<p>The purpose of our master thesis was to investigate what motivates assembly line workers performing low-skill jobs in a small industrial laundry business. We wanted to see what fac-tors determine and influence their motivation to work and if and how this motivation can be improved with respect to assembly line systems in general. The method of our investiga-tion was qualitative in nature, where we studied one firm that leases clean bed clothes and textiles to hotels and restaurants around Sweden. We constructed a survey on motivation and handed it out to the assembly line workers who deal with the laundry. Furthermore, we interviewed the shift manager in order to get the company’s view on employee motivation. Our findings indicate that there are several overlapping factors that determine and influ-ence motivation in the long run. From this particular case we saw that a unified working culture and collective efforts both boost the willingness to work and help the process run smoothly. Furthermore, proper communication is motivating, where everyone should be committed to company goals, but the workers should be able to take part in profits, and not just generate them. Also, employees have to be considered as important as customers are. Another factor is to have the right resources to execute company plans, such as proper working techniques that minimise stress, injuries and frustration, and more responsibility that allows employees to see the whole system by learning about the technical aspects, or engaging in customer contacts. When trust builds up between the workers and the man-agement, there will be less need for a controlling boss, and people will be more motivated to work when they are not constantly monitored by their leader. In addition, more CEO visits are encouraged at plant level, because they send the signal that the company cares about all its employees. Finally, a crucial factor is feedback, where the firm should not only criticise, but praise everyone for a job well done. This way, the workers will feel worthy. When long term factors are weak or missing in the company, the only motivation for the people is money. However, money can work as a short term and a long term motivator be-cause it serves as a tool to satisfy needs of both security and self esteem outside work. Con-sidering motivation and assembly lines in general, when the assembly line is at its core, where efficiency is the goal and workers serve as means to get there, the only motivation is money, and possibly working colleagues. Intrinsic motivation can be reached by moving away from the actual system and performing other tasks. Still, the long term factors can improve the situation to a certain extent, but sooner or later everyone will turn into a well oiled machine with no further ways to improve motivation, since boredom and routines will remain. One goes from being a cog in the machinery to an integral part of a successful engine. It is still the same content, but in a different package.</p>

The purpose of our master thesis was to investigate what motivates assembly line workers performing low-skill jobs in a small industrial laundry business. We wanted to see what fac-tors determine and influence their motivation to work and if and how this motivation can be improved with respect to assembly line systems in general. The method of our investiga-tion was qualitative in nature, where we studied one firm that leases clean bed clothes and textiles to hotels and restaurants around Sweden. We constructed a survey on motivation and handed it out to the assembly line workers who deal with the laundry. Furthermore, we interviewed the shift manager in order to get the company’s view on employee motivation. Our findings indicate that there are several overlapping factors that determine and influ-ence motivation in the long run. From this particular case we saw that a unified working culture and collective efforts both boost the willingness to work and help the process run smoothly. Furthermore, proper communication is motivating, where everyone should be committed to company goals, but the workers should be able to take part in profits, and not just generate them. Also, employees have to be considered as important as customers are. Another factor is to have the right resources to execute company plans, such as proper working techniques that minimise stress, injuries and frustration, and more responsibility that allows employees to see the whole system by learning about the technical aspects, or engaging in customer contacts. When trust builds up between the workers and the man-agement, there will be less need for a controlling boss, and people will be more motivated to work when they are not constantly monitored by their leader. In addition, more CEO visits are encouraged at plant level, because they send the signal that the company cares about all its employees. Finally, a crucial factor is feedback, where the firm should not only criticise, but praise everyone for a job well done. This way, the workers will feel worthy. When long term factors are weak or missing in the company, the only motivation for the people is money. However, money can work as a short term and a long term motivator be-cause it serves as a tool to satisfy needs of both security and self esteem outside work. Con-sidering motivation and assembly lines in general, when the assembly line is at its core, where efficiency is the goal and workers serve as means to get there, the only motivation is money, and possibly working colleagues. Intrinsic motivation can be reached by moving away from the actual system and performing other tasks. Still, the long term factors can improve the situation to a certain extent, but sooner or later everyone will turn into a well oiled machine with no further ways to improve motivation, since boredom and routines will remain. One goes from being a cog in the machinery to an integral part of a successful engine. It is still the same content, but in a different package.

