Switching to Relay drastically reducing the time previously wasted on manual communication and device issues, enhanced operational efficiency. Magic Laundry Services has also experienced substantial cost savings by eliminating the need for frequent repairs and replacements of their old, easily broken walkie-talkies.
SUPERLITE BLOCK LONE BUTTE
Magic Laundry Services Unifies Multi-Facility Operations and Boosts Efficiency with Relay
USE CASES
For Magic Laundry Services, coordinating operations across three bustling, industrial-sized facilities is vital to serving its high-profile hospitality clients. The business’ previous walkie-talkies were bulky to carry, prone to breakage, and suffered from limited range, leading to wasted time and operational delays. Switching to Relay has provided seamless inter-building communication, more device accountability, and powerful management features, significantly streamlining workflows and reducing downtime.
Orchestrating Laundry Services for Hospitality Giants
Magic Laundry Services operates a large-scale industrial laundry service in Montabello, California, processing high-quality linens for an impressive roster of clients including local high-end hotels, resorts, and casinos, across three adjacent buildings. Joe Gayton, Assistant VP at Magic Laundry Services, described their environment on a typical day, “We have automated equipment. We have people digging inside of laundry carts, putting linen in, taking it out, sorting linen, walking here, walking there. It’s a lot of moving parts, machines, equipment, bells, whistles, you name it. There’s a whole lot going on.”
In this fast-paced setting, with departments from transportation and engineering to production all requiring constant coordination, clear and reliable communication is not just a convenience, but an operational necessity.
The Challenge: Breakdowns, Blind Spots, and Wasted Steps
Before adopting Relay, Magic Laundry Services relied on traditional walkie-talkies, which they found cumbersome and prone to breakage. Gayton recounted, “We used to have these old black walkie-talkies, kind of big ones, that you would clip on your belt. Then you’d climb on a machine and it would get caught, slip, fall, and break.” Not only were these awkward to carry, but each broken unit meant a significant expense. Furthermore, when these walkie-talkies broke, repairs could take a long time. Gayton noted, “We would send them to go get repaired and it would be out a month or six weeks or longer.”
The range of the walkie-talkies had often fallen short, impacting communications between the three buildings. When this happened, significant time was lost getting messages to the right person, as Gayton and his team would spend significant time walking within or between the buildings. Channel management also proved problematic, “Each building would be on one channel, but then everybody would forget to change channels to communicate.” Due to the business’ fast-paced operations, losing time and missing messages was far from ideal.
Finding the Right Solution in Relay: Already Trusted By Current Clients
About three years ago, with their existing walkie-talkie stock dwindling, Gayton began searching for a better alternative and discovered Relay on LinkedIn. His research revealed that many hotels, including Magic Laundry Services’s own clientele, were using the system for communications. After getting positive feedback from one of their clients, he approached Relay.
The key selling points for Magic Laundry Services included Relay’s competitive pricing and significant added features. “You’re going to get so much more for less money,” Gayton explained, mentioning GPS tracking, geofencing, and language translation. “It was a pretty easy sell,” Gayton recalled. “But cost isn’t always the main thing. It’s also performance, availability, effectiveness, those kinds of things.”
Additionally, he also noted the convenience for managers like himself, “I’m the assistant VP here now, so I’m on call 24/7 anyways and this is just another tool that helps me to be able to do that,” adding that with Relay on his phone, he can be two miles away and still keep in touch with his team.
Transformative Results: Streamlined Operations, Enhanced Oversight, and Proven ROI
The switch to Relay immediately brought some substantial improvements, with Magic Laundry Services seeing an increase in the efficiency of communication between buildings due to Relay’s more reliable connectivity. Gayton shared, “Now with the Relays, we’re able to communicate a lot more effectively and in a timely manner.”
On top of that, the business is seeing cost savings from not having to frequently replace broken devices like they used to, “There hasn’t been any replacements or repairs or anything like that since the new ones we got. So, I think in that sense, we are saving money.” Not only are Relay’s devices more durable, but their smaller, more manageable size has been an improvement for the staff carrying them to communicate across the facilities.
Gayton has also enjoyed the extra operational insights he’s gained with Relay. “I’m able to monitor all of the voice traffic and let’s say two people are having a problem trying to fix a machine or something, I can chime in or I can go out there and help.” Relay’s geofencing and GPS tracking has been invaluable for locating misplaced devices and preventing them from getting lost off-property in the first place. Looking forward, Magic Laundry Services also plans to leverage Relay for their facility, about 60 miles away.
“I would say the biggest plus for us is that we don’t have to go walk to find anybody, being that it’s such a big facility and three separate buildings. Now we’re able to communicate with another employee in another building. If I need something or something’s coming, I can let them know without me having to stop what I’m doing to go find them, and then come all the way back. So, we’ve been able to save a lot of wasted time.”
– Joe Gayton Assistant VP at Magic Laundry Services
- The largest hospitality linen provider in Southern California
Operated across three separate plants on a single property
Located Montabello, California
INDUSTRY
OBJECTIVE
Magic Laundry Services aimed to boost efficiency and unify operations across their three facilities by replacing their unreliable, bulky, and limited-range walkie-talkies.
RESULT
