Whether you’re a laundromat owner or manage on-premises laundry equipment, it’s essential to keep your commercial laundry equipment up to date. Technology is evolving fast and this makes it important for commercial laundries to stay up to date.  Replacing old and outdated equipment with new machines provides many benefits, from increased end-user satisfaction to improving your bottom line. But the big question is when do you know it's the right  time to upgrade?

In this article, we’ll discuss in more detail why you should consider replacing your old commercial laundry equipment and the telltale signs that indicate it’s time to upgrade your machines with Daniel Hany, a Laundry Consultant, Certified Energy Manager and Green Building Expert with over 20 years of experience in the laundry field!

Age of the equipment
Let us start with a very simple question - what is the age of the equipment. Whenever we talk about upgrading or innovating or replacing laundry equipment, we must first find the answer to this question. The expected lifetime of commercial laundry equipment is usually around 15 years. We are not referring to heavy industrial long term equipment or central laundries. Neither are we speaking about small home appliances. We are talking about equipment used in laundromats and OPLs such as hotels, hospitals and other facilities. If a machine is more than 15 years old, it is probably nearing the end of its life. This means it is probably a good time to start thinking about its replacement. However, we must also stress on how much care we are giving to the equipment. If I own some equipment and I am not doing regular preventive maintenance, not buying genuine and original spare parts when required, not letting expert technicians take care of the repairs, I would be reducing the expected lifetime of my equipment. The flip side is true as well. If you are taking good care of the equipment, you would be extending its life. However, if your equipment is more than 20 years old, go ahead and replace it for the sake of advanced technology. 

Running cost of equipment

Running cost is usually focused upon water, electricity, energ, etc. taking record of the running cost of the laundry is an indication of how efficient machines are. You need to have a continuous log of how much the process of cleaning, washing, drying and ironing of each kilogram is costing. Of course the utility cost is changing with time. What commercial laundries would pay 10 years ago is not the same as what they are paying now. Utility itself is more expensive. This makes it even more important to have a record of how much we are paing. We need a record of how much electricity we are using in terms of kilowatts per hour, and how much volume of water in terms of liters per kilogram. If we are not using optimum levels of water, energy, electricity, detergents, etc, then we know it's time to upgrade our laundry equipment.

New equipment will help generate significant savings in water and energy costs,which in turn means lower utility costs, which can have a major impact on your profitability.

Feedback from customers

If you have a laundromat and customers are coming and using it or if you have an OPL in a hotel or hospital and you are getting negative feedback about linen or quality of washing, then this is an indication that there is something you need to change. It could be machines, detergent, quality of water, washing programmes being used, etc. you need to double check all of this for the satisfaction of the customer. 

However, the first thing that needs to be checked is equipment. If our equipment is so old that it is unable to output clean and ironed fabrics, in the quality that the client is expecting, then it needs to be replaced.  

Upgrading and replacing your commercial laundry equipment can be a huge factor when it comes to getting customers to your laundromat or attracting and retaining renters. Replacing your old equipment means your end users get: 

• An industry-leading brand name they’ll recognize
• Higher-quality and more eco-friendly equipment
• An all-around better experience
• Furthermore, new laundry equipment will help improve the overall look and feel of your laundromat or multi-housing complex, making it more inviting.
  

New technologies

Old equipment will have old technology. The world is changing fast. There are new developments and innovations everyday. So you need to be at par with these innovations. you need to keep checking what is new in the market and what technologies and features our competitors are using. 

New technologies on laundry machines can improve security, efficiency, and increase end-user satisfaction and retention. Some laundromats even accept mobile payments along with cash and credit cards.