Every exhibitor at the Laundrex India Expo referred to laundry as a ‘sunshine industry’. And over the three packed days of the Expo, the sun shone down upon a deluge of established laundry entrepreneurs and the new entrants whose numbers indicate the exponential growth of the sector in the last one year itself. Clean India Journal documents the shifts in the laundry industry
Changing trends
In the words of Zehen Arora, Director-Stefab, “Indians have finally started looking at getting their clothes professionally cleaned as a utility rather than a luxury.” Consequently, more and more laundromats and laundry cafes are sprouting up across India, and their owners and investors are becoming choosier and more demanding. No longer will they buy from the cheapest source. Akash Dharamsey, Director-ADD Laundry Concepts said: “Customers who were only focussed on price now look at the whole package. Value proposition has become more important. Entrepreneurs want to work only with those companies who have straightforward dealings rather than with those that only offer deep discounts.”
B Krishnamoorthy, Business Head-Industrial Products, IFB said that the days of an investor merely purchasing machines from a company and then never hearing from it again are over. “From store layout to power, water and water hardness parameters, manufacturers are now consulted before any decision is made; the latter now provides end-to-end solutions rather than just hardware.” The availability and reliability of a manufacturer’s after-sales service have also become a strong deciding point in its favour.
Buyers are looking beyond the sticker price to examine the life-cycle of a laundry machine, which includes maintenance. Naturally, they want to associate with companies for a period of years rather than a one-time transaction.
The increase in the capacities of machines year after year is inexorable. D Elangovan, Director, United Machines said: “Until a few years ago, the average capacity of a commercial laundry was 1 tonne per day; now, that figure is around six tonnes, and we are already heading towards 15-20 tonnes per day.” The economies of scale are helping cut down costs for both entrepreneurs and those who patronise laundries.
Customer-facing digitisation
Earlier, when one went to a dhobi, one would see him attach cloth tags to one’s garments for identification. Now, laundries print bar-coded tags for each garment, which are scanned and logged in a system. By using this, all data about a customer, which garments he regularly sends for cleaning, and the type of fabric, is stored in a database.
Back-end digitisation
Many new laundry machines at the Laundrex Expo were IoT-enabled. Dharamsey said, “Connecting every machine to the Net allows owners to monitor the number of cycles a machine has run in a day, how many hours it remained idle, how much water and energy it consumed, and more. All this data is displayed on a utilities dashboard to the owner, who can use this information to better use his resources, budget more wisely and help improve the bottom line.”
The same information can be analysed to identify which machine from which brand offers the best water and energy efficiency.
Said Abhinav Arya, Director- Planning, Fabcare: “No more is there any need to pore over Excel sheets from laundry managers to understand how one’s laundry is performing. From the number of visits a single customer makes, to the frequency and periodicity of the visits, to suggesting ways to bring back customers who have not visited in a while by tailoring special offers for them, an IoT based interface can radically change the way a laundry functions.”
Predictive and preventive maintenance
This back-end system can help both owners and machine manufacturers track a machine’s performance, and detect wear and tear. Equipment breakdown can be anticipated and forestalled by scheduling a service visit.
Dharamsey delineates ADD’s model: Since every machine is online, someone sitting in the company headquarters in Spain can view a common dashboard, diagnose problems by comparing parameters, flag anomalies, and even identify which part needs to be replaced.
The number of breakdowns of individual machines can also be logged; for smaller machines, this number can be accessed by owners on a simple app, with measurements over a day, week, month or year.
Machine programming
Sanjeev Dixit, Head-Sales, Aquarius Appliances simplified this for us: “Machine design includes two parts: hardware and programming. The prewash, main wash, bleaching, number of rinses, etc., should be customisable for each load; this is possible if a machine is programmable. Once you design the perfect program, you get the best wash. If the machine is fully programmable and the hardware is also of good quality, the machine can even be used for 20-30 years.” But how can a person go about programming a machine?
Gautham Kumar Gupta, Head-Sales & Marketing, Gupta Electricals suggests two connected touchscreen interfaces. One, for a potentially less-trained employee, who may use the wrong amount of water or chemical, and damage the machine; this interface will only allow him to load and run the machine. The manager’s interface will be password-protected, and allow him to fine-tune the wash specification for each cycle.
