When Emerald Textiles acquired the former MediClean plant in Commerce, CA, four years ago, the facility was limited in terms of its material-handling capabilities. So much so that staff were moved to tears when Emerald installed the facility’s first cart dumpers—standard equipment at most healthcare laundries. “When we brought the cart dumpers in, initially, the guys in soil started crying because they were all unloading the soil carts by hand and then hand-loading the Continuous Batch Washers (CBWs) with MediClean,” says Director of Engineering Jim Hernandez. “They didn’t even have cart dumpers here when we walked in the door.”

The ...