New Equipment Paying Off for CITY
CITY Laundering Co., Oelwein, IA, recently spent two four-day weekends completely replacing its washroom equipment, upgrading the company’s original dryers that it purchased in 1993 to two 15,000 lb. dryers and three new 10,000 lb. washers. To meet the company’s needs, CITY partnered with Pellerin Milnor Corp., Kenner, LA, to build the custom equipment, according to a news release.
“We have had significant growth in the past couple of years and we expect that trend to continue,” said Vice President and General Manager Colin Wetlaufer. “We knew we needed larger-capacity washers and you can’t install larger washers without having equally large dryers.”
Milnor worked alongside CITY’s Maintenance Engineer Jamie Randall to work out the specifics of each piece of equipment.
“Our washer/extractor is a 700-lb.-rated-capacity machine whereas CITY’s older washers were 500-lb.-rated-capacity machines,” Milnor Regional Sales Manager Brock Pellerin said. According to Pellerin, the new equipment will increase CITY’s processing capacity while lowering its carbon footprint by increasing the airflow, drying each load more effectively in less time, and using less energy overall.
“As our volume increases, we don’t just want to be able to process the garments, but we want our plant to be as efficient as possible,” Wetlaufer said.
The installation took place over a four-day weekend in November 2016 and one in December 2016, and the new system impacted the entire plant.
“Everyone at the plant had to alter their schedules to make this installation work,” Wetlaufer said. “Production had to come in at odd hours and our entire service department had to change their work week, but we have a great team and everyone knew what needed to be done.”
Overall, Wetlaufer said the installation on both projects went as well as possible. “We are already seeing the benefits,” Wetlaufer said. “The new equipment has already paid off based on a quality and speed standpoint. It was the right move, at the right time.”