November 2012 LCT 15
Out & About
14 LCT November 2012
Out & About
Synergy Health (UK) Ltd,Laundry, on the WoodsideIndustrial Estate in
Dunstable, Bedfordshire, is thelargest of the three laundryplants operated by SynergyHealth (UK) Ltd. in England.These plants produce inexcess of 1.8 million pieces ofclean, finished and packedlinen for the hospital andgeneral healthcare market inEngland. From the high-careunit based in the Sheffieldplant, some 50 thousandpieces of sterile theatregowns, and drapes, for theoperating theatre contractsserviced by Synergy Health(UK) Ltd operations, are inweekly production.
Production figures are, at best,raw statistics and they are onlypart of the Synergy Healthlaundry story, behind them lies atruly remarkable developmentstory – a story of rapid growth,which has more usually been seenin recent business history in theelectronics sector of business.The astonishing fact in theSynergy Health history is that it isjust over twenty years since DrRichard Steeves founded thebusiness in Corby, North-amptonshire. More surprising stillis the fact that this enterprise wasnot founded as a dedicatedlaundry, servicing the textilehygiene requirements ofhealthcare clients. Synergy wascreated to be a specialist providerof sterile surgical packs as well asdrapes and gowns, to meet theneeds of the growing problems ofHIV infection in UK hospitals.
The seeds of the future growthof Synergy into a global companytrading in fifteen countries, acrossfour continents, selling outsourcedsterilisation services, with annual
total group revenues of more than£312 million, can be traced backto the formation of that single,highly specialised, supplybusiness. Synergy Health today isfocused on expanding its presencein specialist sterilisation servicesto the healthcare world market. Itsearly strong growth in laundryservices continues as an efficient,profitable and quality consciouspart of the whole Synergy Healthgroup with operations in Englandand, through the acquisition of theLIPS Textile Services businessbased in Holland in 2004,providing high quality linens andsterile, surgical textiles to theEnglish and European healthcaremarket.
With more than 1.8 millionpieces of linen processed everyweek in England, Synergy is not asmall laundry business by anyobjective standard and the factthat the first laundry acquired bythe company was as recently as1996, illustrates the growthachieved in 16 years. That firstlaundry processing plant was inAscot Road, Derby, which at thattime was processing 50,000textile pieces per week as aformer NHS Trust facility.
The Healthtex laundries inBristol and Sheffield, previouslyowned by Wim Gizeman, aDutch, laundry businessentrepreneur, were acquired in2000 and the Synergy laundryenterprise really began to make itsmark in outsourced NHS laundryservice and supply from that date.Rapid growth in the provision ofoutsourced linen and sterileservices to the NHS and privatehospitals followed and in 2001Synergy Health was listed on theAIM market of the London StockExchange.
The Healthtex acquisition
increased the laundry division’ssize in revenues and volumesprocessed and in 2004 thedecision was made to commissiona specialist laundry on a suitablenew site. In 2004 also, Synergyacquired the laundry servicebusiness of LIPS Textile Servicesin Holland. This decision resultedin Synergy Group controlling aservice business which processedmore than 40 per cent of theDutch Healthcare and hospitallaundry market linen includingprocessing of uniforms for a largesupermarket group.
The new laundry for Englishexpansion was opened in 2005, inDunstable, a development thatonce again more than doubled thepotential production capacity ofthe Synergy English LaundryDivision. Growth continued apaceafter the Dunstable plant opening,only for disaster to strike inFebruary 2007 when a major firedestroyed the entire ‘clean’ side ofthe plant.
The majority of the ‘clean’side equipment fromKannegiesser and all of thesupport services, had beeninstalled less than 16 months priorto the fire and all had to be writtenoff or considered fit only for totalre-furbishment at theKannegiesser factory in Germany.The fire – the precise cause ofwhich was never established –created a monumental challengeto all the suppliers of ‘clean’ sideequipment and services and theplant was not returned to fullproduction until the beginning of2008, with the completion of theinstallation of all necessarylaundry machinery equipment – aswell as a comprehensive new firecontrol, sprinkler system.
