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Lavanderia Moderna, quality and professionalism for over fifty years

From the butchery to the laundry. His allergies to animal blood and his determination to make his own path in selfemployment and entrepreneurship were crucial elements that determined him to acquiring a small laundry and starting a new and exciting career journey. A story unfolding since 1974 – in particular since Monday 7 January – for half a century. Work, spirit of self-sacrifice, the desire to grow and professionalism have been the cornerstones and the real added value to start a business that after 50 years is a flagship in the industrial laundry market.

From the butchery to the laundry.

“Who would have ever thought of reaching this point professionally?” is it asking himself Gianni Vasselli, together with his wife Luciana Lorenzi, the founders of the small laundry shop established in San Lazzaro di Savena, just few kilometres away from Bologna (where it is still located) since 1974.
A professional experience that we have started together, as Ms. Luciana reminds us, side by side, also thanks to the experience I gained in a small laundry when I was very young. We had started from zero, we made the so-called “gavetta”, what we now call apprenticeship. Then we made the step to self-employment.

History

I was 19 years old when we started with a small laundry, and with a lot of sacrifice, we accomplished our dream: washing, ironing up to 9 shirts in an hour, and then our prodigious deliveries with the Apecar, the first transport vehicle available heading in the direction Bologna. Can you believe that when Francesca (my daughter) was born, I gave birth on Friday, and on Monday, I showed up at the laundry with the stroller? We didn’t have any alternatives; we had to fulfill our commitments.
A mix of hard work, passion and motivation to grow. An year marked up by episodes that remained well imprinted in the memories of those who also lived them, from the referendum on the divorce law, to the massacre in Piazza della Loggia in Brescia, from the resignation of the US President Nixon following the Watergate scandal to another bomb that hit the Italicus Rome-Munich train near San Benedetto Val di Sembro, ironically, in the metropolitan city of Bologna where the Modern Laundry business have started its activity.

“One thing was certain: in Italy people began to fear and this was the context in which our laundry began operating. From the very beginning we never thought of measuring our capacity in the quantity of processed linen, as for us is essential to deliver quality, not quantity, underlines Gianni Vasselli.
We are happy about our 6.000 Kg of processed linen, fallowing always the same principle, making a good job. We always aim for the best possible result. My daughter has joined the laundry since she was almost 18, now there are 30 years since she is in the business. Now the laundry shop is managed by me and my daughter, as my wife got retired. We mainly deal with catering and small to medium-sized hotels. We work with Italian products including the textiles, consider that we use the 30-40 fabric for the bed sheets usually supplied to 5-star hotels, but that we offer to the 5-rooms B&Bs.

Objectives and prospects

Regarding the detergents, we have started many years ago with Unilever and then changed to Christeyns with whom we have a very good relationship as they guarantee high-quality and certified sanitizing washing methods.
Imagine that many years before the pandemic, we were the first ones to introduce Sanoxy washing system produced by Christeyns in our laundry, highly sanitizing and also water recycling, reducing the water consumption to more than 50%. Nowadays the washing methods have significantly changed and the market is constantly evolving. When we have started the activity, our customers were mainly coming from the food and catering sector, now the trend has completely changed with 30% in the food and catering sector, and 70% in the hospitality industry. Service quality and prompt deliveries. We mainly operate in the province of Bologna, strategically positioned in the event of an emergency for one of our customers, we are able to promptly respond to their needs as quickly as possible, even on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.