Water saving
Few parts of India have a reliable source of water in terms of both quality and quantity. Consequently, he whose machine consumes the least amount of water and delivers the best results is bound to prove wildly popular with laundry entrepreneurs. This evolution to minimising water requirements is on a roll.
“Ten years ago,” said Dharamsey, “a conventional washer-extractor needed about 25 litres per kg of linen; this has now fallen to 14 litres per kg of linen.” Less water equals less energy requirements; for ADD, this has led to 30% savings on fuel and 20% on chemicals.
In 2020, what are the innovative tweaks manufacturers use to lessen dependence on water? For IFB, it is its patent Hydrofinity technology that is a game-changer. “By using nylon beads,” shared Krishnamoorthy, “we reduce water consumption by 40-50%, Since friction is also reduced, we increase garment life by up to 30%.”
Elangovan is a big proponent of adopting tunnel washers to protect our environment. “They use only 4-6 litres of water per kg, and reduce chemical usage by half. Thus, less steam and less fuel are required.” Not to forget, as Abhinav Arya reminded us, that machines could and should recycle rinsewater in the first wash or pre-wash.
Dixit had a more controversial take. He said, “It is a myth that any laundry service provider can provide water saving solutions. If the latter is possible, it is only because of smart machine programming.”
For example, if coloured linen is being washed, then no bleach is used, one cycle is reduced, and we save water.
By changing temperature, time of cycle, and chemical quantity, the water requirement can be altered. Longer the cycle, less is the water required. By programming a machine correctly, Dixit said, water usage could be cut by 40- 50%. And by increasing reliance on a machine’s mechanical action — which removes more water and chemicals — the number of rinses required also comes down. Instead of using three rinse cycles for white towels, two, or even one can be used.
Better technology, better results
“From automatic two- or threestation feeders to automatic bedsheet folders, commercial laundries are snapping up automated machines at every level of the laundry process,” said Arora. Every exhibitor we spoke to had a similar example to offer.
Dharamsey showed us a dryer which — instead of having either axial or trans flow like conventional products — has both. A moisture sensor is also mounted in the door. Dual panelling with an insulated layer helps conserve heat, while a heat capture system recirculates heat within the dryer, all of which helps cut down drying time from 45-50 minutes to just 25-30 minutes.
IFB is one of the largest service providers to the Indian Railways. It picks up used bed-sheets, blankets and pillow covers from AC coaches and returns them the same day, fully cleaned, by employing folder machines which produce neatly folded linen that only needs to be placed inside a packet. Neeraj Sharma, Director Global Solutions revealed: “Customers have even started using shirt finishers and pant finishers. They believe in investing in standardisation of good quality.” Fabcare extends digitisation to even the final step; Arya said: “By scanning bar-codes, our conveyor system stores 800 pieces in space which could only store 200 pieces, cutting down storage cost, which is much in demand from commercial laundries.”
Gupta explained the details of a laundry technology that can replace ETP plants. He said: “While laundry equipment may cost up to Rs12 lakhs totally, an ETP plant will cost a minimum of Rs15 lakhs. As an alternative, we have a technology which — if a machine used 6,000 litres of water a day, recycles 5,800 litres, and deposits the remainder as sludge. This has the added advantage of not needing a separate person to operate it.”
Automation and profitability
According to Sharma, digitisation can help those struggling with standards and SoPs, and by helping businesses handle all kinds of loads, it makes them more profitable. But how affordable are these cutting-edge solutions? “For 20 years, automation was available, but not affordable for Indian clients,” said Elangovan. “We have been engaged in continuous R & D to bring the cost down. And we are not pushing solutions used by European clients on our Indian ones. Instead, we recommend what works for Indian entrepreneurs.”
Naming numbers, he said that two decades ago, an entire tunnel laundry set up would cost $6 million; now, the figure is at $0.5-1 million. Capital costs were earlier 15-20%, but by arranging low-interest loans from foreign banks, manufacturers are making machines both affordable and profitable for Indian laundry-owners.
All of the above trends are driven by a single factor — the increasing costs of manpower. It is to save labour costs and reduce dependence on manual interventions that manufacturers are automating machines and digitising systems for owners. Since labour costs are unlikely to come down any time in the future, one can confidently expect even more automation to make its presence felt in the laundry industry in the years to come.