Afonwen Laundry successfully automates workflows, processes, and procedures using eMaint CMMS software
Customer Since: 2017 | Industrial Laundry Service
Afonwen is one of the largest, high-volume laundry and linen providers in the UK. They serve nearly 300 hotels and more than 70,000 hotel rooms across England and Wales. In just one week, Afonwen processes more than 1 million linens while ten technicians keep 130+ assets in tip-top shape. Afonwen needed a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) that would help them:
BACKGROUND
Afonwen Laundry Service—part of the Johnson Service Group family of brands—is one of the largest linens and laundry suppliers in England. Founded in 1935, Afonwen has recently been expanding operations. In 2008, they opened a large laundry center in Cardiff, the capitol of Wales, to ensure uninterrupted supply of bed and bath linens.
Today, the Cardiff location processes more than 1 million linens a week. During the tourist season, Afonwen operates 24/7 to ensure their client hotels receive enough for their needs. Afonwen’s washers, conveyors, tumble dryers, feeders, steamers, and folding machines, among other equipment, needs to stay available and at peak condition.
THE CHALLENGE
Gavin Ward, engineering manager at Afonwen, wanted to improve operational efficiency at the Cardiff laundry center by automating workflows, processes, and procedures. Previously, the company used spreadsheets or pen and paper to manage maintenance operations. However, with more than £1 million invested in new machinery, Afonwen needed a better way to manage its assets.
IMPLEMENTATION
Afonwen chose to implement eMaint CMMS software for several purposes, the top reasons being eMaint’s:
eMaint CMMS software was deployed at the Cardiff plant and operations streamlined for efficiency. From there, Johnson Service Group expanded eMaint at other locations. So far, nine Johnson Service Group locations use eMaint CMMS software. By modeling expansion locations off the Cardiff plant, Afonwen was able to standardize PMs for each location when and where it makes sense.
RESULTS
One of Ward’s long-term goals—gaining more accurate measurements of machine performance—was finally achieved through the implementation of eMaint CMMS software. He was able to set hourly production rates for each asset and created a formula (downtime/pieces produced per hour) to get a more accurate total of asset downtime per day.
Ward was able to justify spending money to replace a poor performing feeding and folding machine using data from eMaint. He proved that the asset downtime and lost productivity warranted replacing the feeding and folding machine with a new one.
Furthermore, locations across the UK now regularly communicate and share their eMaint CMMS best practices—improving operational efficiency and visibility company-wide.
BENEFITS
“I have to justify maintenance costs every month to our leadership team. I set up KPIs and have a specific PM completion rate to meet. I can use eMaint to create a report showing our corporate office we’re meeting our goal. We are now operating the production facility more strategically and with enhanced reliability and lower downtime, meaning it’s a win-win for the business and its customer base.”
Gavin Ward, Engineering Manager