Volume 4, No. 1

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Now, see what’s hot at the laundry.

Ty Acton, Editor

Ironer Maintenance Classics

If you notice metal shavings on or around the frame of your ironer, sound the alarm. A bushing has likely worn completely through and the shaft of the roll is turning on the frame itself. Not good. The bushing needs to be replaced as soon as possible. A little grease may stop the squeak for a while, but it will not stop the grinding wear or the misalignment of the roll. With a preventive maintenance program that includes a check of all bearings and bushings for both lubrication and wear this damage and downtime would not have occurred.

You Said It!

"My ironer had what I felt was a minor programming issue but Randy (Vansparrentak), after driving 15 hours to get home, felt it could be a safety issue. He drove through the night to my plant to fix it. That's service above and beyond. And there are many times their reps have performed like this. They're just outstanding. If I need expertise, I know who to turn to."

Craig Klavon,
Maintenance Manager
Aramark Uniform Services

Corner Quotables

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."
Benjamin Franklin

"To educate the mind without morals is to educate a menace to society."
Theodore Roosevelt

"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes."
Hugh Downs

Enjoy a favorite quote? Share it with Tingue Topics. Send it to tacton@tingue.com.

Describe Your Preventative Maintenance Plan
By Randy Vansparrentak

I had a slew of instruments, expensive equipment and a whole team of experts to help me maintain the nuclear power plant on board our submarine when I was in the Navy. If we ever failed, it would stop generating electricity and trigger many other deadly consequences. You may not have a whole team of experts in-house or millions of dollars of instrumentation but if you fail to maintain your ironer, it will quickly consume more and more electricity, triggering many other costly consequences, until it stops running altogether.

Most maintenance managers know some stopgap tricks to keep their ironers and other equipment up and running once trouble starts. I preach about preventative maintenance because I've seen over and over that stopping trouble before it starts prevents downtime, saves money, and eliminates yet another headache that laundry owners just don't need. It also prevents safety issues from becoming issues. I’m not offering a few quick tips here (we’re available for in-depth maintenance classes at your plant). This is about planned, scheduled maintenance as a mindset. It’s important.

People are spending a fortune buying new equipment that saves on energy costs yet setting up a preventative maintenance program costs almost nothing and starts saving on energy almost immediately. Add the extra life and productivity of the equipment, the savings in spare parts and installation and the peace of mind that you won’t be affected by downtime today and it’s an easy call.

It’s better to talk now about maintenance then later about a complete rebuild.

Call Randy at 800.222.9954 or see http://www.talleymachinery.com/index.shtml

Latest Innovation

Put away the sandpaper and tell your workers to stop scraping and scrubbing the cylinders. The new Kleeno Cylinder cleaning pad is the first and only cleaning pad material designed specifically for cleaning cylinder ironers. Just feed it into the ironer and it automatically removes dirt, grime and chemical buildup in a few short minutes. Potentially dangerous, manual cleaning is no longer required.

http://www.tinguebrownco.com/products01.shtml

From the Editor

Driving to see a customer today it occurred to me that ironer maintenance is just like car maintenance. If we pay attention to tire pressure, for example, it saves wear on the brakes, helps them stop the car faster and improves safety. If we simply keep the ironer chests clean and run a wax cloth through the ironer every two hours with the proper amount of wax in the pocket, it saves the roll covers, springs, pads and cleaning pads, they will last longer and perform like new for a longer period of time after installation. Ignoring ironer upkeep puts the brakes on production, or at least makes it cost more to keep production rates up. Call me anytime with questions or email tacton@tingue.com.

Meet Ty Acton

Next scheduled appearance for Ty and Team Tingue: CSCNetwork Annual Convention booth #108.
Las Vegas, March 26, 27, & 28th.