, and take them out after washing or drying. Also, the Kingstar dryer is a direct vent dryer with a humidity sensing device, which not only has high drying efficiency but also ensures that clothes will not be over-dried. There is no need for employees to monitor the operation of the equipment from time to time, greatly reducing labor costs.

Reason 3: Multi-Role Employees

It is the principle of the company to pursue the maximum utilization of human resources. There are only 8 front-line employees in its laundry factory, and the daily output reaches 2500-3000 pieces of clothing. According to reports, among the 8 people, only one ironing master is in a full-time position, and the remaining 7 people are basically working in three or more other positions.

● For example, the operator who manages the operation of seven dry cleaning machines also does trouser ironing (with relevant training) and logistics. The working time of employees is basically saturated in a day, and the principle of "more work, more pay" has correspondingly increased the income of employees, which has more stimulated the enthusiasm of employees.

❑ Job rotation of employees in the store

Arranging staff who send and receive clothes at the offline stores to the laundry factory can directly enhance the staff’s understanding and familiarity with the washing process of the laundry factory, so as to better promote and publicize to customers.

This also further enhances the working relationship between store employees and laundry factory employees and promotes a more tacit understanding of cooperation between the two sides. At the same time, at the peak of the washing season, it directly solves the problem of insufficient manpower in the laundry factory.

❑ Skilled and refined key positions

Emphasizing and focusing on the ability of key personnel and the degree of refinement of their work is another measure to improve efficiency. As the first step of laundry work, the importance of clothing sorting is self-evident. The laundry factory has only one sorting employee, with sufficient industry experience and strong technical ability, who can directly judge the washing method of the clothing by touching the fabric.

Also, whether it is dry cleaning or washing, the clothes are sorted into four turnover boxes according to the four colors: white, light, gray, and dark, which greatly facilitates the operation of the next washing process.

Conclusion

The above experience is a set of effective management plans summarized through continuous exploration in the early stage, which can not only meet the production work in the peak season but also ensure the income of employees and the profits of the laundry factory, so that the enterprise is always in a virtuous circle.