May 30th, 2024
Excerpted from Textile Services the May 2024 Textile Services issue on “Sustainable Cascade Powering ‘Greener’ Laundries with Innovation”
By Jack Morgan, Senior Editor
Gurtler is pleased to see that one of our valued customers, Textile Care Services (TCS), Rochester, MN, was featured in the cover story of the May issue of Textile Services, TRSA’s monthly publication. The senior editor, Jack Morgan, reached out to Paul Jewison, VP of Engineering for Healthcare Linen Services Group (HLSG), and General Manager of TCS to discuss the topic of the “Sustainable Cascade: Powering ‘Greener’ Laundries with Innovation” and how maintenance drives sustainability in his laundry.
MAINTENANCE DRIVES SUSTAINABILITY
We could “bullet point” additional initiatives, but high-profile projects isn’t the only way that companies advance sustainability and accrue the efficiency and public relations benefits that result from those actions. For Paul Jewison, general manager of Textile Care Services (TCS), Rochester, MN, a critical element of environmental friendliness centers on effective maintenance. “Here’s what I think is sustainable,” says Jewison, who’s also vice president of engineering for Healthcare Linen Services Group (HLSG), St. Charles IL. “There’s actually a couple of different components. It doesn’t automatically mean being green because one aspect of being sustainable is making sure you’re maintaining all of your equipment.”
Beyond making a strong commitment to maintenance, Jewison says that ensuring efficient and environmentally friendly laundry operations requires a culture of continuous improvement, coupled with monitoring/analysis. “We have a culture where we’re always trying to make improvements on things. Whatever equipment we have, we’re always trying to modify it and see if it gets better.” This approach benefits one’s bottom line as well as environmental quality. “Efficiency saves water; it gets you more pieces per hour. I think that a culture of innovation really distinguishes a business,” he says. “You get into a lot of plants and they’re proud of what they’re achieving on their utilities. That’s the culture you want.” Documenting performance improvements is another critical aspect of proactive plant maintenance, he adds. This includes water, natural gas and electricity use. “You’ve got to monitor utilities every day—twice a day if you can,” he says. “You may need to invest in software that’ll measure everything you have. Because if you don’t have data, you don’t know where you’re going.” Jewison relies on the GLSS system from Gurtler Industries Inc. to monitor key metrics in real time. The GLSS avoids costly proprietary hardware in order to minimize startup and maintenance costs. It’s tracking solution features a streamlined interface that can be personalized for the specific parameters that are most important for the laundry. That makes it easier for laundry managers to monitor and review data, he says.
Technological innovation offers another way to boost sustainability in a laundry setting. For example, TCS’ newly installed tunnels will have Gurtler’s Vis-Tex™ system that uses UV light and an advanced oxidation process to treat press water for improved cleanliness and stain removal. Implementing innovative resource-conservation technologies demonstrates a company’s commitment to green operations. The TCS plant’s overall water use is slightly under .5 gallons per lb. right now. But that figure will likely drop when the tunnels are fitted with Vis-Tex, he says. “You put the Vis-Tex system on, it will recover up to 50% of that water,” Jewison says. “So it’s likely we’ll probably be in the .27-.29 range when we’re done.”