The theme of the work is the integration of gas microturbines in industrial plants. The aim is to extend the application potential of this technology by the design of the integration into the process in which this technology is not exploited yet. This process is a professional laundry service. Professional laundry services have been selected as a representative of the generally known process, which is interesting in terms of energy intensity. Combining of progressive cogeneration technology and enhanced industrial process brings a promising application potential. The work focuses on small industrial laundries to 500 kg of processed linen per shift. As a cogeneration unit a gas microturbine Capstone C30 has been used. The microturbine has an adequate power due to the process. Complete laundry operation and a gas microturbine is a part of the equipment of the Laboratory of energetically demanding processes in the NETME Centre. The main contribution of this work is to design a system for utilization of flue gas heat for heating of the main input currents to the laundry room, a hot water for washing machines and warm air for drying in the dryers. The integration of the gas microturbine made to suit specific process can be a major cost-saving measures with positive impacts on the economy of operation.

Hotellbranschen är en konstant växande verksamhet och med fler sängar att bädda tillkommer fler lakan att tvätta. Idag kan hotell välja att använda sig utav externa tvätterier som hämtar upp, tvättar och levererar rena sängkläder men kan även välja att själv tvätta sängkläderna lokalt på hotellet. Två olika tvätthanteringssystem som innebär skillnad i både tvätt- och torkprocesserna, något som i sin tur leder till att materialet samt miljön påverkas annorlunda.   I en tid då hållbarhet är en prioriterad fråga miljöanpassar många sin verksamhet och för att öka medvetenheten kring det val om hur sängkläder på ett hotell hanteras mest miljöeffektivt, tar denna rapport upp skillnaderna i miljöbelastning då man tvättar industriellt kontra småskaligt. Miljöbelastningen presenteras som koldioxidutsläpp, vatten- och kemikalieförbrukning samt genom skillnader på vävars förslitning inom de olika processerna. Den vanligaste väven för hotellsängkläder inom tvättservice är polycotton medan sängkläder av bomull är mer vanligt vid småskalig tvätt. Testerna utförs därför på en polycottonväv, två olika bomullsvävar samt en väv av både bomull och lyocell för att få ett så brett resultat som möjligt och utforska vad som fungerar. Materialen genomgår 50 tvättar vid industritvätt och 50 tvättar inom en småskalig tvätt för att sedan testa hur de påverkats från otvättat material i cykler om 25 tvättar.   Resultaten indikerar på att det finns tydliga skillnader mellan de olika tvätthanteringarna både i hur de påverkar materialen samt ur miljösynpunkt. Då industriell tvätt under en längre period aktivt jobbat mot en mera hållbar affärsmodell och därmed effektiviserat tvättprocessen har det lett till minskad miljöbelastning inom de presenterade faktorerna. Vid leverans till och från tvätteriet är det dock idag fortfarande vanligt att lastbilar används, transportsträckan till hotellet i fråga blir därmed avgörande vid viktning av total miljöbelastning.   Det framkommer att sängkläder av polycotton kan ha en likvärdig livslängd som bomull trots sin överlägset höga fysiska slitstyrka på grund av materialets tendens till noppbildning. Hotellbranschen har höga visuella krav på sina textilier och kan därför komma att kassera en vara av polycotton innan det är fysiskt utslitet. / The hotel industry is a constantly expanding business and with several beds to make, more sheets needs to be washed. Today, hotels can choose to use external laundry service that pick up, wash and supply bedding back to the customer. However you can also choose to wash your own bed linen at the hotel. The two different laundry management systems involve differences in both the laundry and the drying processes, which in turn affects the material and environment differently.   In a time when sustainability is a prioritized question, people adapt their business to become more eco-friendly. To raise awareness about how bedding in a hotel most efficiently is managed, this report presents and clarifies the differences between industrial versus small scale laundry. The environmental impact is presented as carbon dioxide emissions, water and chemical consumption and how the woven materials handle the different processes. The most common fabric for hotel bedding in the textile service sector is polycotton, while cotton fabric is more common in small-scale laundry. The fabric of test-specimens is chosen to present the widest possible results within a lifelike perspective. Therefore, bedding made of polycotton, a mix between cotton and lyocell and two different cotton fabrics are picked for the tests. The materials undergo 25 and 50 wash cycles for industrial and small-scale laundry before the materials is tested to show how they were affected compared to unwashed fabric.   