Case Study

Loewenstein Hospital Reduces Workwear Costs by 60% with Polytex’s Automated Workwear System

LOEWENSTEIN HOSPITAL deploys Polytex’s internal workwear management solutions to ensure compliance with health and hygiene standards, reduce costs, eliminate labor-intensive processes, and create a more pleasant and professional work environment.

Background

Loewenstein Hospital is the one of the largest, most comprehensive rehabilitation centers in the world. It has about 300 patient beds and a highly skilled, multidisciplinary team of 800 employees. Managing such a large workforce requires efficient systems, especially for employee workwear, which is critical for maintaining health and hygiene standards.

scrubs dispenser, scrub machines - Loewenstein Hospital cuts annual workwear purchases by 60% and boosts employee satisfaction

Top Five Achievements

With the help of Polytex Technology, Loewenstein Hospital was able to:

  1. Reduce scrubs replacement costs by 30%
  2. Reduce annual clothing purchases by 60%
  3. Eliminate labor-intensive processes
  4. Improve employee satisfaction
  5. Ensure compliance with health and hygiene standards
Loewenstein Hospital customer review

Customer Testimonials

Embracing the Polytex workwear management solution is one of the smartest moves we could have made. It completely transformed our workwear management process and created a more pleasant and professional work environment.

Yehuda Stauber

Hospital Warehouse Manager, Lowenstein Hospital

Customer Needs

The hospital had more than 90 variations of workwear, with many different colors to differentiate staff roles. The huge inventory and inefficient management system kept 2-3 people busy full time just managing workwear. On top of that, employees were dissatisfied, citing inconvenience and lack of availability of scrubs. Loewenstein Hospital needed to simplify its workwear inventory, modernize its workwear system, reduce replacement costs and improve employee satisfaction.

Requirements

The hospital decided to overhaul its workwear inventory and management. It specified the following key requirements:

  • Eliminate manual processes: Identify and reduce labor-intensive and time-consuming processes.
  • Improve availability: Enable staff to collect and return items independently to eliminate the hassle and bottleneck of the central storage room.
  • Monitor scrubs usage: Track actual scrubs utilization and monitor laundry service status in real time.
  • Cut scrubs replacement costs: Minimize the potential for lost scrubs and reduce the variety of items.
  • Comply with hygiene policies: Ensure that the distribution and return of scrubs conforms to stringent hygiene standards and avoid spreading pathogens via soiled scrubs.

The Solution

To improve its workwear system processes and reduce costs, Loewenstein Hospital chose Polytex to provide a fully automated workwear management system with the following attributes:

  • Automated units: The hospital deployed two Polytex hospital scrub dispensing units and two return units, effectively automating the entire uniform management system.
  • Distributed locations: To increase convenience, save time for employees, and free up space in the center of the hospital, the garment dispensing and collecting machines were installed near the staff entrance on the way to the car park.
  • Usage tracking: The Polytex Total-Care Manager cloud-based web application is connected to the uniform dispensing and return machines and to the inventory system. It tracks daily dispensing and return patterns, identifies peak usage times, and provides real-time reports and notifications, helping managers control laundry service costs.

Results

Following deployment of the Polytex solution, Loewenstein Hospital has significantly simplified their internal workwear system and reduced costs across the board.

Better labor utilization
Automated processes enabled the hospital to reassign staff from time-consuming manual workwear management to other tasks.
Full monitoring and control
The Polytex solution enables the Warehouse Manager to accurately track and detect non-returned or damaged workwear items, track utilization and control laundry service costs.
Streamlined inventory
Orbotech can now track and analyze the workwear inventory via the Polytex Total-Care Manager.
Reduced workwear costs
The optimized inventory enabled the hospital to cut its annual workwear inventory purchase by 60% and reduce the cost of replacement scrubs by about 30%. With usage tracked to individuals, employees took better care of clothing, reducing damage.
Improved customer satisfaction
The Polytex garment management system ensured 24/7 accessibility and availability of workwear items even during off-peak hours and weekends. An internal customer survey showed a significant increase in the level of employee satisfaction.