The management of theSynergy Laundry Division faced
an even bigger challenge becauseof the fire. Normally in most well-managed laundries, there is adisaster management plan thatseeks to minimise the risks whensuch disasters occur – possibly byrenting extra production capacityin a supportive local laundry. TheSynergy disaster plan wasimplemented by transferring alllaundry processing fromDunstable to the Derby, Bristoland Sheffield plants and by‘bussing’ the entire Dunstablestaff to Derby over 120 miles tothe north. Here in the Derby,Bristol and Sheffield plants, theentire processing volume fromDunstable was produced byestablishing a shift system whichoperated virtually 24/7. Thismanagement action effectivelyachieved a ‘normal’ full servicedelivery of the Dunstablecustomers’ work within a matterof a few days, with no interruptedcustomer service. As the SynergyLaundry Division, managingdirector, Derek Isles says: “Theywere interesting times for us all.”
With such an eventful startovershadowing the operation ofthe Dunstable plant, none of thepast drama is evident for the‘first-time’ visitor, anywhere inthis immensely impressivelaundry plant. As the photographsin this review piece show, this is alaundry going about its dailybusiness with quiet calmefficiency. In fact this is one of themost efficient plants that Laundry& Cleaning Today has had thegood fortune to visit. Only theZischka plant at Simmern inGermany bears comparison foreffect and this only, in myopinion, because the Zischkaplant has installed equipment fordelivering a higher volume ofwork each week than the
Dunstable plant was designed toproduce.
The Dunstable Plant occupies60,000 square feet of flat, groundfloor space with level access fortruck loading and unloading.From the start of my ‘tour’, thesoiled goods receiving hall,immediately showed theorganisational effect of soundmanagement. The arriving trolleyloads were organised efficientlyfor soiled goods transfer from in-bound truck to the Supertrackmonorail system for onwardstransfer to one or other of the twoKannegiesser PowerTrans, 16stage, 75kg capacity, continuoustunnel washers (CTWs). TheseCTWs are installed to conform tofull ‘barrier wall’ configurationprotocols whereby soiled goodsare loaded from the monorail,directly into the receiving hopperof the CTWs. The washed load isdelivered through the barrier wallfrom the final stage of the CTW,to the Kannegiesser 40bar turbopresses and from the presses toone of the 10 Kannegiesser,PowerDry, 85kg dryers, installedin two banks of five dryers,installed on the overhead serviceplatform.
The Kannegiesser PowerDrydryers unload via an unloadingconveyor into a Supertrack cleanmonorail transportation whichtransports the loads to the relevantdrop position be it the relevantironer line, full dry folding area orgarment loading position. Thesheets are dropped into a separatorand transported along byconveyor, where the operators cliptwo corners of the dried item intothe Kannegiesser Ergomatautomatic storage system. Thestorage rail is able to feed theKannegiesser EMA feedingmachine in a continuous operation
processing up to 1400 hospitalsheets per hour in two laneoperation.
Conveyors of the appropriatetype then transport the finished,folded and inspected linen to themain storage area ready forselection for delivery into trolleys,packed according to deliverydestination. Each loaded trolley iscompletely wrapped in custom-fitted poly-wrap trolley-guardsready for loading for finalcustomer delivery, in the despatcharea.
The sequence described abovecaters for soiled linen;contaminated linen is separatedfrom the soiled linen in the in-bound arrival hall and thendelivered to the threeKannegiesser Favorit barrierwasher-extractors of 60kg with athird machine of 80kg capacityfor thermal and chemicaldisinfection washing. Chemicaldisinfection of the contaminatedlinen loads is achieved by usingSanoxy Max chemicals deliveredin controlled doses by Christeyns’auto pumps as well as thermaldisinfection of three minutes at 71deg C. The disinfection is closelymonitored by Synergy qualityassurance department forchemical wash results and withmicrobiological analyses.
The wash quality results arereported to Synergy QAmanagement, as appropriate, on aweekly/monthly, basis by fullydetailed wash quality performancereports to the management ofSynergy Health at plant andcorporate level.
Reports include results of thedipslide testing of a randomlyselected number of textile items,which have been processed in thetwo CTWs, as well as from thequality of the input water supply
from the mains, the rinse andpress water, the surface conditionof the conveyors after the pressstage, and eight articles offinished linen. Two of the eighttextile articles selected must beselected at the input testing stageat the start of the process. In thetotal control test, one each fromthe complete array of laundereditems must be tested. These eightsingle items are a sheet,pillowcase, duvet cover, blanket,towel, patient’s gown, scrub suitand pyjamas.
