Research and Development in the Field of laundry Technology

REGION–PŘÍBOR Research and Development in the Field of laundry Technology Alliance laundry Systems has been operating in the Czech Republic since 1991. Throughout the years, the company has built a foothold upon solid base values, and today they belong to the world’s leaders in the production of industrial laundry equipment. In recent years, Alliance has invested more than 300 million dollars into R&D to improve speed and simplicity, colloquially said, to improve washing. In discovering the future of washing, the global Alliance Laundry Systems company is developing a culture that has underestimated innovation in the past. Currently we live in a world that strives for balance between a good lifestyle and decreasing environmental harm. Since washing textiles Jan Vleugels COO of Alliance Laundry It is known that you innovate, besides other things, business processes: can you explain this in more detail? Sure. We established our R&D department (research and development) here in the Czech Republic back in 1993. As one of the first foreign-owned companies in the region, we quickly recognized the in-depth engineering skills and tradition here. As a result, today we manufacture a wide variety of washers, dryers, and irons, all of them entirely developed by our own local R&D department, sold worldwide, and globally recognized as high-quality, premium products. We don’t just excel at product innovation; we also focus on our business processes. In operations, we recently implemented enterprise software for maintenance and quality but also to have an efficiencymonitoring system combined with further automation. Throughout the plant, we have introduced a totally new performance management process in which all managers are responsible for the objectives of their direct reports. Renewed European Sales & Operations planning increases the availability of our products and the introduction of our own developed freight software has resulted in substantial cost savings. Customers have reacted very positively to the large organizational investment in Customer Relationship Management. And the procurement team has achieved record cost savings by using our global supply chain. Phillip Rigole Plant manager of Alliance Laundry Has Alliance Laundry reacted to an increased demand for the cleanliness and disinfection of laundry? Alliance Laundry has developed a full range of barrier washers for hospitals that are offering the best protection for their employees and patients and the best prevention against the spread of microorganisms 88 ǀ POSITIV 4/2020 is such an important part of life, it also offers a great future in its development and decreasing the damage it might do to the environment. That is why Alliance research and development teams from the US and EU apply scientific solutions to all aspects in this field. Which role does Alliance Laundry play in the labour market in the region? With 700 employees, Alliance Laundry plays an important role in the regional labour market. Moreover, our plant provides a rather unique combination of manufacturing and R&D under one roof. As a manufacturer of final products, combined with intensive vertical integration, more than 90% of the mechanical parts are produced in-house, we provide great opportunities for a large variety of different skill sets, technologies and positions. Our engineering team can benefit from close interaction with manufacturing, after-sales services, suppliers, and the sales team. Our engineering team creates fully finished products, including complete development in mechanics, electronics, and software. Supported by a fully-equipped, state-of-the-art Science, Technology, and Research Lab (STAR) “in house.” Long-term partnership with our customers is supported by our Customer Care team, technical service representatives, and genuine parts distribution center. At first glance, many people who might not be familiar with our business, laundry does not look very interesting or exciting, but for me personally, and I can speak for many of our employees, the combination of all the above creates a company with a wide variety of activities, technologies, interactions, challenges, opportunities, and, finally, delivers a product that provides one of everyone’s most essential needs: clean clothes, towels, and bedsheets. and superbugs. Studies show that linen is a major factor for the transfer of infections, so our products are often used in nursing homes and healthcare to stop crosscontamination. We have offer these machines for many years but the demand has increased substantially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Pribor plant this year has shipped a large number of machines to European countries, Russia, India and other countries worldwide.