
Electrical Equipment Helps Laundries Achieve Cost Savings
As market competition grows ever stronger, a wide range of businesses
including laundries are faced with increased cost pressure. To increase revenue
and cut cost, many laundries have adopted the recommendations and assistance of
the CLP GREENPLUS programme. By adopting electric washing and drying
equipment, such businesses not only can reduce operating costs and improve
energy efficiency, but also provide their employees with a safer and healthier
working environment.
With 60 shops in Hong Kong and a 15,000 square-feet workshop, Sunshine
Laundry Convenience Store Co., Ltd. as early as 2006 and 2007, in the face of
rapidly increasing energy cost, aimed to mitigate such impact to its business by
introducing electric washing and drying equipment, and other energy-saving
measures into its day-to-day operations.
"Previously, our washing and drying equipment primarily used gas or other
fuels as their energy sources. Yet the prices of such fuel became more volatile
from 2006 to 2007 and even resulted in an increase of 10-15% per month, which
put heavy pressure on our operating expenses," said Mr. Ringo Wong, Managing
Director of Sunshine Laundry Convenience Store Co. Ltd.. He actively sought
solutions, and with CLP's assistance, Wong learned the advantages of electrical
equipment.
Simple implementation and operation of new equipment
"At present, in our shops, we have converted about two-thirds of our dryers
to electrical ones and in our workshop, 13 dryers are powered by electricity,"
Ringo Wong said. Following the replacement with electric dryers, energy
efficiency improved through reduced consumption of energy while energy costs
also dropped.
With nearly 20 years in the laundry sector, Wong pointed out that electric
clothes dryers provide excellent energy efficiency and drying speed, with their
drying principle making clothes softer and more comfortable. In addition, since
the electric clothes dryers do not burn gas, the working environment has become
quieter, cooler and safer while operation and maintenance are very convenient.
"Compared to traditional dryers, the electric dryers are more popular among our
staff, and thus we have adopted electrical equipment in all the stores recently
opened, including the one on Sai Yee Street in Mong Kok," Wong said.
In fact, in addition to adopting electric dryers, the company has
also implemented a number of energy-saving measures in its shops, including the
use of T5 energy-efficient fluorescent tubes and LEDs. In recent years, the
company has expanded in the self-service laundry business with the establishment
of eight 24-hour laundromats in Hong Kong. By taking advantage of CLP's non-peak
hour rates, Sunshine has not only cut its operating costs, but also successfully
attracted customers who prefer to use laundromats. The move has actually brought
in new revenue while cutting cost.