Smart Laundry in Japan
Who would’ve thought watching a short TV program about coin laundries would be interesting. But, that is what I did last night in Tokyo and it was interesting and I learned several things about coin laundries in Japan.
For example, some of Japan’s laundries have:
Washing machines just for women. Connected to their smart phone by an app, they can make the machine’s window opaque to avoid having men with a fetish for women’s or kids’ underwear (yes, there are a good number of such sickos out there) steal the underwear. They can also lock the machine with that app and be notified when the cycle is nearly done.
Beauty shops. Get your hair done while doing your laundry. Hey, why not.
Machines just for sports shoes — a special washing machine with brushes on the agitator to gently scrub the shoes and a special dryer above the machine (similar to those shoe dryers in gyms). Best way to get the family’s tennies looking like new.
Machines built into the outside wall just for washing a pet’s smelly bed, blanket, etc. Washing out in the open keeps the smell out of the main laundry. The holes in the washing machine drums are bigger than those for human clothes to accommodate pet hair. And, while washing Fido’s stuff Fido can have a bath in the pet shower room that is also part of the laundromat.
Giant machines like the one a customer stuffed a humongous stuffed toy in to wash then dry. The stuffed toy the lady in the program was washing was the sumo of stuffed characters.
Special futon cleaning machines. Many Japanese families sleep on futons and although it’s common to see them hanging from balcony rails or clothes racks on balconies, they need a deeper cleaning from time to time. These machines look like a rice drying rack and the futon is draped over them and slid into the compartment. The heat is high enough to kill mites and ticks, too.
One company that operates 620 coin laundries across Japan showed a bit of their operations. They have a 24/7 call center and cameras monitoring every location. They also use technology to resolve problems with machines.
They said their operation cost about 400M yen (about US$4M) to set up and each laundry location brings in about 12M yen per year. That’s about $7.5M per year for their owned laundromats.
Asked what the number one SOS call is from the locations they answered, people wanting to know if a particular item can be laundered; for example, sofa cushions. The cameras In the laundries are so good that an operator can zoom in to read the fine print on the label that explains about how to wash or clean the item and then give the caller the proper advice.
I think coin laundry operators around the world can learn from this. In fact, I think some non-laundry operations — like banks in Japan — can learn from them too, especially when it comes to using current technology.
