Lavatec Equipment Powers Detroit Healthcare Laundry

Posted September 3, 2021 at 2:39 pm




Last year, Metropolitan Detroit Area Hospital Services (MDAHS) completed construction of a state-of-the-art, 115,000-square-foot laundry facility down the street from Henry Ford Hospital on Elijah McCoy Drive. A co-operative joint venture among the Henry Ford Health System, Michigan Medicine and St. Joseph Mercy Health System, the MDAHS team of approximately 150 employees is responsible for shipping more than 2.5 million lbs. of linen each month to its members, according to a news release.

Fourteen years after first connecting on a tunnel washing system, MDAHS selected Lavatec again and have installed new wash equipment that’s generating significant energy savings, the release noted. MDAHS ordered from Lavatec two new 12-compartment, 220-pound continuous tunnel washers, and paired them with new LP583 LAVASPEED presses to feed 16 TT745G natural-gas dryers. All of the equipment is monitored by the Lavatec osLaundry data-management information system.

An overhead monorail system was built to move the wash via eight Lavatec intermediate transfer conveyers that direct it in either direction for loading to the next-available dryer in a separate room. The final stage involves the unloading of dryers onto a Lavatec dryer-discharge conveyor system that transports the goods via the monorail to the finishing side of the plant.

In terms of future development, MDAHS General Manager Dave Haas said the facility was designed with a peak capacity of processing 78 million lbs. of linen annually while operating six days a week. That, combined with the COVID-19 pandemic that arrived 18 months ago, made it all the more imperative to incorporate the osLaundry information system to manage the equipment. The scalable software package provides real-time data that allows management to make critical decisions faster, thus helping the employees make any necessary adjustments that will improve linen productivity, the release said.

“Our volume had significantly decreased during the height of the pandemic, but it steadily increased and has just about returned to normal,” Haas said. “Our biggest challenge has been with finding qualified labor. As we continue to move forward toward a sense of normalcy, we anticipate the volume to increase. The osLaundry system is used primarily to help us monitor and manage our operation. Working with LAVATEC has been and continues to be a great partnership.”

To read the full release, click here.

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