The results indicate that there are distinct differences between the different laundry managements, both in terms of how they affect the material and from an environmental point of view. Since industrial laundry for a long period of time actively has worked towards a more sustainable business model and thus streamlined the washing process, it has resulted in major environmental benefits. However, in the case of delivery to and from the laundry facility, it is still common for trucks to be used. The transport distance to and from the hotel in question therefore becomes crucial when making the choice of the most suitable laundry management.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T15:03:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AlinneKSF_DISSERT.pdf: 2111832 bytes, checksum: 4c3a5b40f28210cad528671d89c486df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-22 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / This study aims to assess the potential for industrial reuse of textile wastewater, after passing through a physical and chemical pretreatment, into denim washing wet processing operations in an industrial textile laundry, with no need for complementary treatments and dilutions. The methodology and evaluation of the proposed tests were based on the production techniques used in the company and upgraded for the experiments tested. The characterization of the treated effluent for 16 selected parameters and the development of a monitoring able to tailor the treated effluent for final disposal in accordance with current legislation was essential for the initiation of testing for reuse. The parameters color, turbidity, SS and pH used were satisfactory as control variables and presents simple determination methods. The denim quality variables considered were: color, odor, appearance and soft handle. The tests were started on a pilot scale following complexity factors attributed to the processes, in denim fabric and jeans, which demonstrated the possibility of reuse, because there was no interference in the processes and at quality of the tested product. Industrial scale tests were initiated by a step control that confirmed the methodology efficiency applied to identify the possibility of reuse by tests that precede each recipe to be processed. 556 replicates were performed in production scale for 47 different recipes of denim washing. The percentage of water reuse was 100% for all processes and repetitions performed after the initial adjustment testing phase. All the jeans were framed with the highest quality for internal control and marketed, being accepted by contractors. The full-scale use of treated wastewater, supported by monitoring and evaluation and control methodology suggested in this study, proved to be valid in textile production, not given any negative impact to the quality the produced jeans under the presented conditions. It is believed that this methodology can be extrapolated to other laundries to determine the possibility of reuse in denim washing wet processing with the necessary modifications to each company. / O presente trabalho tem por objetivo avaliar as possibilidades de re?so industrial de efluentes t?xteis, ap?s passar por um pr?-tratamento f?sico-qu?mico, no processamento do jeans em uma lavanderia industrial t?xtil, sem a necessidade de tratamentos complementares e dilui??es. A metodologia desenvolvida e avalia??o dos testes propostos foram baseadas nas t?cnicas de produ??o utilizadas na empresa e adaptadas para os experimentos testados. A caracteriza??o do efluente tratado atrav?s dos 16 par?metros selecionados e o desenvolvimento de um monitoramento capaz de adequar o efluente tratado para disposi??o final de acordo com a legisla??o vigente foi essencial para o in?cio dos testes de re?so. Os par?metros utilizados - cor, turbidez, SS e pH mostraram-se satisfat?rios como vari?veis de controle e apresentam m?todos de determina??o simples. As vari?veis de qualidade no tecido (denim) consideradas foram: cor, odor, apar?ncia e suavidade ao toque. Os testes foram iniciados em escala piloto seguindo fatores de complexidade atribu?dos aos processos, em pe?as piloto e em pe?as confeccionadas, que demonstraram a possibilidade de re?so, por n?o apresentarem interfer?ncias a qualidade dos processos e das pe?as produzidas. Em escala real os testes foram iniciados por uma etapa controle e confirmaram a efici?ncia da metodologia aplicada para identificar a possibilidade de re?so atrav?s de testes que precedem cada receita a ser processada. Foram realizadas 556 repeti??es em escala produtiva para as lavagens referentes a 47 diferentes receitas. O percentual de re?so com ?gua da ETEI foi de 100% para todos os processos e repeti??es realizadas ap?s a etapa inicial de ajuste dos testes. Todas as pe?as foram enquadradas com qualidade m?xima pelo controle interno e comercializadas, sendo aprovadas pelos contratantes. A utiliza??o em escala real do efluente tratado, sustentado pelo monitoramento e metodologia de controle e avalia??o sugerida neste estudo mostrou-se v?lida na produ??o t?xtil, por n?o conferir qualquer tipo de impacto negativo ? qualidade das pe?as produzidas nas condi??es apresentadas. Estes resultados apontam que esta metodologia pode ser extrapolada a outras lavanderias para determina??o da possibilidade de re?so no beneficiamento de jeans com as adapta??es necess?rias a cada empresa.