Which are your future goals and perspectives? We are constantly innovating, in 2023 we have installed a biological purification plant, but the highest goal is to continue everything we have managed to achieve so far. Which was the most struggling moment for you? “The skyrocketing energy prices and difficulties in finding raw materials have been moments of great concern. We have made a choice according to the market trend, but in a conscious way, because we believe that if our customers’ business continues to be successful, it will inevitably have a positive impact on ours as well. We have kept our price list unchanged, but to cope with the rising costs, we have added a percentage increase to the basic prices, pointing out that it would be temporary, and so it was. Let’s share some figures to have a more complete picture on the processing capacity of the laundry: 6.000 Kg per day for 300 customers, these are the numbers with which we ensure quality. Over time, we have built a solid portfolio of customers with whom we have developed a strong sense of loyalty. For our 50th anniversary, we opened for the first time the doors of our laundry to customers and suppliers, so that they could see live how their fabrics are treated. Process, machinery, processing, washing methods and fabric care under the magnifying glass.

For our 50th anniversary, we opened for the first time the doors of our laundry to customers and suppliers, so that they could see live how their fabrics are treated. Process, machinery, processing, washing methods and fabric care under the magnifying glass.
Methods, machinery, processing, washing and fabric care under the magnifying glass. Quality is only achievable with a dedicated and well-functioning personnel, which requires training and commitment to the job. There is a group of female operators that used to work for us 30 years ago that still come to visit us and with whom we still have an extraordinary friendship relationship”. How did you lived the experience of the two long years of sanitary crisis, marked up by lockdowns, vaccinations, masks, and the anxiety regarding the closure of the accommodation facilities? “The fact that we had to close our activity from one day to another for three long months during the pandemics was despicable and humiliating.

The fiftieth

We spoke as if we were one big family to our employees, suppliers, and customers, we have transformed the necessity in a virtue: we have crossed an unprecedented terrible moment, that never happened in 50 years. Altogether, I must say that growing a laundry business gives a lot of satisfaction but also leaves some scars, my 120 stitches on my hand are a visible prove of the work behind it. The attention to details is also an added value: in the laundry we do not use roll containers but only laundry bags that are thoroughly washed each time, and the linen remains cleaner and more protected”. The daughter, Francesca Vasselli runs the company together with her father Gianni. “I stepped into the laundry business before graduating high school and then I started learning all the trades, from the laundry shop in all its vital aspects, to the administrative office, and finally to the commercial front line. Washing, ironing, logistics, packaging, delivery of goods, that is all we have to deal with, daily. Here we have applied the work flexibility long before the labour market reforms. In fact, rather than flexibility we speak of adaptability. Because the real difficulty in the laundry is to rely on skilled workforce. Machine automation is essential but human control is equally indispensable. Staff replacement and the generational transition is a critical element that needs to be managed with calm, by trying a training coordination between the outgoing and incoming staff: we have already included young workers in the off-season so that young people can work alongside the more experienced ones. In the laundry, investing in human resources is essential. Our concept of automation is certainly not to replace labour but to simplify the workflow.

We plan to proceed shortly with an investment in automation for digital support at least in the sorting area. A counting and sorting system would allow us to operate with a sorting conveyor belt on which the operator would drop the soiled linen. The linen is transported right in front of the lanes, where it would be sorted. This would certainly allow us to minimize errors since everything would be properly checked, thus enhancing the role of the role of the company’s existing workforce. You can imagine that during the inventory, everything would match and would be just a click away. Digitalization simplifies processes. Already today, the linen is divided, one part of the laundry is handling hotel linen and another part is processing the restaurant, food and catering linen. Linen is subjected to two completely different washes; the soiled table cloth requires a more specific treatment. A napkin that arrived to around 100/120 washes, has already reached its lifespan. A high-quality bedsheet should last at least 200 washes. With today’s washing methods, fabrics are much less stressed and inevitably have a longer lifespan. With the washing methods of nowadays, the fabrics are significantly less stressed and consequently have a longer lifespan”.

One last question (to Gianni), are you planning to expand your business in the nearest future? We have never considered to expand our activity beyond our current 1.200 square meters, and particularly the 500 square meters of the laundry laboratory, so it will be necessary to specifically study the management of existing spaces to determine where to place any additional equipment, like the counting and sorting system for the linen that we would like to acquire”, concludes Gianni Vasselli with a little bit of scepticism.

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