Empire Laundry: Variety & Quality post Covid-19

The two founding owners and managing directors of Empire Laundry - Aaron Issacharoff and Matthew Simon - do not do things by halves. Just like their customers, they are committed to nothing less than the highest quality. Despite – no, precisely because of Covid-19, the textile service provider from London is investing in new machine technology to be prepared for the time after the pandemic. The result: top quality and a 30% increase in productivity – despite the large variety of articles.

Empire Laundry is based in North London and it was founded in 1992 by Aaron Issacharoff and Matthew Simon. Initially, the company was a shirt-only service, but very quickly the two owners evolved their business into a "full service" laundry, providing flat linen to the rapidly growing market for laundry services. Today, Empire Laundry is one of the premier textile service providers to five star and boutique hotels in and around London and the southeast of England.

Empire Laundry is celebrating its 30th anniversary next year. In all these years the company has never moved away from its core founding values “consistent quality”. Empire Laundry processes customer owned laundry and dedicated rental stock with state-of-the-art machine technology and rigid quality controls. The company owners Issacharoff and Simon insist that this is their only chance to maintain their self-imposed high standards of service. Empire Laundry is of one of the very few companies in the UK who include a guarantee of less than one per cent of rejects into their service agreements. A commitment like this is a very strong statement to all their direct and indirect customers.

Despite the pandemic and lockdown, Issacharoff and Simon are optimistic. That is why the British textile service provider invested in new laundry technology from Kannegiesser. In addition to two new energy efficient compact dryers and a new towel folder, Kannegiesser also installed a new ironer line with the HPM high-performance ironer.

The laundry's main challenge is easy to state but usually hard to cope with. Every single customer deserves supreme quality as well as gentle processing of the articles - even if it's a diverse article range! This is why the Synchro EMQ was chosen as the optimal feeding machine for the new ironer line. The Synchro was developed by Kannegiesser in response to the challenges posed by the ever-increasing variety of articles and individual selection of linen required by many customers. It offers impressive flexibility by handling a wide range of articles and reliably spreading and feeding both large and small items with the utmost precision.

The origin of its name and also the key to outstanding article processing lies in the machine's synchronized process steps. The unique synchronicity of the SynchroClamp and the vacuum transfer bar guarantees optimal quality and process consistency. Thanks to its particularly large and flexible contact area, the SynchroClamp can securely grip a wide range of article thicknesses without damaging the fabric. The ServoTronic offers further advantages when spreading the laundry. It is far more than just an ordinary servo motor: the combination of servo electronics, servo drive and sensor technology enables high acceleration and precise transport to the end position. This leads to shorter cycle times and is at the same time providing a gentle laundry treatment. Overall, ServoTronic improves machine performance by up to 30% compared to conventional drive systems.

The ergonomic design of the feeding stations with the EasyFeed clamp allows fast and easy insertion thanks to the guide contour. Another benefit is that the workstations are individually height-adjustable which allows working with an optimal body posture. Small items can be fed directly onto the inclined belts. Simply by pressing a button, the feeding stations swing up and the feeding table lowers to an ergonomic feeding height. Items are securely held in place by vacuum while the leading edge is shaken out in the vacuum chute. Table illumination allows easier feeding and makes quality control easier.

Today Empire Laundry is running four specialized Kannegiesser ironing lines, two of them include a Synchro with four feeding stations each, to handle the wide variety of items at the desired high quality. The owners Aaron Issacharoff and Matthew Simon believe this is the best time to invest in raising standards and continuing to be ultra-efficient in all aspects of production management. Matthew Simon adds “In the post COVID-19 world, our customers will be looking to sell their beautiful luxury hotel properties to an even more sophisticated clientele and we need to meet their expectations in the best way we can.”