Productivity- Key To Decision Making

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Created on Sunday, 02 June 2002 13:01

Written by Petra Lattmann

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, NJ served a full and useful life is often the result of weighing the maintenance and repair costs of keeping the older equipment in service against the benefits that can be gained by installing new equipment. At Morris View Nursing Home, a long term care nursing facility in Morris Township, N.J., one of the key determining factors is overall productivity.

In February, Morris View had two new Edro washers installed, replacing the 13-year-old 125-pound washer and 19-year-old 250 pound washer that had both simply worn out from age.

³I didn¹t need to increase capacity,² said laundry manager Leon Presciepa, ³But my two new washers are more efficient because I have less breakdowns.²

Presciepa, whose laundry career has spanned over 33 years, noted that he typically expects the normal life of a washer to range from 12 to 15 years. As a county-owned facility, the process to replace equipment at Morris View begins with a Request for Bid. A minimum of three bids is then compared for price considerations as well as features and potential space savings. ³The 125-pound Edro washer has a 20 percent smaller footprint than the equipment it replaced and the bigger unit provided an extra eight inches in the wash aisle,² observed Jerry Crawford, district sales representative at Vieldhouse Machinery Company, St. Peters, Pa., the winning bidder. In addition, the new Edro washers feature a single motor with variable-speed inverter drive controlled by a microprocessor for more flexibility in wash and extract speeds, as compared to the older models with multiple motor drive systems.

Another service that is put out for yearly Continued from page 1 bid is the laundry room equipment maintenance contract. This is an important consideration given that two million pounds per year are processed in the laundry for the 430-bed facility, which handles not only the anticipated list of nursing home items, but also residents¹ personal clothing.

Although Morris View supports an in-house maintenance staff, Presciepa explained that he wants quarterly routine maintenance and inspection on all laundry equipment to be handled by professionals that know what to look for in terms of service and upcoming repair needs.

The laundry room consists of two Washex 480-pound split pocket washersalong with the two new Edro washers. One 400-pound Norman dryer and a Huebsch 100-pound dryer handle the drying capacity along with the two new Cissell 125-pound dryers installed last year.

Because of space considerations in the small sorting room, sheets and pillowcases are laundered together. These linens are dried and ironed on a rebuilt American HyPro 6-roll (12 inch) chest ironer using a Lavatec three-station spreader-feeder and Lavatec two lane folder with stacker.

Twenty-seven full time employees run the laundry room a standard eight-hour day during the week and a skeleton crew oversees laundry needs on weekends. ³I am always looking for ways to improve efficiency in time, labor and productivity,² concluded Presciepa.