Digitalization represents a crucial and inevitable element for the textile care market in terms of work organization and production. Adopting automated workflow tracking systems, extending and customizing garments delivery services represent an added value for businesses. Integrating the functionalities of laundry machines and connecting them to the management systems allow to simplify any work activity in an efficient way. Industries and labs are constantly focused on the production time decrease so that more work can be done in less time. Simplifying and accelerating are definitely the two key words. Also, an automated control of a warehouse will inevitably mean monitoring it in real time and controlling the goods through tracking. The trend is clear to everyone. Our market’s future is digital laundry. And what can we say about the development of the many web platforms that are revolutionizing home delivery services? Today, it is possible to have our clothes cleaned and ironed 24h per day, seven days a week managing everything through a smartphone while staying comfortably at home. All this is possible without having to necessarily compete with traditional laundries as they could simply rather start making part of the network and offer their potential simplifying the life of both service providers and clients.
Let us consult Zucchetti Centro Sistemi, a company with its headquarters in Terranova Bracciolini (AR). The raison d’être of this business, their actual certificate of incorporation, is digitalization. Alessio Benevieri, the Software Engineer at Zucchetti Centro sistemi is illustrating the digital solutions that the business provides both as a support to Dry&Clean and to Industrial Laundry. “As far as Dry&Clean goes, we provide automatic batch handling systems for the post cleaning stage; we also supply laundry management App for tablets and smartphones as well as clients management systems and other services. As far as customers go, we supply an App that can be used to book garments delivery and guarantee a 24h service, 7 days per week. What is more, the service is guaranteed thanks to the automatic doors that customers can access by identifying themselves through NFC technology or a QR code. As far as Industrial Laundry is concerned, we provide tracking systems based on RFID technology. Inside the laundry: machines to optimize and automize the production according to daily requests (e.g. smart roller conveyors that recognize the tags on the conveyor and distinguish them from the other tags present in the room), antennas and tracking systems placed at the strategic points of the production such as the arrival of soiled linen, points of exit of clean linen and the entrance to tunnel washers.
For the outside of the laundry, we provide automated distribution systems for tagged garments both hanging (through conveyor belts) and folded (smart lockers or rotating distribution devices); we also distribute and track sterile medical kits for surgery areas and health care sector, e.g. sanitary clogs, etc.
As far as the delivery is concerned, we supply “smart truck kits” (a kit can be applied to any truck with a tail lift). They can send data on all the added or removed tags at the closure of the tail lift through the GPS coordinates.
Finally, as far as software goes, we supply new management software for industrial laundries. Since January 2020, its new version, SaaS (Software as a Service) has been available for clients who, by contract, choose to use it for a minimum period of time with a monthly fee payment (suitable for small and medium laundries and for the developing markets).
Matteo Bertacchi, the Sales Manager at ICT Group, a company based in Reggio Emilia, that supplies IT solutions to industrial laundries (and to many other sectors) 
underlines how the competitive advantage of a business is acquired through the concept of velocity: fast adjustment to market changes and innovations, fast reply to clients, fast data connection, fast placement of the right people at the right places, quick prediction of the future even when it is still uncertain what the future is going to be like. Mario Andretti, the famous F1 pilot, once said “if you have everything under control, it means that you are not going fast enough”. Yet, the speed without any direction nor control will transform into uncertainty and risk. So, on the one hand, we need velocity, but on the other hand we do need control in order to keep the balance between the two parameters. If a driver of a car has got a clear direction and a map in front of them, they will need to possess a car that supports their vision. ICT Group, a strong and consolidated presence on the IT market both in Italy and abroad, has chosen to develop and produce vertical ERP management programs, outlined according to the needs expressed by laundries. The different areas of a laundry are covered by various modules that adapt to the needs of each individual structure. The EGGS Laundry IT solution is a complete tool for food and hotel sectors. The platform manages all the laundry processes, from rental contracts to equipment, linen withdrawal and delivery, warehouse management, general accountancy and business intelligence. Another specific module of the EGGS Laundry for the hotel sector is the IT software solution called SIXLM Laundry Management System. It is a complete tracking solution in linen reprocessing and washing through RFID for flatwork linen and finished garments (uniforms, clothing, sheets). SIXSTER instead, is the software suite developed for laundries equipped with sterilization centers. It manages sterilization processes and traces surgical instruments in sterilization plants as well as re-usable technical fabrics and non-woven fabrics. The solution aims at supporting operators globally, from the collection of soiled material to the delivery of sterile material to the customer, ensuring the complete traceability of materials, processes and workflow at all stages. EGGS has been developed as modules in order to meet the operative requirements of industrial laundries, fully track the information and supply an accurate and overall control tool while keeping the production levels high”. Our team of consultants can provide all the activities relative to the parameterization and training as far as our software solutions go through a direct remote connection with personnel and clients, as well as the first and second level assistance both in case of hardware and software”, Bertacchi adds.
“Coral JIT40 – explains Paolo Cazzitti, the General Manager at Cogito S.r.l., an IT business based in Udine and specialised in process automation – is a software solution that allows to digitize all the processes at industrial laundries both in terms of management and production. As far as the back-office activities go, Coral JIT40 offers dedicated modules to manage the acquisition processes, sales, CRM, warehouse, accountancy and management control for which it provides figures and reports for budget and analysis costs. As far as the productive functions go, continues Cazzitti, Coral JIT40 shows its entire innovative potential. As a matter of fact, the system is integrated with machines and plants from which it receives and sends information on products tracking and the control of each work stage. Thanks to the specific interface installed to machines, Cazzitti underlines, JIT40 can organize the production starting from the real planning of linen delivery. It also manages linen washing and counting, and creates an order for each client while considering the equipment variations at the same time. It also manages garments re-integration and other operations. The articles to process are indicated to each ironing station operator together with the average production requested. Rejected items and priority orders are also indicated. What is more, the software manages garments tagging, warehouse movements and an automatic creation of delivery notifications. A mobile application assists drivers in charge of delivery and withdrawal. Another app can be dedicated to laundry customers to monitor and manage their workflow independently. From the technical point of view, Coral JIT40, an acronym of Just in Time 4.0, has been developed on the basis of Coral architecture and on the ERP open source Odoo; it turns out to be suitable for different production models such as warehouse processes, single orders, mixed systems both for hospitality and health care sectors”.
Finally, David Berardozzi, the CEO of Inforum, a French company that develops specialised software for the dry-cleaning market, illustrates a store locating concept, a “platform” dedicated to laundries and professional textile care businesses: www.drycleanerocator.com “a website listing all the actors of the profession from all around the world, an up-and coming website and a new showcase of the profession for the general public. The website goal? To gather dry-cleaners, launderers, suppliers and partners in one and only place. The first access level is totally free and it allows to register your establishment on the map and to get an individual web page to present a point of sale. The objective is to create a community that would join forces and highlight the profession value in the eyes of the general public. The website should be seen as the possible embryo of a future social network dedicated to the community. For example, the website allows to connect employees and employers during the high season, to highlight the methods used in textile treatment, to connect suppliers and shop owners and to create new services for the final customers offering a customer experience adapted to the new uses”, adds Berardozzi.
by Marzio Nava
DETERGO
MARCH 2020
