Saving surface area by using a garments distribution solution

Garments are used particularly often in the care sector. An organisation that has 400 garments users requires approximately 5,000 garments. Take a moment visualise the enormous amount of clothes that is… Of this total, around 1/3 is in possession of the user and 15% is at the laundry service or in transit. The remaining majority of garments is stored, ready to be distributed to users. This means we are talking about almost 3,000 garments.

Garments reduction

A smart automated system can save a significant amount of garments. Taking the example from before, using one of our systems in an organisation with 400 users would reduce the garments stock to 2,400. Still a big pile of laundry but thanks to efficient control, we can work with a storage capacity of 40%. In this calculation, it means the necessary storage capacity is approximately 1,000 garments.

When stored in a Chiptex-Sizer, this will take up around 6.5 square metres of surface area. When stored in a Chiptex-Liner, this will take up around 20 square metres. You can immediately see the gains in terms of space efficiency. Systems that distribute folded garments are inherently more space efficient than systems that store garments by hanging them on a hanger. Folded garments also take up significantly less space in transport from the external laundry service to your facility, which means around 150-200 garments can fit in a container, whereas hanging garments struggle to reach 80 garments per container.

Save on handling

The biggest benefit of distributing hanging garments is the fact that is requires less handling. As your organisation uses an increasing amount of garments, this benefit grows larger by the week. Based on the previously-mentioned 400 users, we calculate that a healthcare institution uses around 160 garments a day. This adds up to almost 1,000 garments per week. With respect to saving on handling, the handling time for distributing garments by means of an automated distribution system for hanging garments is approximately 2-2.5 hours per week. Without the use of an automated system, the handling time of folded garments distribution is approximately 8-10 hours per week. We leave the calculation of the labour costs you could save with an automated system up to you. The difference in handling is rooted in time efficiency gains with respect to sorting, folding, placing in wardrobe etc. In most cases, garments are hung out to dry. They are hung up directly from the dryer into the container without being sorted. In case of the Chiptex-Liner, the garments are hung directly on the loading rail and the system takes care of the rest.

Some laundry services have built their entire system around folded garments, while others have focused on hanging garments or a combination of both. Even though a distribution system for folded garments saves space, a lean process is also appealing and more beneficial on the long term. Our systems that facilitate the distribution of hanging garments are perfectly flexible to adjust to the space available. Since the system can be fitted with 180, 90 or 45 degree turns, there is always a way to make it fit.

Do you want more information about this specific issue or other reasons to get started with one of our systems…? Please contact us to make an appointment for a non-binding dialogue.