Brainstorming Session Laundry Industry – Meets Indian Railway Board

[box type=”shadow” ]For the first-time ever, the Indian Railway Board authorities and the Indian Laundry industry shared a forum to address the issues faced by the Indian Railways and the suitable solutions that could be adopted for quality results. “We thank Mangala Chandran, Editorin- Chief of Clean India Journal, for coming to Delhi and inviting Hon’ble Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to Clean India Technology Week. Following which all the zones of the railways have come here to the show. Otherwise, we would have missed this Show and this meeting,” said Alok Kumar Tewari, IRSME, Advisor (Environment & Housekeeping Management), Ministry of Railways (Railway Board). He was accompanied by Arjun Mundiya, Chief Mechanical Engineer, South Central Railway at the high-level closed door meeting with the laundry industry. Representing the Laundry industry at the meet, were[/box]

• Akash Dharamsey, Director, ADD Laundry Concepts Pvt. Ltd;
• Xavier Salas, International Sales Director-Girbau SA;
• Anshul Gupta, Partner-Quick Clean Pvt. Ltd;
• Tushar Goswami, Sales Manager-Laundry India, Electrolux Professional;
• Kho Tjin Hok, Lagoon Specialist-APAC, Electrolux;
• Suresh Goel, Managing Director, Supershine Laundry Systems Pvt. Ltd;
• Dirk Mertins, General Manager, Seitz;
• Ayush Khanijo, Manager Business Development, Seitz;
• Joby K.M, Managing Director, Launmark;
• Sudhir Batra, Managing Director, Mercury, and
• Vipul Kattar, Mercury

Addressing the industry, Alok Tewari raised two questions:

• How to take care of blankets and effectively ensuring that it lasts its lifecycle?

• If the stakeholders are prepared to set up laundry for the railways on a variable quantity model over a period of 10 years.

Blanket Washing

“With the Swachh Bharat and the ‘Rail bhanega to desh bhanega’ mission in full swing, the Indian Railway is concerned about the cleaning of its linen- particularly the blankets. We want the passengers to feel that the blankets are as clean and fresh as the other amenities provided on the train.

“Earlier the washing of the blankets was done once in two months and now we want to do it once in a month. The blankets are made of wool and it does not take the washing kindly,” said Alok Tewari. Explaining the type of blanket presently being used by the Railway, Tewari said that the blankets are 50- 60% wool and the rest is cotton. Thus, it is dry cleaned.

Unlike the common belief of the railway officials that woollen blankets would deteriorate through wet washing, the Laundry Industry enlightened them about various processes and solutions and proper washing systems by which blankets would last the lifecycle specified by the manufacturer. The industry also discussed processes to save on the fabric and the use of the right detergents.

“Blankets are washable even though the care label says they have to be dry cleaned. It is a different case with hotels or hospitals where the stain agents are different. It just needs the use of lukewarm water and softener and should not be overheated in the dryer,” explained Suresh Goyal.

“Wool is a delicate material. It cannot be dry cleaned since it is cancerous and the process is not green. However, wet cleaning can be done successfully provided the materials used bear a wool mark. Approved detergents along with proper washing and drying can provide a complete solution,” said Anshul Gupta.

“Is there a technology that can control the vibration and water wash with the least amount of churning and thus makes it appropriate for the wash of blankets? Machines are with washer extractors and a speed controlling formula. We can make a dedicated formula for blankets,” asked Mundiya.

“In the system installed at Vedanta Hospital,” Goyal said, “the blankets are washed daily.” And the life span of the blanket matches the manufacturer’s estimation.

Since the blankets weigh 2.5 to 4kg, Tewari wondered there should be a separate blanket line put up to handle such a heavy load. Currently, the installed railway laundry is doing much less than the requirement, even with blankets being done once in two months. A separate blanket line is also in the cards to augment the current laundry facility so that the volume is sufficient enough.

However, the laundry machines, today come with programme modules and can be adjusted as per the material taken up for washing, be it linen or blankets.

