On September 6th 2017, the islands of St Martin, Saba and St Eustatius were hit hard by Hurricane Irma. Hotels, houses, supermarkets… you name it. All gone. In St Martin, like much property on the island, US Laundry’s site was also wiped out.
This forced the laundry to start all over. The determination and resilience of the team is truly admirable. The company continued to clean in a temporary site while the new plant was under construction. Finally, years after the disaster, the facility is finished, and the installation of the new equipment has started. And we’re very proud of the fact that Vartex is involved in supplying new equipment and software from the start.
The first phase of the installation has been finished. We’ve unloaded a part of the equipment and started installing them. US Laundry opted for several new machines and dosing system with controls by Vartex; the laundry will be supported by innovative Vartex software. This makes US Laundry the smartest laundry in the Caribbean.
Smart Washers and Dryers
The heavy-duty Unica washer extractors are delivered with Vartex Smart Control for Washers, our universal control. Vartex is proud to have partnered up with Unica to coordinate our software for these heavy-duty machines.
The Image dryers are fitted with Smart Control for Dryers. We’re swapping the standard controls with Smart Control for a more effective, efficient and environmentally friendly cleaning process. Here are the findings of a Schneider Electric case study at Elis:
• Vartex customers generate an average of 30% more volume, without increasing costs.
• The output of Vartex’ customers increases by 20% on average.
• The collection and analysis of data is done automatically, saving companies costs and preventing information from being lost.
• Significant time and cost savings by reorganizing washing processes.
• Selecting wash programs is less time consuming and prone to errors. Operators select the right washing programs for each batch on a clear display.
• Schneider Electric parts are universal, quickly and locally available. Companies are not dependent on one party for maintenance and service of machines.
Safer and Greener Filling of Storage Tanks & Dosing of Washer Extractors
US Laundry chose for Smart Filling to transfer detergents from IBC tanks to their storage tanks. Smart Filling features a safe 4 step QR scan process.
And the dosing of washer extractors happens with Smart Dosing. Vartex Smart Dosing installation is an all-in-one central dosing system for automatic dosing of liquid chemicals to washer extractors. The powerful PLC makes it possible to dose up to 12 chemicals and up to 15 washing machines. With Smart Dosing’s user-friendly OS, dosing detergents becomes easier and greener.
With Smart Dosing and Smart Filling, data is stored in the cloud so users can track their detergent use in the Laundry Intelligence Dashboard. You can determine the level at which new detergents are ordered. The system notifies your chemical supplier and a new order is placed automatically. This way, the chance of running out of detergents is decreased. That’s smart.
Insights in Cleaning Process: Where all data come together
All the above mentioned products are connected to the Laundry Intelligence dashboard. The performance and activity from the washers, dryers, dosing system are all displayed in this platform. In the case of Smart Dosing, the system knows when you’re running low on detergents, and it can notify the supplier for a new order.
In Laundry Intelligence, users can:
- Check the status of washing/drying programs from a distance in real time. This helps you to spot machine failure quickly.
- Receive notifications for alarms, time exceeding, temperature exceeding, and more.
- Order parts directly without leaving the platform.
- Access spare parts-books, user manuals and videos on the platform.
- Set reminders for maintenance.
- Solve maintenance.
- Calculate the cost of one single batch.
- Generate data reports over a certain period, per machine, time or program.
In addition to the desktop version of Laundry Intelligence the data and key features are available in the Vartex App.
Cleaning Green
The future of St Martin’s new laundry is green. The vision behind the new facility revolves around cleaning environmentally friendly. Our clients make green cleaning a practical reality by implementing the right software to align their resources with the load they clean. The aim is to limit the spoil of natural resources.
We continue to update you on how the smartest laundry in the Caribbean is being built. Stay up to date by following our page on LinkedIn (or click the logo below).
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