In addition, Synergy QAdepartment monitors the bacterialcontrol of laundered items foreach CTW and barrier washer-extractor and performs bi-annual,garment destructive, laboratorytests and detection control for thefollowing bacterial infections:presumptive coliforms,staphylococcus aureus,pseudomonas spp, yeast moulds,TACC, listeria, salmonella andbacillus cereus.
Testing to these levels isindicative of the concentrationwithin Synergy Health on theabsolute requirement to providethe most hygienically clean linenand surgical textiles possible, totheir clients in the widerhealthcare service businesses ofEngland. An exactly similarbusiness approach to that taken inall Synergy Health divisions,when delivering the sterilisationand disinfection of healthcaretextiles, instruments and sterilesurgical packs.
Hospital staff uniforms andworkwear items such as scrub-suits are transported, afterwashing through a KannegiesserSMT-2, gas-fired tunnel finisher,at the rate of 1800 items per hour.They then pass sequentiallythrough Kannegiesser garment
folders model FAX 900 -automatic and are then transferredto the appropriate storage area toawait onward transport to theclient hospital.
As can be seen from theforegoing comments SynergyHealth Laundry at Dunstable isan efficient business operating toexacting standards in alldepartments. As befits the entirebusiness ethos of Synergy Healthplc, this is also a fine exemplar ofthe special art of ‘outsourcing’ asa viable business model for itsown operations. For SynergyHealth Laundry division isdedicated, as far as possible, topurchasing the required operatingefficiencies, service excellenceand overall plant economies bybuying-in and managing-out, asmany routine business functionsas possible. The FAX automaticfolder is able to sort the scrubsuits into five different sizeswhich helps the sorting anddespatch arrangements.
I have mentioned theoutsourcing efforts and effects ofChristeyns on the chemistry andits competence at the Dunstableplant; we should now see whatother outsourcing servicesSynergy Health relies on. Theentirety of the plant’s productionis transported, in and out, by 25,articulated and rigid-bodied, 12,18 and 36 tonne trucks, rentedfrom Ryder Truck Rentals anddriven by Synergy in-housetransport staff.
Covering the country fromthree widely dispersed processinglocations, while servicing hospitalclients from Truro to the farNorth of England, by its verynature forces serious cost issueson the business. By renting itsliveried truck fleet from Ryder,and still retaining ‘ownership
costs’ of the driving staff, thepolicy gives Synergy a cost-justified, rental solution that freesup considerable working capitalfor its own needs.
A further outsourced servicehas been provided by ABS, thelaundry management softwareand systems supplier. All stockreporting and purchasingrequirements are produced by theABS absolute system thatprovides detailed information toassist internal plant managementas well as external customersupport staff. Thus delivering theessential business data, whichgives a detailed andcomprehensive overview of stockissues, deliveries to ward andforward requirement statistics,that affect the day-to-day runningof the business.
In the linen managementsystem (LMS) developed bySynergy, as a superior linen stockand delivery control system, theessential control of movementdata of stocks at ward anddepartment level, in thosehospitals contracted to use theLMS system, is a resourceprovided by the output of theABS software. In effect anoutsourced service supply thatalleviates pressure on the SynergyHealth IT department leaving it tofocus its energies elsewhere. Infact a hidden outsourcing benefitremoving significant internaloverhead costs.
All of which brings theSynergy Dunstable story to theultimate expression of Synergymanagement philosophy, - thecomplete outsourcing of laundrymachinery engineering servicesand their on-site management andexternal support. All washing,drying, monorail transporting,conveying, feeding, folding,
ironing, stacking and storingmachinery at Dunstable, as wellas in Derby and Sheffield, isstaffed and managed, at site, bythe Kannegiesser UK, servicedepartment. This supplier-managed service relationship hasbeen in continuous operationsince beginning in Ascot Drive in1997.
This is the only such laundryplant and indeed Synergy Healthis the only laundry group in theUK, where this level ofoutsourced service supply, is ineffect and only Kannegiesser hasbeen trusted to deliver andmanage such a responsibility formanaging the performance oflaundry machinery in England.The results were probably bestseen in the aftermath of the majorfire at the Dunstable plant when ahuge amount of removal and re-supply of very many machinesboth large, small and all to someextent inter-connected, had tohappen as fast as possible.