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / This study investigated the coagulation diagrams using tannin as organic coagulant, from renewable source, associated or not, to the inorganic coagulant aluminium sulphate and to coagulation auxiliaries sodium aluminate (inorganic) and cationic hemicellulose (from renewable source) for treatment of industrial laundry effluent. The methodology consisted of removing oils and greases, followed by filtration, pH adjustment, and application of the coagulants and auxiliaries at various concentrations. Coagulant tannin is mostly effective in removing turbidity in acid pH\'s (3 to 5) when used at concentrations higher than 1000 ppm, possibly acting under the adsorption mechanisms and formation of bridges, and adsorption, and charge neutrality. When associated to sodium aluminate at ratio 3:1 (v/v) tannin, sodium aluminium oxide), it permitted larger removals of turbidity on acid regions for two ranges of concentration (lower than 1500 ppm and higher than 3750 ppm), indicating that the tannin/sodium aluminium oxide interaction is not favourable to undo itself and interact with the effluent particles. The association of tannin with aluminium sulphate presented the largest removals of turbidity at all pH ranges and concentrations investigated, possibly by an interaction between cation Al3+ and the hydroxyls bonded to the tannin benzene ring forming a chelate with more stability and interaction with suspended particles, stabilizing the flocs formed by this interaction. The addition of cationic hemicellulose offers improvements to the removal of turbidity at the basic pH region (worst tannin performance) provided by tannin, however, its action is conditioned to the tannin efficiency in the coagulation process. The possible interactions between the hemicellulose and the effluent suggest interactions of the type hydrogen bridges and dipole-dipole interactions. The use of tannins associated to cationic hemicellulose allows treatment of industrial laundry effluent with formation of sludge of more biodegradability, which is an advantage from the sustainability point-of-view. / O presente trabalho investigou os diagramas de coagulação, utilizando o coagulante orgânico tanino, proveniente de fonte renovável, associado ou não, ao coagulante inorgânico sulfato de alumínio e aos auxiliares de coagulação aluminato de sódio (inorgânico) e hemicelulose catiônica (de fonte renovável) para o tratamento de efluente de lavanderia industrial. A metodologia consistiu na retirada de óleos e graxas, seguida de filtração e ajuste de pH e aplicação dos coagulantes e auxiliares em diversas concentrações. O coagulante tanino possui maior eficácia na remoção de turbidez em pHs ácidos (3 a 5) quando utilizado em concentrações superiores a 1000 ppm possivelmente, atuando sob os mecanismos de adsorção e formação de pontes e adsorção e neutralização de cargas. Quando associado ao aluminato de sódio em proporção 3:1 ((v/v) tanino/aluminato de sódio), permitiu maiores remoções de turbidez em regiões ácidas para duas faixas de concentração (menores que 1500 ppm e maiores que 3750 ppm ), indicando que a interação entre o tanino e aluminato de sódio não é favorável para se desfazer e interagir com as partículas do efluente. A associação do tanino com o sulfato de alumínio apresentou as maiores remoções de turbidez em todas as faixas de pH e concentrações investigadas, possivelmente, por uma interação entre o cátion Al3+ e as hidroxilas ligadas ao anel benzênico do tanino formando um quelato com maior estabilidade e interação com as partículas suspensas, estabilizando os flocos formados por esta interação. A adição da hemicelulose catiônica oferece melhorias para remoção de turbidez na região de pHs básicos (pior atuação do tanino) proporcionado pelo tanino, porém sua ação está condicionada a eficácia do tanino no processo de coagulação. As possíveis interações entre a hemicelulose e o efluente sugerem interações do tipo pontes de hidrogênio e dipolo-dipolo. O uso dos taninos associado à hemicelulose catiônica permite o tratamento do efluente de lavanderia industrial com a formação de um lodo de maior biodegradabilidade, sendo esta uma vantagem do ponto de vista da sustentabilidade. / Mestre em Química