Dirk Mertins, “I agree with the use of one machine for all purpose washing,” said Dirk Mertins. “In the future we will witness a severe water scarcity and a centralised laundry with tunnel washers will consume a lot of water. Wet cleaning will give the desired results with a water usage of 50% of the usual consumption and it protects the wool fibre through several wash cycles and lasts longer.”

Explaining further, Xavier Salas said, “The intake of the temperature and the churning has to be controlled. When the air flow and temperature are less the clothes come out much drier. Hence, a washer extractor with a tunnel would be suitable, so that the washing and processing are homogenous and the results are good.”

Further, the wet cleaning machine senses the moisture level of the garment every second and automatically stops right. So that there is no overheating. Being a computerized washing system, the advantage of using water with appropriate chemicals right from the start. The finishing agents completely cover the fibre; thus, protecting the fibre. In conventional washing the fibre gets swollen but in wet cleaning the mechanical process is set at low levels and hence it doesn’t harm the material. The users have to be trained and the right finishing equipment to be used for good results, added Anshul.

Centralised Laundry

In order to provide better linen to commuters, Alok Tewari said that the Railways is planning to put up a centralized laundry facility whereby the trains passing through that location can do a laundry changeover. A bigger laundry would be more effective. If a 10-tonne laundry is set up, we would expect 7.5 to 12 tonne washing to be done progressively over 10-15 years following installation. He sought advise from the industry on the projection of requirement over the period. “If we quote the variable quantity taking into account the inaccuracies in prediction, will the industry be able to decide on the volume of the wash and give us a quote for that?” He then invited individual stakeholders to send their inputs to the Railway Ministry.

Elaborating on the change in the system, Arjun Mundiya said, “The bigger challenge is in L1 and L2 for quality players and we are keen to overcome the issue. The environment and housekeeping department is responsible for train and station cleanliness, water conservation, waste management, waste to energy initiatives and so on. Soon everything will become composite and more competent and only successful players would be allowed to participate.”

Each of the stakeholders shared their experience and highlighted the drawbacks in the present systems. The industry offered to set up laundries on the BOOT model and provide solutions to the Indian Railways. Hence, ensuring that there is enough buffer to take care of excess laundry in the future.

Concluding the session, Akash thanked the Railway board representatives for giving the industry an “opportunity to share some of our experiences and difficulties and the solutions that we can offer”. Assuring the officials, he said that the Indian Laundry Industry will always extend support to the Indian Railways whenever there is a need. “We thank Clean India Journal for creating this forum and bringing the laundry industry together with the Indian Railways,” he said.

INDUSTRY SPEAKS

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This is a special exhibition and the best one when you look back at the shows in Dubai or in Europe. We do have exhibitions in Europe but not so much specific. It is not like being in an exhibition which has many other segments like food, etc. Laundrex India is very specialised. The organisation is very good. I come from Germany and this is an exhibition of European style. Here in Hyderabad, this is the best exhibition I have ever seen in the whole area of India.”

– Dirk Mertins

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At the outset, the laundry industry got an opportunity to represent itself to an institution like Indian Railways, which is one of the bigger customers for the laundry equipment manufacturers and service providers. In fact, it is only the exchange of information like we did at the forum organised by Clean India, helps the railways to make better and informed decisions and improve their quality of linen. The foreign counterparts who were present here got an insight into how the Indian institutions function and understand how the Indian market works. We thank Clean India Journal for giving us this platform.

– Akash Dharamsey

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We always believe in the Laundrex India Expo platform and we have come forward as the Show partners. We would like to be part of this platform where people can see the new technologies and the offering that the manufacturers have to offer. As of now there is no such platform and Laundrex India is building up. I suggest that you should take this show to more places in India. We are very happy with the response in Hyderabad, as there are a lot of end customers coming in. We have people visiting from hotels, hospitals, dry cleaners, launderers and those who want to start something in laundry. We were able to meet every segment and it is a very nice initiative.

The conference with the railways was a very good interactive session where were able to showcase the solutions which otherwise would have not been possible. We do not get that opportunity to present and reach out to people like the Indian Railways.” Quick Clean is the supplier of Electrolux, Trevil, LG, Hydro Systems, Commestro and Artemec.

– Anshul Gupta

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