India has a huge market for laundry business which is yet to be tapped to its

potential. However, with the coming up of a number of hospitals & hotels and
even the Indian Railways turning to outsourcing of laundry activities, the
industrial laundry sector in India is attracting foreign players.
The hotel industry is witnessing a growing trend towards outsourcing its laundry.
India is expected to add another 90,000 hotel rooms over the next five years, all
of which are in the private sector, especially to meet the tourism demand. In
2010, 10 million people are expected to visit India.
The Indian Railways run approximately 12,000 trains every day. The capacity is
to carry 1.4 crore passengers/day. It employs around 17 lakh employees (10 lakh
in Group C), including 10,000 officers.
This presents a huge benefit to global players to quickly set up their laundries in
India, and cater to the ever growing market.
The healthcare industry, the upcoming and the existing, has started outsourcing
laundry services. This sector which has been registering a growth of 9.3% per
annum between 2000 and 2009 is projected to grow by 15% per annum by 2013.
Laundry services in India are classified into Industrial Laundry and Retail Laundry.
Industrial laundry is in its infant stage with major demand coming from hospitals
and hotels which have their in-house laundry. Retail laundry is a much organised
market with some professionally managed companies catering to the retail
needs. Overall, the laundry market in India is still untapped and unorganised.
Industrial laundries generally require heavy capital investment in machinery and
equipment for washing, spinning, ironing & drying besides land and property to
set-up a laundry. Since laundry market in India is dominated by the small local
laundry stores and local dhobis, they are not equipped to handle the huge capital
requirement.
Equipment for industrial laundry
An industrial laundry would require equipment for:
Washing
Drying and
Ironing
The type of equipment to be purchased would be depending on the volumes that
the laundry expects from potential clientele on a daily basis. Equipment for
industrial laundries is available in different sizes with varying capacities.
Equipment is available in the market for small, medium as well as large industrial
laundries.
Equipment for industrial laundries should optimise the washing system
considering criteria such as:

Usage of appropriate washing machinery which would guarantee maximum

efficiency with appropriate wash cycles, high spin capacity and minimum energy
consumption
Drier equipment should assure proper drying in the least amount of time with
minimum energy consumption
Flatwork ironers capable of absorbing the production of the driers to assure a
high quality press
Automation of the laundry handling processes in order to save personnel costs
and increase productivity
Stages in industrial laundry
An industrial laundry generally involves five stages namely:
Soiled Retrieval
The linen collected usually is dropped down a laundry chute. Laundry workers
collect the soiled linen, in reserved carts and transport it to the laundry facility.
Soil Sorting
The retrieved linen is unloaded and sorted. Different items often require different
washing formulas. Heavy or biohazardous stains such as blood and faeces may
require longer wash times and stronger formulas. Large institutions often use a
production-line method for soil sorting, with several full-time employees assigned
to the task. Since soiled linen may be contaminated with biohazards or sharp
objects, employees involved in the sorting process are required to use personal
protective equipment and standard safety precautions.
Washing
The sorted linen is weighed according to the washing machines load limit.
Certified washer operator loads and unloads the large washing machines,
decides what is to be washed according to the laundrys schedule and monitors
the chemical levels in the water. Since modern tunnel washers monitor their own
chemical levels and unload linen directly into the laundrys clean area, the
operator is required only to load the linen. Over the past 20 years, many
industrial laundries have switched from conventional washers to tunnel washers,
also called continuous-batch washers. Since tunnel washers dont have to be
stopped for loading and unloading of linen, they provide a more continuous flow
of clean laundry.
Higher-volume facilities which may process over 15,000kg of linen per day often
rely heavily on tunnel washers.
Processing
The clean linen is dried, ironed and folded. Some items, such as towels and
blankets, are put through a dryer until they are no longer damp, then sent to

mechanical folders. Wetwork items, such as sheets, are sent through steampowered ironers which dry, press and fold them.
Ironers use heavy steam-heated rollers to dry the linen while pressing out
wrinkles. Some items, such as wash cloths, may be too small to be handled
mechanically. These items must be packaged by hand.
Packaging & Distribution
The processed linen is prepared for delivery. Individual orders are filled, based on
the needs and requests of the laundrys customers and sent to the laundrys
main distribution points and storage areas. Linen not used for orders is placed in
storage areas, giving the facility a reserve of clean laundry.
Trained delivery people transport the clean linen back to the customers. This is a
skilled position, since the delivery person must have a thorough knowledge of
both laundry operation and the principles of good customer service. In hospitals,
delivery people must be familiar with patient relations, confidentiality policies.
Large institutions will usually employ several full-time delivery people.
MNI Partners LLC, Boston, USA
Eco-friendly Chemicals
Haylide Chemicals has launched a new range of eco friendly laundry chemicals.
The complete professional range consists of 10 products in powder and liquid
formulations. The Laundro Det and Boost-E is a powder detergent and booster;
Laundro Mulse-E is a liquid emulsifier for F&B laundry; Laundro Bleach-O is a
powder oxygen bleach for coloured and whites; Laundro Rinse is a liquid organic
neutralising rinse; Laundro Complete is a powder all-in-one detergent and
oxygen bleach for coloured and whites; Laundrokleen is a liquid all-in-one
detergent for guest and domestic laundry; Laundro Soft is a liquid softener for
towels and linen; Laundro Soft-N is a liquid 2-in-1 neutraliser and softener for
towels and linen; Laundro Chlor-10 is a liquid chlorine bleach 10% for white linen
and Laundro Rinse-C is a liquid neutralizing rinse after chlorine bleaching.
The range is phosphate free. The base detergent is free from slurry based
detergents and made from biodegradable surfactants. Haylide has used organic
biodegradable acids in rinses & softeners in place of harmful, inorganic and
traditional laundry rinses. The oxygen bleaches and all-in-one single shot
formulations reduce cycles of bleach and rinse. The softener range with
combination of cationic & water soluble silicones provide softest results. The
emulsifier for F&B stains is biodegradable and utilises denatured ethanol in place
of IPA as a natural solvent.