News & Innovations

Saudi Airlines Catering Company trusts on JENSEN technology

Located in the industrial zone of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) - the mega city project north of Jeddah - this 8,000 sqm/86,100 sq.ft. industrial laundry has a washing capacity of 45 tons of linen per day. This is the second industrial unit for SACC which is operating laundry services under the name of “Saudi Laundry Service” (SLS) since January 2013 in Riyadh. In the capital city of Saudi Arabia, SACC is operating a 20 tons/day unit and offering laundry services to hotels, airlines, healthcare and industrial companies.

The industrial laundry market is still emerging in Saudi Arabia and SACC is now taking the lead, bringing the latest technology and international standards to the Kingdom.

Versatile Laundry Technology
Two Senking Universal P50-12 tunnel washers are capable of a combined 2,160 kg/4,760 lbs per hour based on a 30 minute wash time, with a 90% utilization factor. Thanks to its bath rinsing method, the Senking Universal P50-12 boasts complete load separation throughout the entire system, making it very versatile for washing loads with different colors. This increases the capacity and reduces the energy consumption. The patented rinse process ensures that the consumption of fresh water is reduced by up to 10%. Furthermore, the tunnel washers reuse energy and water internally, making it a very ecological solution. This is especially important in areas where water is a scarce resource - and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is classifiable as such.

The same characteristics are evident in the two high-performance water extraction presses Senking SEP50 Plus with the patented TopDrain System. This closed drainage system of stainless steel is mounted on the base plate, which is made of a solid steel block and is provided with a durable anti-corrosive. The extracted liquid is fed into the rinse process of the tunnel washer without the use of any intermediate buffer tanks. Standing water is avoided, and outstanding hygiene is guaranteed. Nine batch transfer drying tumblers (Seven JENSEN Senking DT 60 and two DT 120s) and a CB1000 cake breaker complete the washroom area. The two DT 120s are equipped with Vacutrans, a vacuum loading system. VacuTrans adds one more piece to the puzzle of automation: it speeds up the production flow between the machines, thus increasing the productivity and making optimal use of available space.

In a nutshell, this is what sustainable laundry automation is all about: Increasing the productivity by synchronizing the product flow within the laundry while simultaneously reducing the resources used. Together with the project team of SACC, JENSEN succeeded in designing a modern laundry that will be able to cope with the requirements of today as well as tomorrow.

The Finishing Touch
Three high-performance ironer lines are in charge of adding a finishing touch to all flat linen, with a wide range of material and sizes. The feeding machines as well as the folding/stacking machines are adapted to the specific needs of each category. At the center of each line, a Jenroll EXP12 with two rolls is installed. The Jenroll EXP12 makes efficient use of the evaporation capacity through its flexible chest, guaranteeing top-quality finishing. The key to optimal heat transfer is a turbulent steam flow inside the steam distribution channels, combined with a flexible chest made of carbon steel. The turbulent steam flow flushes condensation away from the surface, ensuring that no insulation water film will arise, while carbon steel gives optimum thermal conduction and low friction with wet linen. The flexible chest adapts to the roll like a band-brake. Full contact is maintained, resulting in a higher capacity compared to the fixed chest of a traditional ironer. All JENSEN finishing lines are designed and built according to our philosophy that the entire line should form one single system - easy to install, easy to control, easy to maintain, easy and safe to operate.

Those items that cannot be ironed are folded on three small piece folders: two Jenfold Tematic Pro - predominantly terry towels - and a Jenfold Blanket for the blankets that are offered to guests on long-haul flights.

Pro-fashional Garment Finishing
From the washroom section, the garments are transported into a tunnel finisher via the automated conveyor system for garment handling, JENSEN Metricon. A Metricon conveyor system is customized to individual customer requirements and built to offer optimal solutions. A unique system for buffer accumulation of garments (that can also be placed under the ceiling of a laundry to make best use of the available space) further ensures synchronization between the various workstations. The computer control system can be designed to control all movements and handles the sorting of garments by delivery route, account, customer, size, locker bank and wearer. As such, there will be no mix up of the garments of the cabin crew working for Saudi Airlines and those working for other airlines utilizing the same linen services from SACC.

The Jenform Omega Pro tunnel finisher guarantees a top quality finishing of garments. The conveying system is based on the Greek Ω sign. This simple and simultaneously ingenious solution considerably decreases the processing time. The drying zone and the air circulation system have been noise-insulated, and the thermal insulation minimizes the heat loss. The air from the drying zones and outlet zone is recirculated into the inlet zone: Incoming garments are heated up in the inlet zone using recirculated hot air. The exhaust air is reduced to a minimum. Once finished, the garments are folded and stacked in a Jenfold Butterfly Fox, an automatic folding machine with a constantly high performance. This versatile, highly reliable system is capable of processing up to 1000 garments per hour.

OTC - from Offer to Commissioning
Complex projects of this size require more than merely lining up highly productive laundry machines. The overall success of a turnkey project is more than just the sum of its parts: from the initial idea to the final layout of the laundry, the project team at SACC teamed up with the local laundry experts from JENSEN. The company has been operating a sales and service company in the Middle East for many years. General Manager David Winter and his colleagues managed the turnkey project from the JENSEN office in Dubai following the OTC (Offer to Commissioning) principles.

The OTC process is an aligned way of managing large and complex projects within the JENSEN-GROUP, with a common approach that is applied to all international key accounts. Laundry managers highly appreciate the OTC process that comprises clearly defined Key Deliverables and supporting templates for each phase of the project.

Ready for take-off with linen processed on JENSEN equipment
Saudi Airlines Catering Company (SACC) is a national leader in catering solutions for airlines since its creation in 1980. SACC serves Saudi Arabian Airlines as well as a number of foreign airlines with onboard catering services for flights operating from airports based all over the Kingdom. Since its privatization in 2008, the company started a strategic diversification, offering also catering and housekeeping services to non-airline businesses. Among their customers are factories, schools, hospitals and travel agencies taking care of pilgrims that visit the Kingdom during Umrah and Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimages to Mecca.

"The laundry was commissioned and handed over fully operational on the 26th April 2016, followed by an official laundry inauguration ceremony on 28th April 2016”, confirms David Winter, who is delighted about the successful co-operation with SACC.