The Weißenburg Workshops of Lebenshilfe Altmühlfranken have been in operation since 1974. Today, the organization operates five residential homes, its own laundry facility, and employs over 200 people.
In 2019, we began our collaboration with STAHL Laundry Machinery: A small laundry facility was set up at the mining site, which, of course, had to be equipped with suitable washing machines, since ordinary household appliances were no longer sufficient.
Five years later, construction began on a large laundry facility at the Weißenburg Workshops. From the outset, the plan called for three industrial washing machines, three dryers, and a trough-type mangle, with the capacity to process up to ten metric tons of laundry per month. The new laundry facility features a black-and-white separation system using DIVIMAT D machines and a disinfection chamber. Transponder tags enable the allocation and sorting of laundry, supported by sorting tables where the laundry is also folded.
This is particularly beneficial: Thanks to transponders with microchips, electronic sorting aids can be activated. For example, lights indicate which dormitory or shelf compartment a piece of laundry belongs in. This makes sorting possible even for people who cannot read or have limited reading ability.
Currently, 6 to 7 people with disabilities work at the laundry, but up to 14 jobs are expected to be created in the future.
In addition to laundry from the five dormitories, external customers can also have their laundry cleaned at the Weißenburger Werkstätten. Transponder tags are used here as well, and a special airlock ensures that the laundry containers are disinfected—hygiene during delivery and pickup is a top priority.
In addition, sustainability plays a major role: On the one hand, in the consumption of resources such as water and detergent—intelligent control systems ensure the lowest possible consumption while maintaining consistent quality. On the other hand, the in-house PV system provides hot water, which is brought to a consistent temperature by the smart mixers in the washing machines.
