[box type=”shadow” ]With an experience of over 13 years in the hospitality segment, Laundry Manager Santosh Pardeshi today manages the huge laundry set up of Grand Hyatt Mumbai. He discusses the finer points of laundry operations and the chemistry of laundry chemicals with Mohana M, Editor of Clean India Journal.[/box]
Laundry is basically an art and a science. So, you must know the chemistry of chemicals and the art of presenting it and co-relating it with garments,” says Santosh Pardeshi.
The Grand Hyatt laundry is running at a capacity of six tonne/dayw with three washer extractors of Milnor and a dryer of ADC Laundry, which was taken over by Whirlpool few years back.
The focal point today in hospitality laundry is in giving quality output along with sustainability. “At Grand Hyatt, we are looking ahead to advance in terms of operations and enhance guest experience by means of using the right products.
“Laundry set up can be compartmentalized into manpower, operations, equipment & chemicals and other general things that may be required. Manpower, of course can be best controlled, increased or decreased as may be the necessity and trained. Operating expenses can be fixed or maintained through standard operating systems. At the same time, there can be exceptions in operating expenses without compromising on the quality. Again, quality can be maintained with the right equipment & chemicals. Here it is not about costing but about sustainability of the linen. Hotels, in general, purchase expensive fine quality linen and hence, there is no question of making a choice of or compromising on the chemical or equipment based on the price factor vis-à-vis the maintenance of expensive linen.”
Chemicals and equipment directly contribute to quality of linen and to sustainability. As a common practice, vendors make a good offer, start the program and do not turn back unless there is a serious problem. In day-to-day laundry, there are different challenges that crop up and need to be tackled within a given time frame. The support of the equipment or chemical supplier in these given circumstances helps in efficient, quality and sustainable delivery.
Laundries face varied challenges – some may have problems related to water management, some may have temperature issues, or some on synchronizing quality, standards and sustainability. There are different parameters and different challenges in different areas. “There are vendors who work with laundries but every time something new is added, thereby increasing costs instead of solving the issue at hand.”
The cost effectiveness of a product can be assessed only when it is measured. “We are now installing a new system which can be accessed on the mobile. All kinds of reports can be viewed on the mobile – the chemical dosing and consumption, the discrepancies and errors during the run, the number of kilogrammes loaded, the time taken per cycle and so on. In short, complete details can be extracted at the end of the day.” Buzil Rossari is providing the chemicals and the mobile applications to Grand Hyatt laundry.
Water itself can pose problems. The chemicals have to blend with the nature of the water. “Many a times, the rust from the water pipes stains the garments besides the food stains experienced in F&B linen. Treating these stains is a big challenge. We have procured a new chemical which is very effective and even does away with the need to do spotting before the wash. The vendor has been able to customize the products as per the requirement. So, this really help us.
“Recently, we had a turnover of 400 room nights and the vendor supported us with segregation of piled linen which is a difficult task. With the new system, we were able to do it successfully and also got the reports of before and after wash.”
The laundry at Grand Hyatt uses four washer extractors – three 90kg capacity and one 200kg capacity and the dryer is of 55kg capacity. At present 3.5 tonnes of linen is being washed every day.
