At the vanguard of technology, this laundry washes, dries and irons 1,000 kilos of linen per day. The commercial laundry service is ultra-modern! After obtaining the ISO 9001 certification ten years ago for quality management, the company today also achieved the ISO 26000 label. A strategic direction on which Electrolux Professional accompanied the establishment. To achieve it, ESAT Allaines/Albert needed to establish a safe environment for its employees and at the same time become environmentally friendly, an approach that required a complete redesign. “This strategy was going to drive our organization’s performance in achieving the right balance between economic efficiency, preservation of environment, territorial anchoring and social equity,” confirms Éric Dheilly, Director of ESAT.

“The project is to innovate and to make sense. More sustainable and social economies are the ones which encouraged us to make ecological choices. The board of directors did not hesitate to invest in innovative technologies, recycling and green energy,” notes the director. “On this specific point related to the environment, I want to recognize the quality of this project’s technical partners, in particular Electrolux” said Dheilly. The work environment is fully integrated, including the management of elements (wind and sunshine), but also the management of human and logistical flows. It was in July 2009 that the meeting between the site director and Electrolux’s commercial referent took place. This meeting was aimed at determining the area required for a laundry room of 1000 kg / day. The plan was presented on September 2009, as well as the choice of equipment. In January 2010, Electrolux met the team in charge of building to determine all the requirements for the set-up of the laundry. In February 2011, Electrolux carried out the execution plans and ensured the follow-up until materials were delivered and in September 2012, the training workshops were completed for the now operational laundry services.

The following Electrolux products have been installed in the laundry: Washer extractor barrier: 13Kg – Barrier washer extractor: 25Kg – Barrier washer extractor: 50 Kg – Pullman barrier washer-extractor: 70 Kg – Pullman barrier washer-extractor: 80 Kg – 2 Dryers 25Kg – 3 Dryers 50Kg – Dryer ironer diameter 60 / width 190 cm Rear output – 2 ironing tables.
“This facility benefits from specific washing equipment. All washer-extractors are equipped with dual-valves that separate the wash and rinse water in two different collectors, this for a first filter upstream of the waste water recycling system.” explains Patrick Rogé. In the drying zone, the tumble dryers have a residual moisture control system. “This allows the drying of all textiles, even the more delicate ones,” notes Dheilly.

“To operate, the laundry needs different water types: cold and hard, cold and softened, and warm. We made the choice to heat water through a biomass system. This approach required the creation of a biomass workshop where disabled workers feed wood to the boilers that heat the laundry’s water” explains Arnaud Dheilly, Technical Director. “ESAT has made the choice to invest in an ultrafiltration system to recycle 70% of the laundry water” adds Arnaud. Still in the interest of economy and sustainability, hot water isn’t heated at a temperature of 50 degrees anymore, this is now possible because of the use of effective low temperature detergents.

“To keep this sustainable way of operating, rain water is recovered 100%, and the water in the lavatories is heated by a solar balloon. Everything here has been studied for the comfort of the operators, from the flexibility of the soil to the colors of the walls, space allocated to tasks and air treatment. The whole thing converges for operators to evolve in good conditions and that the linen is handled in a spotless environment as expected by the standards.” “We have won the Life Quality at Work Trophy,” concludes the director.

This was the case for Ben King, an ex-product designer from Maidstone, Kent, who was determined to use his inheritance to start a new business. Ben began exploring possible options with his father-in-law Robert and came across Electrolux Professional’s lagoon® Advanced Care, recognizing immediately its investment potential.

Ben explains: “There are a lot of people who work in London but live in Maidstone because of the short commute. They’re professionals who don’t want to pay London prices for their garment cleaning, so we could see the business opportunity in meeting the needs of those commuters.”

After speaking to Electrolux Professional, both Ben and Robert felt comfortable with the equipment from the off. Taking the plunge, they invested in a full lagoon® Advanced Care system, including: a 15kg washer and dryer to handle the majority of garments, a 6kg washer and dryer to process a few small items without having to use the larger machine, and an ironing table to put the finishing touches on the process.

The machines were up and running two weeks before the shop was due to open, giving the team time to train. He continues: “It didn’t take long to figure out the equipment. The machines themselves were much more user-friendly than the competitors, and I liked the streamlined programming immediately. We began by practicing with our own garments, just in case anything were to go wrong. We cleaned whatever we could get our hands on, but even so we had no problems dealing with anything we came up against. Then, our first-ever customer brought in a 100% wool wedding jacket – there was quite a lot of tension as we put the garment on the finishing table, but it came out brilliantly”.

Ben says that understanding the different types of garments and materials out there is something he is still learning, but he remains confident in his investment. “It might sound biased, but wet-cleaning is far superior to dry cleaning. I listen to a lot of testimonials from people who use wet-cleaning, and it’s clear that you’re providing a much higher quality service, and your customers notice that. “Not only that, but you can actually do more with wet care. We’ve cleaned wedding dresses full of beading and other garments with acrylic feathers – garments that dry-cleaners just won’t touch – and all of them have turned out perfectly.”

“It’s been challenging, for sure. Most businesses that offer wet-cleaning have switched over from dry cleaning after 15-20 years in the industry. That said, where many of those people are still dry cleaning, we know we’re getting in on the ground floor of a fantastic new system. It means that, soon, we’ll be the experts – and we can always go to Electrolux with any questions we might have in the meantime.”

