Hospital Laundry Management: How BIH77 Achieved 99% Automation

BACKGROUND

BIH77 is an award-winning French industrial laundry provider serving a massive healthcare network of 39 member institutions, with some facilities located over 150 km away. Processing 24 tonnes of laundry daily, the organization manages the textile needs of large workforces across diverse hospital departments. Because high standards of hygiene and sustainability are central to their brand, BIH77 sought to modernize its hospital laundry management to ensure reliability and operational continuity.

TOP FIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

The integration of Polytex technology has delivered substantial operational improvements and measurable results for the BIH77 healthcare group.

99% of operations managed through remote laundry management solutions
24/7 garment availability for 500 employees across 14 hospital sites
Real-time inventory visibility through Polytex Total Care Manager
Elimination of manual distribution bottlenecks and human error
Optimization of floor space in high-cost urban healthcare environments

Customer Testimonials

With the Polytex Total Care Manager, we gained full operational control over our processes. We established on-call maintenance seven days a week, and 99% of our operations are handled remotely, which is critical for our distant facilities.

Serge Gibert

Hospital Laundry Manager, BIH77

CUSTOMER NEEDS

To maintain peak performance, the company required a robust laundry management solution capable of ensuring round-the-clock garment availability for medical staff. The ideal system needed to function efficiently within space-constrained urban facilities, provide real-time inventory visibility, enable remote oversight, and consistently meet stringent clinical hygiene and compliance standards.

Prior to transitioning to an automated framework, BIH77 faced significant logistical bottlenecks: the manual distribution process was labor-intensive, lacked transparency, and offered limited visibility into stock levels. This absence of granular inventory data led to recurring cycles of overstocking and garment shortages, hindered cost control, and made it difficult to guarantee that every medical professional had timely access to the correct uniform, regardless of shift or location.

REQUIREMENTS

The organization sought a modern solution to streamline their garment lifecycle and ensure peak operational efficiency. The primary objectives included:

Continuous availability: The system needed to facilitate 24/7 access to clean garments, including during night shifts and weekends.
Space optimization: Compact equipment design was essential due to the high cost and limited floor space in the Paris region.
Inventory traceability: To prevent shortages, management required real-time visibility into stock levels through digital laundry management healthcare tools.
Remote operational control: Centralized monitoring and maintenance were necessary to support widely distributed systems without frequent onsite visits.

THE SOLUTION

BIH77 implemented the Polytex automated garment distribution system across its primary hospital centers. This intervention replaced individual, personalized lockers with a centralized, automated vending architecture, ensuring that medical staff have access to clean garments at all times through a streamlined and reliable process. This transition was designed to maximize efficiency and hygiene while minimizing the time spent by healthcare staff on administrative tasks related to their uniforms, allowing them to focus more on patient care.

Automated Vending: High-capacity, small-footprint machines distribute folded garments including doctor-style gowns, tunics, and trousers.
PM8 Management Software: A centralized platform provides real-time alerts; it detects shortages and allows for remote troubleshooting for 99% of interventions.
Badge-Integrated Allocation: Staff use existing badges to withdraw garments. The system credits the badge only when soiled items are returned; this ensures a closed-loop cycle of accountability.
Role-Based Access: The software enforces compliance by limiting garment quantities based on professional roles: two sets for general staff and four for physicians.
Standardized Inventory: The facility transitioned from personalized garments to standardized all-white outfits; this allows for massified purchasing and uniform machine settings.

RESULTS

The implementation of Polytex technology has delivered measurable success and significant peace of mind for the management team. The move from manual to automated systems has redefined the facility's ROI, proving that investment in automation leads to long-term financial health and improved service standards for the entire organization. This success has solidified the organization's reputation as a leader in healthcare logistics and has paved the way for further innovation across its member institutions.

99% remote operational control: Centralized management has virtually eliminated the need for onsite technical visits to member institutions.
Guaranteed 24/7 service integrity: Automated dispensers ensure that clean garments are available every day of the week, including weekends and night shifts.
Enhanced inventory accountability: Real-time data and replenishment alerts allow management to identify and address potential shortages before they impact clinical teams.
Improved workflow efficiency: Moving from manual distribution to automated hospital laundry management solutions has significantly reduced the time required to manage uniforms and hospital linens.
Modernized staff experience: The implementation has increased staff satisfaction by providing a reliable and intuitive system that meets the needs of a modern healthcare workforce.
Consistently high hygiene: Automated dispensing and controlled access ensure reliable compliance with strict healthcare hygiene requirements.