Exec. Roundtables Feature Three Disney Laundry Tours
Attendees at TRSA’s Executive Roundtables at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, FL, received a rare treat that typical park visitors don’t get to see. On Feb. 8, participants took an in-depth behind-the-scenes tour of the company’s three textile services facilities.
The day kicked off when attendees boarded a Disney tour bus at the Boardwalk Inn, the site of the meetings, and headed to Walt Disney World Textile Services housekeeping facility. Disney Textile Services executives greeted the group at the plant and gathered the crowd in the facility’s training room for an interactive discussion of the theme park’s massive laundry operations.
For roughly 30 minutes, Disney executives gave an overview of the Textile Services Department, and provided insights into the challenges the company faces in its daily operations. Troy Loutsenhizer, textile services manager, F&B facility & customer services management, provided an overview of the safety initiatives that Disney has undertaken at its three laundry facilities. The company takes safety seriously. Its commitment is demonstrated by the signage around the plant, as well as initiatives such as placing netting underneath all areas where slings travel over walkways, exclusion zones where only certain ‘cast members’ (i.e. staff) are allowed and regular safety committee meetings that include plant employees.
Following the discussion, the group hit the plant floor for a tour of the housekeeping facility, a 200,000-square-foot building that processes linens for Disney’s 30,000 hotel rooms located on its sprawling Lake Buena Vista property. The plant operates 24/5 and processes 2-2.3 million lbs. of textiles per week at peak season. And it continues to grow, said Disney Textile Services Director J.R. Garcia as he addressed those in attendance.
“In spite of difficult times economically, there’s still been tremendous growth at Walt Disney World,” Garcia said. “We’re still growing and expanding; that’s a good sign for the economy.”
As we move throughout the plant, we see slings with a logo of Mickey Mouse’s ears moving above us. The massive facility features seven tunnel washers, including a new Pellerin Milnor PulseFlow® machine that was installed in May 2011. The other six were manufactured by Lavatec. On the finishing side, the plant features eight ironers and 22 towel folding machines. The ironers operate off of a thermal oil system that is used to feed all eight machines.
Once the housekeeping tour ended, the group departed for the costume facility, where Disney processes character costumes and work clothing for more than 45,000 employees at its theme parks. The 70,000-square-foot plant cleans more than 30,000 garments daily. With the wide variety of clothing that enters the facility, proper sorting is essential. Each garment has an RF chip as well as a barcode for backup. After the garments are cleaned and pressed, a computer-operated rail system moves these items along to its proper place for delivery. Deliveries are made from a designated area of the plant to the different theme parks. The rail system moves these garments automatically to the correct location for packout. This sorting system is essential as the plant has a 4-6 hour turn time on some items. As an added benefit, with the RF chips in place, Disney costuming locations can look online to see what items are at the laundry.
After breaking for lunch, the group reconvened to take a look at Disney’s F&B processing facility. The 25,000-square-foot plant operates on a 12-hour cycle and serves nearly 200 restaurants at Walt Disney World. In addition to smaller 100- and 150-lb. washers, this facility features a 14-chamber Lavatec tunnel washer and five Lavatec dryers. To meet the output needs of the plant, five cast members on two shifts work full-time feeding napkins, seven days a week. The facility cleans 32 different colors of napkins.