In-house/own linen

In-house/own linen

● Choose your own quality

● You will not pay high rental costs

● Cost savings on purchasing and washing

● You have to do your own stock takes

● You have to replace damaged linen yourself with a cost implication

● Staff may take more care of your own linen

● Good quality linen can be sold to guests, extending the hotel experience

Outsourced/hired linen

● Quality/choice may not be up to your expectations

● High rental charges

● You do not have to do your own stock takes

● Reject linen is replaced, depending on service level agreement

● Linen replacement not always guaranteed by supplier

● Abused linen stock is charged for

● Damaged stock can also be charged for

● Staff may be less careful with the linen as it doesn’t belong to the hotel

Hotel Laundry Operation and Laundry Flow chart

The laundry department has a basic cycle of operation with the below steps:-

1. Collecting Soiled Linen.

House maid and room boy should strip linens from beds and areas and put them on to the linen chute or on to the soiled linen carts stored on each floor pantry. Staff should never use any guest linen for any cleaning purpose.

The house boys should go for frequent rounds on each floors to collect the soiled linen from the linen chute or on to each floor pantry.

Supervisors should make sure that the soiled linens doesn't pileup on floor pantry which may cause further soil or damage as there are chances that people may walk on them.

2. Transport Soiled Linen to Laundry department.

The linens form the Laundry chutes and floor pantry are carried to the laundry department by trolley. The housemen should make sure that the laundry items are not dragged on the floor this may further damage or soil the laundry.

3. Sorting of Linen and Uniforms.

The laundry sorting area of the hotel should be large enough to buffer one day worth of laundry and these sorting of laundry should not cause interfere with other laundry activities.

Sort linen and uniforms according to their stains, size, type, color etc.

4. Washing and Dry cleaning.

After the linens and uniforms are sorted properly the laundry staff collects the batches of laundry and load them to the washers. It is also a good process to always weigh the laundry items before loading them to the washers, this will ensure that the washers are not overloaded and help to run them in the optimum operation condition.

If required the soiled linens are treated to remove stains before the washing process. To reduce operational cost nowadays hotels uses chemicals ( bleaches, detergents, softeners etc.) while washing process to remove stains instead of treating laundry items separately before washing.

5. Drying.

After the washing cycle is completed the washed items are dried on the dryer. The drying times and temperature vary considerable according to the type type of linen / cloths.

Also always the drying should be followed by a gradual cool down process to prevent the hot linens from being damaged or wrinkled by rapid cooling and healing process.

6. Folding of Linen and Uniforms.

Even though a lot of flooding of linens are now automated, the hotels still do a lot of folding by hand. While folding the linens the laundry attendants should also look for any damages occurred to them while the laundry process.

The folded items are then stored and stacked properly according to batches. The finished laundry items should latest rest for 24hrs. as this will increase their life.

Laundry detergent, or washing powder, is a type of detergent (cleaning agent) that is added for cleaning laundry, commonly mixtures of chemical compounds including alkylbenzenesulfonates, which are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water

Chemistry of detergents

Many kinds of molecules and ions can serve as high-efficiency surfactants. They are often classified according to the charge of the molecule or ion, the three main classes being anionic, neutral, and cationic detergents. Anionic detergents are most commonly encountered for domestic laundry detergents. Detergents are ions or molecules that contain both polar and nonpolar components. The polar component allows the detergent to dissolve in the water, whereas the nonpolar portion solubilizes greasy ("hydrophobic") materials that are the usual target of the cleaning process. An estimated 6 billion kilograms of detergents are produced annually for domestic markets

Components

Builders

Builders are water softeners. The calcium and magnesium ions present in hard water can cause many detergents to form soap scum, which is ineffective for cleaning. These ions are removed by builders either through chelation or ion exchange. One of the earliest builders was sodium carbonate (washing soda), however this also raises the pH of the wash-water which can inhibit any cleaning enzymes present. Sodium triphosphate was a popular replacement but is now know to have serious environmental consequences. Modern builders include chelators (also called complexation or sequestering agents) such as citric acid, gluconic acid and EDTA; or ion exchange agents like zeolites.

Bleaches

The main targets of bleaches are oxidisible organic stains; which are usually of vegetable origin (e.g. chlorophyll, anthocyanin dyes, tannins, humic acids, and carotenoid pigments). Despite the name, modern beaching agents do not include household bleach (sodium hypochlorite). Laundry bleaches are typically stable adducts of hydrogen peroxide, such as sodium perborate and sodium percarbonate, these are inactive as solids but will react with water to release hydrogen peroxide which performs the bleaching action. "Bleach activators" such as tetraacetylethylenediamine (TAED) may also be used, these react with hydrogen peroxide to produce peracetic acid, which is an even more effective bleach.

Enzymes

The amounts of enzyme can be up to about 2% by weight of the product. These agents are required to degrade recalcitrant stains composed of proteins, fats, or carbohydrates. Each type of stain requires a different type of enzyme, i.e., protease for proteins, lipases for greases, and amylases for carbohydrates.

Other ingredients

Many other ingredients are added depending on the specific application. Such additives modify the foaming properties of the product by either stabilizing or counteracting foam. Other ingredients increase or decrease the viscosity of the solution, or solubilize other ingredients. Corrosion inhibitors counteract damage to washing equipment. "Dye transfer inhibitors" prevent dyes from one article from colouring other items. "Antiredeposition agents" are used to prevent fine soil particles from reattaching to the product being cleaned. Carboxymethyl cellulose is used for this purpose