“If you’re already in the industry, I can’t see any reason not to switch to wet-cleaning. Not only is it better for the garments and better for the environment, but you can get your cost prices down immediately. And if you’re looking for a new business venture, it’s not a difficult industry to get started in if you have the ambition and the vision.”

Ms. Tatjana Modic, owner of the Eko Laguna shop in Lucija Portoroz, Slovenia, worked in the pharmaceutical environment for many years and felt she needed a change in her life. Chemistry was always her love and sewing was her hobby, so she thought of combining the two by taking care of “spots” on delicate materials with a lagoon^® shop.
“I am in love with stains and fabrics, these are my challenges and I love problem solving and my clients know it. Our results are coming from many efforts, quality comes before quantity, trust in technology where lagoon^® is something different, as a niche in a high-end profile. Technology and the mixture of detergents are the basics for our success”, comments Tatjana.

Still today, spots are a challenge, but by neutralizing the problem she can then rely on the quality performance of the lagoon^® solution, where her favorite part is the “finishing” equipment.
Having specialized in specific problem solving, she is now collecting the “difficult problems” from a distance of 100 km from her shop; wool garments, wedding gowns, evening dresses, silk, crystal applications and even silver fibers (no one else has dared to wash these). She feels the fabric, analyzes the spot and makes it disappear.
She has been very happy with the proposed solution and by our partner BE-GRE Maribor Slovenia, since she can still rely on them when a problem occurs. The training and sharing of experience is the thing that made her decide to open a second shop in Koper. This as well with lagoon^® which will enhance her vision in making a change.

Personal Laundry was opened in 1964 and from 2002 is run by Grant Giber, a person who is extremely passionate about his business. Offering dry cleaning and laundry services, Personal Laundry has established a need in the market to service Hotels and Restaurants with quality industrial laundering and now is proud to be one of the biggest laundromats in Africa.

Grant, together with his team, has created a professional, well-balanced, outcome focused laundry, with a personality and the understanding that ‘The Customer is King’. Presently supporting many three to five star hotels from their ideally located premises, Personal Laundry operates a twice per day collection and delivery service, 365 days per year, setting the bar very high.

In order to serve their customers better, the company’s focus is to move towards green & eco-friendly cleaning methods. “Globally, there is a trend to move away from perc and our company is moving towards environmentally eco-friendly cleaning processes where lagoon^® Advanced Care is the perfect solution”, comments Giber.

“Having all types of garments to process, we used to have a challenge with delicate fabrics. Now, with lagoon^® Advanced Care, we have a choice of alternative cleaning processes. Delicate garments have a gentler wash process, far gentler to garments, the feel is silky and upon completion, there is no smell as with perc or K4.  We have less risk when dealing with very delicate garments,” states Giber.

Silver Blue Laundry is a Lagoon Laundry outlet in Dubai that prides itself on providing “Premium Cloth Therapy” for all types of clothing. Born with the unique idea of “Caring about the Clothes”, they strive to adopt global standards in treating customers’ clothing and accessories.

A promise for an exceptional “Customer Experience” paired with added value services such as meticulous garment finishing, crisp folding options, delicate textile preservation and additional services for shoes & bags therapy.

Its team is comprised of highly professional people from the industry, from the pressman to the driver and front receptionist to the delivery man.

Faresta Brothers who are the minds behind the shop’s idea recall: “We were looking for a strong, reliable brand that would be able to support our plans of opening an ultimately different laundry concept shop and while going through various feedbacks of Electrolux’s existing customers on-line, we discovered Lagoon Advanced Care and the journey started.”

“The results are incomparable, the fresh feeling when getting your clothes cleaned with Lagoon Advanced Care which smells great. Our clients are very happy with the results and are recommending our services to their friends, family & colleagues, which is extremely important as we are a new company in the market. We go out of our way every day to make sure all the items are cleaned to perfection and Lagoon Advanced Care by Electrolux makes it possible.”

“We love the fact that we save water & energy with the Dosing System and the way we can select the program to treat all kinds of fabrics and achieve excellent results every time. The speed gives us an opportunity to offer 1h express services to our clients”, comments Imran Faresta.

Silver Blue Laundry is environmentally friendly and proudly promotes that no toxic chemicals are used during the washing processes.

DobiYo!, located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is a laundrette specialized in washing delicate garments. In January, 2016, Mr. JC Poon, founder of DobiYo!, opened his first shop and chose the Electrolux Professional lagoon^® Advanced Care solution. He is now the proud owner of the first lagoon^® Advanced Care solution in Asia.

“I heard about wet cleaning for the first time during my study in London in 2014”. After this, I decided it would be the perfect solution to promote my personal business in Malaysia”, commented Mr. Poon.

“We chose lagoon^® Advanced Care for our shop because it is free from PERC (Perchloroethylene), the most commonly used dry-cleaning solvent, typically toxic for humans as well as dangerous for the environment. With lagoon^® Advanced Care, now we only use water, and thanks to the water we can really do anything. You just need to select the customized program, specifically designed for delicate garment care and then you are just one button away from cleaning… in 55 minutes!”

“We have no need to use solvents anymore. Now, we only do wet cleaning instead of dry cleaning. It is safer for us and it is safe for the environment”, concludes Mr. Poon.