Esta investigación se basa en un análisis académico, sobre las características del servicio de tercerización de lavandería industrial para la hotelería. Tiene como objetivo identificar la relación de la tercerización de servicios de lavandería industrial como una actividad estratégica y competitiva; poniendo énfasis en la relevancia de las cualidades, procesos y servicios el cual permite contribuir a la toma de decisiones, tanto para los directivos de una compañía hotelera como para todos aquellos involucrados en esta industria. Con la finalidad de brindar un panorama para entender estos conceptos, se emplea como metodología de investigación la revisión bibliográfica de fuentes académicas, publicadas preferentemente entre los años 2014 - 2020 que tratan sobre el servicio de tercerización y el área de lavandería en hoteles. El estudio permite conocer en detalle el concepto de tercerización y también, a partir de un enfoque internacional, se analizan las percepciones, implementación e insumos en su operación de los hoteles que contratan el servicio de lavandería desde el punto de vista de su relación con la calidad, efectividad, usos y características. Los resultados del estudio muestran que los elementos que los hoteles deben considerar para la contratación del servicio de tercerización de lavandería industrial están dirigidos a la información o certificaciones de la lavandería industrial enfocada en productos de la hotelería, la especialización en el rubro, los servicios que éste ofrezca y su relación precio y calidad. / This research is based on an academic analysis of the characteristics of the industrial laundry outsourcing service in the hotel industry, which aims to identify the relationship of the outsourcing of this service as a strategic and competitive activity; placing emphasis on the relevance of the qualities and processes which allows to contribute to decision making, either for the managers of a hotel or for all those who wish to learn about this activity. In order to provide an overview to understand these concepts, the research methodology used is the bibliographic review of academic sources, preferably published between the years 2014 - 2020 that deal with the outsourcing service for the laundry area in hotels. The study allows us to know in detail the concept of outsourcing and also, from an international approach, analyzes the perceptions, implementation and inputs in their operation of the hotels that hire the laundry service from the point of view of their relationship with the quality, effectiveness, uses and characteristics. Finally, the results of the study show that the elements that hotels should consider for hiring the industrial laundry outsourcing service are aimed at the information or certifications of the industrial laundry focused on hotel products, specialization in the field, the services it offers and its price and quality ratio. / Trabajo de investigación

This master’s thesis deals with problematics of natural gas microturbine integration into industrial laundry operation. This integration means utilization of waste heat for direct drying and water heating in a heat exchanger. This heated water can be used in further laundry processes, for example laundering. All the experiments were carried out on the cogeneration system that is installed in Laboratory of Energy Intensive Processes in NETME Centre at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Brno University of Technology. This system consists of a natural gas microturbine Capstone C30 with nominal electric power of 30 kW, an industrial dryer Primus DX55 with a nominal capacity of 55 kg for laundry and a heat exchanger Vakading type Vakavlas with nominal power of 53 kW. All necessary theoretical and technical preparation was done in order to carry out experiments as follows: • Standard drying program • Water accumulation test • Test of performance of heat exchanger • Direct drying with the use of microturbine’s flue gases These experiments were analyzed and discussed within this thesis. The main contribution of this work is as follows: • Summary of all the knowledge in the area of direct drying • Creation of methodology of utilization of flue gases for direct drying not only in laundry industry but in related fields • Summary of requirements and ways of heat exchanger testing and determination of heat exchanger parameters • Determination of optimal working settings of installed cogeneration system • Description of weak spots in the system and suggested improvements • Basic economic analysis of operating costs During the experiments, it was found that in case of direct drying better results could be achieved in comparison with standard drying. The functionality of the whole system together with the heat exchanger was verified and thus also the possibility of integrating the turbine into the washing process was confirmed. The integration of a natural gas microturbine is both technically and economically feasible for many industrial applications.