CHMS – Charting a Course to Sustainability, Growth
Coburger Towel and Mat Service, an industrial launderer in south-central Germany, has implemented a number of innovations aimed at saving energy, water and labor as it seeks to grow its floor mat, cloth-roll towel (CRT) and other business lines in Germany and beyond.
Economic growth in Germany and many of the other 26 countries of the European Union (EU) has lagged lately behind that of the U.S. But for CHMS (known by its German acronym Coburger Handtuck & Matten Service), business is expanding. “For us it’s going pretty well,” says Fabian Krause, director/owner of the company. “The last two years were pretty successful. We had a dent in ’21.”
The growth is fueling expansion plans for CHMS, which is based in Coburg, a city of roughly 42,000 people. The plant is in the process of planning to add another 800 square meters (8,600 square feet). This will enable CHMS to enlarge its packout or “expedition” area. The plant, located in an industrial park, currently takes up a total of 8,000 square meters (86,111 square feet). With the addition, it will have 8,800 square meters or 94,722 square feet.
Textile Services Weekly recently toured CHMS and other plants in Germany and the Netherlands. In each case, we saw a number of innovations – with many focused on saving natural resources, such as water and natural gas. Fuel costs in Germany have risen dramatically since the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine in 2022. This ongoing conflict sparked a cutoff of natural gas imports from Russia. Private companies in Germany also face carbon taxes. Land is costly as well in Western Europe generally. This encourages European laundries to build multiple levels for their wash-aisle and finishing machinery in order to maximize their use of vertical space. In CHMS’s case, the company has located a Lavatec tunnel washer and dryers on an upper level. This is where we saw the plant’s “Cascade” drying system from Lavatec, which delivers significant energy savings to CHMS.
The tunnel has 10, 220 lb. (100 kg.) compartments. Among other products, such as CRTs, the tunnel is used to process floor mats, roughly 240-260 metric tons per week, Krause said. After washing with chemistry provided by Christeyns, the mats move via conveyor from a centrifugal press to the dryers. Then the three-part Cascade system takes over. There are three lines of three dryers located adjacent to the tunnel. Lavatec President Mark Thrasher, who joined our tour, explained that in the first dryer is a low-heat “pre-drying” stage. The conveyor next moves the goods to a second dryer located in front of the first. Then begins a second “full-dry session, followed by a “cool down” phase. The three-phase drying process processes goods roughly 30% faster than conventional drying, while cutting natural gas use by 50%, Thrasher said.
A second major innovation at CHMS is a patented water-filtration system developed by Krause’ father Joachim, who remains active in this third-generation business founded in 1954. The water-recycling system sanitizes and filters out lint and soil for reuse in the mat-washing cycle “I think 80% of the water we use more than four times,” Fabian says.
For roughly 30 years, the plant also has made extensive use of rainwater in its processing. Whenever it rains, the water drains into the plant’s gutter system. It’s then pumped into a tank for use in the mat-washing process. The plant uses roughly 14,000 liters of rainwater (3,968 gallons) per day.
CRTs – a largely disused product in the U.S. – make up a significant portion of CHMS’s business, Fabian says. The process includes placing the CRTs on a machine that can unwind up to six or more CRTs at a time and places a binder around them to avoid tangling. Then, they are washed in the tunnel. Next, they are dried and re-rolled in another system that can also process multiple CRTs at once. In an interview after the tour, we asked why so many businesses and consumer outlets in Europe still use CRTs. Fabian answered that public sensitivity to environmental issues is a factor. However, Europe-based laundry operators like CWS Boco, Duisberg, Germany; and Elis, based in St. Cloud, France, also have actively promoted CRT use. “The fact is that you have pretty big companies like CWS and Elis, they promote the towels,” he said. He adds that the war in Ukraine also has fueled higher paper costs, thus making paper towels costlier. “The Ukraine crisis was bad for paper. It raised prices three-to-four times as much as before.”
Watch for additional coverage of market trends and innovations in this plant and other European laundries coming soon to Textile Services magazine. Click here to learn more about Textile Services or to subscribe.