Rewash rate reduction and Turkey Salad

Rewash rate reduction…On the cheap

Moderate rewash rates are a fact of life – even in a well-run laundry operation. In fact, if they fall much below 2%, there’s reason to be concerned that there’s operational overkill – either in the excess of one, or all, of the WATCH (water, action, time chemicals, heat) principals. But what if that rewash number is edging closer to 4% or 5%?

In that case you might legitimately address an increase in one of those four aspects and indeed that might be exactly what’s needed. But perhaps there’s something simpler and cheaper you could do to solve the problem.

That “something” is better sorting – or perhaps just beginning to sort the work in the first place!

Frequently the root cause of that high rewash rate is one of medium or even heavily soiled linen getting grouped in with the light classification work. Those makeup stained pillow cases (particularly mascara) are not all that likely to come clean in an overnight sheet load formula! (BTW, if they do, there’s reason to believe there’s some fat that needs to be trimmed).

And if those more heavily soiled items are being run in that light soil formula, the predictable result will be a high rejection rate and a rewash percentage that’s above the 2% target range.

And, just like that, by addressing that one operational shortcoming you fixed the problem and never had to reprogram anything, or alter the chemical side of the operation!

Turkey salad…and taking stock

The remnants of that Thanksgiving turkey will soon have disappeared from the fridge and maybe you’ll be getting concerned about a pound or two of holiday weight that’s already begun to accumulate on your otherwise “svelte” (yea right) torso. And you’ll also realize that the year is fast coming to an end and the all work you’d planned to accomplish might not be as finished as that disappearing bird!

Truth be known, that description fits most of us, so don’t beat yourself up too much over a bit of a shortfall in those planned sales, organizational plans, or just plain getting ahead of the curve. Frankly most of us will fall somewhat short most of the time. Sure, there are break out years when everything falls into place and all our goals are met and exceeded, but that’s not the norm.

It’s important to value the improvements we’ve made and to understand that while it could have been better, it could have been a lot worse! As a pretty smart cookie once observed, “Failing to be as good as we’d hoped is where people who have great goals often end up.

The trick is to have those goals and to make a considered attempt to achieve them. Do that from here through December 31 and you’ll have nothing to beat yourself up over…Except maybe for those few extra holiday pounds!