In many production sectors, and in the textile care sector as well, the digitalization is logically combined with the 4.0 Industry, especially with the most advanced version of it, the 4.0 Transition. But let’s start with the production needs and requirements. Digitizing means simplifying and saving money by using technology with different solutions according to your needs. Complex or simple business organizations are looking for a greater agility, speed and efficiency and the necessary flexibility to allow the customers to interact remotely, and the employees to work remotely.
If we are thinking to the last two years of healthcare crisis, thanks to the digitalization, the small or the large productive activities, more or less affected, have fought back and remained standing. Even if, often in impossible conditions. One of the production processes digitalization goals is to optimize the time to market, in other words, to complete an excellent quality production, with increasingly tight deadlines. The significant change that we are experiencing is concerning an extreme flexibility in terms of production, with the need to keep low costs and a high quality.
Especially for the small and medium-sized companies, the digital transformation forcasted by the fourth industrial revolution can represent an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed, to regain a substantial market share and affirm themselves, differentiating themselves from their competitors. Among the great advantages of the 4.0 Industry, we can find a great attention dedicated to the waste reduction and discards, maximizing the use of the raw materials, and lowering the energy consumption throughout the production cycle.
It is clear that the great automation frontier will probably be the achievement of the artificial intelligence for our industry, as well. But which will be the topics, the ways and the stages to achieve such an important goal? Let’s start a road map among our textile care manufacturers to understand in which direction are we going and what is waiting for us in terms of “digitalization” for 2022.
For Renzacci SpA, a professional washing machines manufacturing company, located in Città di Castello, Umbria, we are talking to Marco Niccolini, the General Sales and Mkt Director, who is underlining that “Renzacci’s conception regarding digitalization has two dimensions that we could divide into a horizontal and a vertical dimension. On all our range of dry cleaning and water washing machines, we are offering a digitalization that satisfies both the market demand from the legal point of view related to the 4.0 transition incentives, and a need that is linked more exquisitely to the companys’ management, as well.
The systems that we provide are the My Brain system for the drycleaning, and the Intellectus system for the water washing and tumble dryers. What do we mean by horizontal dimension? We are referring to the business machine functioning, considering our washing machine as an efficient element and a communicating part of a system. The vertical dimension is very important, because it is concerning the cultural growth of those running the business. Our machines provide a lot of incoming and outgoing useful information.
That’s why, as Renzacci, we organize ad hoc training cycles for our customers. Because the focal point is the use of information of the business managers. If used appropriately, this information allows the laundry managers to constantly monitor the costs and the income of their business. How much does it cost to treat a garment? Which are the operating revenues related to the business volume? In this way, it is possible to promote commercial and marketing campaigns tailored to the performance of each business,” concludes Niccolini.
The digitalization of a laundry is a transformation process that consists in implementing digital tools and technologies that can make workflows more efficient and that are reducing the labour costs, while improving the quality of service offered to the end user. “PONY has been working in this direction for years,” says Paolo Fumagalli, the President of Pony SpA, a company manufacturing professional ironing machines. PONY’s solutions are designed to reduce the production times and to make available a valuable selection of data to the operator, with the utmost simplicity, thanks to an easily accessible internal communication for a more satisfying and personalized Customer Experience.
All the machines designed with PLC can be easily connected directly to the laundry management software; a very useful system for creating an automated communication, both internally but also for the final customer, about the status of the production progress, or when the garment is ready ironed etc. … PONY TOUCH TECHNOLOGY allows the total control of the machine also by remote through our EASY ACCESS 2.0 app. This feature allows the access to the tax benefits allowed by the 4.0 INDUSTRY regulations.
The PONY customer, thanks to the free subscription to the PONY CLOUD platform, a real instrument of connection between the machine and the entrepreneur, receives a continuous and accurate report about everything that happens to the machine: any alarms that might have occurred during the operation, the production performed and the approaching execution of the scheduled maintenance.
The PONY TOUCH TECHNOLOGY offers:
• instant remote control of the machine operation and productivity, anytime and anywhere in the world;
• intuitive interface that facilitates the use of the machines, available in 6 different languages;
• large 4.3″ or 7″ touch screen for an easy and clear visualisation;
• simple and immediate diagnostics, also by remote, to facilitate the identification of the causes of any eventual malfunctions. It is also available a special Autotest program that identifies and shows the picture and the exact position of any possible defective part;
• remote software updates, that allows the continuous updating of the machine with the latest improvements MADE IN PONY.
In conclusion, states Fumagalli, we stay at your disposal to provide the necessary advice and support for the most advantageous choice according to the different needs”.
We meet Mirco Mongillo, the Sales Manager of Firbimatic, who tells us, “the economic crisis resulting from the COVID 19 epidemic requires a radical change in our business models adopted so far by most of the Italian companies. In order to face the new economic scenarios and to ensure the laundry business survival, it is necessary to start immediately to virtualize the company through the dematerialization and digitalization of the business processes, the strengthening of its infrastructure and the training of the human resources.
For being able to continue on our business path, it is therefore necessary to proceed with a new approach, in a managerial style, which takes the form of restructuring and reorganizing the production processes by converting them, where possible, into digital ones in order to simplify our work. Firbimatic, is proposing new achievements, of proficiency in the field of digitalization, dedicated to simplify the productive work in the laundry with innovative high-quality management systems, exciting and reliable.
In the path of innovation, it is necessary to be guided by a company like Firbimatic, with decades of experience in the field of the improvement and the implementation of new projects, with competence and seriousness. It is necessary to look and get informed about our production and find all those qualities capable to meet the needs dictated by the new industrial revolution”.
