CHICAGO — Artificial intelligence.
Five or six years ago, AI that could think and create was something you could only encounter in the world of science fiction.
The speed of technological advancement. The past few years have seen an increase in the options for generative AI in almost every area of daily life and business operations. This also includes industrial and institutional laundry.
What started with generating content for business-related tasks (communications, reports, documents, etc.) has also moved into the washroom aisle. Insiders even claim that some laundries could be run by AI without any human intervention, or at least on a very limited basis.
The question arises, “Where is AI going in the laundry industry?”
american laundry news We asked three AI industry veterans for their thoughts on what AI is bringing to the industry today and what it will bring in the future.
David Bernstein is the founder of Propeller Solutions Group in Livingston, Texas. Rodrigo Patron is the Director of Operations at Lace House Linen Co. in Petaluma, California. David Griggs, one of our columnists, is director of operations development for Superior Linen Service in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
What other benefits does AI bring to your facility?
Griggs: Previously, high automation meant lower quality because so many contaminants could be missed. AI is used for quality inspection and automatically rejects soiled linen with greater accuracy than the human eye. Installing this system between the iron and the folder eliminates the need for a full-time employee who would normally be combing through products looking for dirt.
I’ve already seen dry cleaners send rejected items back through the vacuum system for re-cleaning. The next step seems to be to use this system to instruct the washroom to perform stain removal cleaning on rejected items. Our AI plants also know how to thoroughly raid items once they’ve been cleaned.
Bernstein: Quality control, linen inventory and distribution, predictive maintenance.
Quality control systems have improved significantly. Not so long ago, automatic linen inspection systems for flatwork irons were considered by many operators to be an expensive parlor trick. Things have changed. Prices have fallen and accuracy and functionality have increased dramatically. A lot of that is thanks to AI and machine learning. These systems can now detect dirt, tears, and other defects with speed and reliability unmatched by human inspectors.
We are looking at what AI can do for linen distribution and inventory management in hospitality and healthcare. From an inventory investment perspective, more accurate par levels mean less inventory investment and more sophisticated data-driven injections. Linen distribution will also become smarter, with fewer emergencies and service disruptions.
AI also improves worker scheduling for both laundry and linen distribution, as it constantly adjusts based on factors such as occupancy (current and predicted), linen utilization, and staffing levels.
But the opportunity that excites me the most is predictive maintenance. Operators have been talking about switching to preventive maintenance for a long time, but too many are still in reactive mode. With AI, predictive maintenance is much closer to becoming achievable for everyone. Knowing that a component is about to fail before it does is fundamentally different from knowing that a machine has failed only after it has failed.
Patron: AI brings benefits not only at the production stage but throughout the entire laundry operation. In our case, it has already helped us simplify office and communication processes. Tasks that previously took much longer to complete, such as composing emails, preparing reports, writing customer notices, translating documents, and organizing information, can now be completed much faster.
This allows management and staff to focus on operations and customer service rather than administrative tasks. In the future, AI could also help with scheduling, maintenance tracking, route optimization, and production analysis.
What are the challenges of using AI in modern laundry operations?
Bernstein: This industry has historically been slow to adopt technology. That’s not a criticism, but rather an observation. Carriers are being driven to adopt by current factors such as industry consolidation, rising utility costs, chronic labor shortages, and increasing regulatory requirements. All of this is putting pressure on profits in ways that can’t be offset by improved operational discipline alone. Technology adoption is becoming more of a requirement rather than a differentiator.
However, the most important challenge is data fragmentation. Many of today’s laundry equipment operate on closed platforms that cannot easily communicate with equipment from other vendors. If you don’t understand the entire plant, you can’t build AI that optimizes the entire plant.
This problem is not new. The industry has made many attempts over the years to establish common data standards, but most, if not all, have failed. It is an encouraging development that there are companies within the industry working to advance data integration and connectivity. As these solutions mature and become more widely adopted, the data that AI requires will be accessible to operators of all sizes, not just multi-plant operators in large enterprises.
Patron: One of the biggest challenges with AI in laundry today is the cost of implementation and integration with older equipment. Many dry cleaners, including ours, operate using machines that were previously used.
It wasn’t originally designed to connect to modern AI systems.
Another challenge is that AI still requires human oversight and good judgment. Laundry operations are dynamic environments with constant change, unforeseen circumstances, customer-specific requirements, physical labor, and still rely heavily on experienced employees. There is also a learning curve for managers and staff to understand how to use technology in a practical and productive way.
On Tuesday, read about AI enhancements for industrial/institutional laundry.
Click here to read part 1 How AI is currently being used in laundry.