The effects on the performanceof the machinery installed atDerby and Sheffield caused by thehuge production increasesenforced upon these distant,smaller plants by the transfer ofproduction almost overnight fromDunstable after the fire, reinforcedthe Kannegiesser capabilities inservice provision to SynergyHealth. It seems to me after myplant visit that that level ofperformance and the ability ofSynergy staff and Kannegiesser todeliver the result together was aneffective working partnershipoperation which is visible today.
Ian Smithson, KannegiesserUK, service manager is in directcontrol of the day-to-day serviceand engineering support toSynergy Health, while at the sametime supervising the Kannegiesser
service operation across the UKfrom Banbury. Combinations ofresponsibilities that Smithsonacknowledges ‘lend certainchallenges to my everydayworking pressures’. Smithson isdelivering engineering supportservices to Synergy Healththrough four site engineers basedin the Sheffield plant, fiveengineers and one engineeringapprentice in Derby, and throughnine engineers and one apprenticein Dunstable.
In operational terms,Kannegiesser engineering supportis available on site at Synergyplants as follows: cover isprovided on-site from Sundayevening at 20.00 until Friday at22.00. Saturday and Sunday areallocated for scheduled, planned,preventative maintenance work –PPM. Full reporting ofmaintenance carried out, as wellas recommendations for machineperformance improvement, aresupplied to both Synergy plantmanagement as well as toKannegiesser in Banbury.
Overall, the Synergy HealthLaundry operations in the UK, inmy view present a template ofhow an outsourcing, servicesupport operation, should bedelivered to any high quality, highvolume laundry. Without doubt,this level of support demandsacceptance of significantcontingent costs. But SynergyHealth is a business which itself,provides high quality service atvery high performance levels, to aquality driven, customer base andthat same Synergy businessmodel understands the importanceof high quality and quick responsefor its own delivery of its ownservices.
In its healthcare laundryoperations in England, and
Holland, Derek Isles and all hiscolleagues in other parts ofSynergy Health have overseen thedevelopment of a high quality,textile laundering servicebusiness. The Synergy Healthbusiness demands the veryhighest levels of inputperformance from all itssuppliers. From its own corporatephilosophy, Synergy Health setsout to meet and exceed its owncustomers’ expectations whereverthey are.
From my instructive visit toDunstable and from myconversation with Derek Isles,MD, there is no doubt in my mindthat this laundry business sets abenchmark for consistentperformance, which others woulddo well to even attempt toemulate in their own customerofferings. The processing qualityand the calm efficiency withwhich I observed the staffperforming their allotted tasks,gave an over-riding impression ofdedicated commitment to the taskin hand at Synergy HealthLaundry in Dunstable.
To deliver very highperformance in operational andservice support, it seems to methat Kannegiesser and their manycolleagues in the supply chain ofequipment and systems whichcome together to assist Synergyin its daily processing tasks, aregood examples of all that is bestin an outsourcing success story.This is a very effective laundry,operating to the higheststandards, making good use ofexcellent machinery, systems,chemicals and trucks. In addition,in the end demonstrating, thatcomprehensive outsourcing toother professional suppliers is amodel for business efficiency andcontinuous growth in revenues.
SYNERGY HEALTH – MORE THAN JUST A LAUNDRY SERVICE Irving Scottreports
Goods inwards from the unloading dock - trolleys ofmixed work await transfer up the elevator to the sortingdeck and then to the Supertrack monorail system
Engineering strength in depth: apprentice engineer KylePearson with his mentor for the day, engineer SteveMarley, at work servicing one of the 10 Kannegiesser85kg PowerDry dryers at Dunstable
The loading starts here - two Kannegiesser, PowerTrans 75kg/16CTWs awaiting loading from the Supertrack monorail storagelines Control centre for the CTWs with warning ‘traffic light’ indicators
showing press statusTrolley loads of clean work awaiting despatch covered withcustom-fitted, heavy-duty protective polyethylene covers
Garment sorting section showing staff loading the system en routeto the drying tunnel
Assembly area for finished, packed, trolleys in specific loadingsections awaiting despatch
Loading stations for the two automatic sheet feeders taking workto the feeders and folders across the aisle
Final folding station forstaff uniforms, withKannegiesser FAX garmentfolder in foreground
Derek Isles,managing director of Synergy Health, UK Laundry Division,since 2000
Some of the storage racking holding scrub-suits ready fordespatch when ordered
