Production processes are a major part of laundry and dry cleaning. As a result, Lean and Six Sigma applications can lead to major improvements.

We’ll explore the application of Lean and Six Sigma by looking at three cases:  implementation in two hospital laundry systems, and in a dry cleaning plant.

Linen Loss Reduction

In an article titled “Reducing Linen Loss in Hospital Using Lean Six Sigma Approach” authors

Nikma Fitriasari, Tuti Haryanto, and Navis Yuliansyah document the application of Lean Six Sigma in an Indonesian hospital laundry system.

Linen loss was the priority problem chosen to work on. Initially, linen loss was at 3.4%. The target was zero linen loss. This was achieved through the project’s application of all of the DMAIC phases.

You can access the article here.

Laundry Process Improvement Initiative

Jeffrey Solarek discusses the project  for laundry process improvement in a six member hospital system in his article “Rethinking The Laundry Process”.   The application of Lean through the DMAIC phases led to significant reductions in operational costs and processing errors.

You can find Jeffrey’s article here.

Dry Cleaning: Simulation Applied to Efficiently Add Capacity

Process Model discusses how simulation and Lean worked together to add capacity in a dry cleaning plant.

Initially the weekly production of 6,600 garments was met during a stretched 14-hour day. The simulation showed that when lean concepts are incorporated weekly output could be increased to approximately 10,000 garments.

You can read Process Model’s article here.