For the company G.L. Srl, of Bologna, that is providing management software moreover for the laundry shops, but also for the laboratories and for the industrial laundries, we interviewed Dario Leggieri, the Sales Director of the Bolognese company, who explains how, “many laundry owners are reluctant to abandon the typical tools (pen and paper). Even in the big cities, it is not difficult to find companies that are still identifying the garments that are going to be treated, with strips of paper on which they write the customer’s name with a ball-point pen, placing the garments on stands.
An outdated system that, in the era of a high digital innovation, creates, in the eyes of the customer, an image of inefficiency and makes the production-related activities extremely difficult and complex. The current technological progress speed allows us, as a company, to offer absolutely innovative and customer-friendly management software with a fair price/quality ratio.
Our management systems are able to communicate with the Interchange System (SdI) of the Italian Revenue Agency, offering an automated and efficient solution to comply with the electronic invoicing requirements, simplifying and speeding up the relationship with customers and suppliers by ensuring the integrity and authenticity of the invoices that are forwarded automatically to the SdI and safely stored by eliminating the paper archives. The management system is also able to release electronic receipts in compliance with the current legal regulations.
The system produced and marketed by G.L. Srl is proposed as the best answer to the complex needs related to the management of the laundries by intervening in the following phases of the production process:
• garments pick-up for washing and ironing;
• garments marking and identification for each customer;
• automated garments reassembly according to the customer’s order;
• automated setup of the mobile warehouse (conveyor belt);
• automated garments delivery back to the customer.
Thanks to a dedicated App that can be downloaded from Google Play or Apple Store, it is possible to interact with your customer who will be informed regarding the processing status of his garments in real time without any intervention from the laundry operator. A new laundry concept that gives the possibility to be on line with the customer, that can get connected anytime and have all the information related to his clothes.
Another important benefit regarding the integration of the informatic technology is a practical and precise control of the management and of the various operational phases for a careful examination of the economical and, therefore, financial parameters, a relevant aspect for the costs optimization according to the quality of the offered services “.
As for regarding Grandimpinati – Ali Group, a company specialized in the professional treatment of the fabrics, based in Sospirolo near Belluno, we are speaking with Gabriele Giotto, Sales and Product Manager. “Talking about digitalization, we have to pay attention on one hand, to the usability, that is the simplicity of using a machine. Usability is a concept that is translated into the easiness of using the machine. The other essential element is the process traceability.
Nowadays we are able to digitalize the entire process in the laundry, from the smallest to the largest one. Everything is constantly monitored and registered. We are talking about a tracking of the internal processes but also of what happens outside the laundry perimeter, through codes, smart cards, everything is under control. The laundry operator knows who did, and what it did. We have all the information under control, from washing to drying,” adds Giotto. Still continuing with Grandimpianti, we spoke also with Giuseppem Ferrera, the Sales Manager for Italy, who is speaking detailed about the company’s available technology.
“Wavy is the new user interface, interactive and with touch screen, which provides information for programming and monitoring our machines in a simple way. Wavy is a control system adapted to the type of user and has simple and intuitive procedures. Better said, everything is under control, from the system productivity and a better quality of washing, to the guarantee of having a certain temperature for a specific washing method. There are also the maintenance costs savings, due to the constant remote control of the machine, that allows to solve the problems immediately, eliminating the business suspensions and some unnecessary expenses.
Wavy is combined with TheMind.cloud, another platform of Grandimpianti, that makes possible to monitor the operation and the performance of one or more machines and facilities (laundries, self-service, apartment buildings, hospitals, etc.), for programming the equipment and for better organizing the workflows. The system allows an easier management of the administrative aspect of the activity (executed cycles, consumption, standby, receipts, etc.) by setting remotely also the accounting values (cost of the cycle, water consumption, detergents, etc.), with a significant time saving and a reduction of the full-time staff required for monitoring, concludes Ferrera.
The Techram Srl company, with the operational headquarters based in Scorzé, near Venice, is an innovative start-up that develops technical and digital projects, accessible to both traditional and industrial laundries. We are talking about it with Luca Caramaschi, the Administrator of the Veneto-based company. “We have many projects in the pipeline, we are launching now on the market two digital apps dedicated to the artisan laundries and not only, that can be used by the consumers, as they can be downloaded on any smart phone or tablet with IOS or Android system directly on Apple store and Google play.
In a global scenario in which the consumers are more willing to have products and services of all kinds delivered directly to their homes using the digital systems, it is legitimate to believe that this trend is present even in the laundry world, and therefore, the laundries must be equipped with the suitable tools to meet this growing trend. The first APP that can be customized for each individual laundry and that allows the laundry to present its activities and services to the consumers, giving them the possibility to place orders for their garments cleaning and to book the pick-up and the delivery directly to their homes.
The second application, called the “Cleanshop platform”, is a store locator that allows the app users to check which laundries that are registered in the system can carry out the home pickup and delivery service, and also to know the characteristics of each one, for deciding to which laundry can entrust the garment cleaning service. These systems for the laundries have remarkable and evident advantages; in fact, in addition to give to the laundries members a modern and innovative image, they are real tools to enhance the quality of the offered service and to manage efficiently their business, with the goal of attracting new customers with renewed needs compared to the past.
Both apps provide also the possibility to manage the online products sale, through an e-commerce system with products from the detergents sector, coordinated with the garments cleaning services. Always with a perspective on innovation and digitalization, the Techram company, adds Cremaschi, has developed some innovative detergent dosing systems for the washing equipment used in the laundries; the dosing systems are operating with the Venturi system, requiring limited maintenance and low components consumption. They operate in Cloud, allowing the installer to modify the washing programs, or the individual configurated parameters inserted to improve the washing performance – “by remote”, also providing significant data regarding the consumption and the washing cycles efficiency”. •
By Marzio Nava
Detergo Magazine – Number 1, January 2022
