Managing a heavy-duty industrial laundry doesn’t mean you have to overhaul your entire square footage overnight. For Wasserij van der Kleij & Zn, a family-owned textile care specialist based in Utrecht, the Netherlands, the path to becoming a high-tech powerhouse wasn’t built on a single, massive gamble. Instead, it was a masterclass in scalable engineering: proving that any ambitious laundry can “start small,” de-risk automation, and let their technology grow alongside their volume.
For over 160 years, Van der Kleij has been a trusted partner for the Dutch hospitality sector. Today, the company is an absolute engine for the industry, processing a staggering 500,000 kg (500 tons) of rental linen per week. From bed sheets and bath linens to premium table and kitchen linens, their entire business model revolves around high-turnover hospitality textiles.
Accomplishing this feat requires immense operational efficiency. Backed by a team of more than 200 employees, the plant processes this massive volume in just 5 days a week across 1.5 shifts. Managing that much volume on a tight schedule leaves zero room for logistics bottlenecks; whether on the road with their dedicated fleet of 4 trailers and 14 box trucks, or inside the facility itself.
The Soiled Side Challenge: 2015–2020
The journey toward modern throughput began in 2015 when Van der Kleij moved into a brand-new facility in Utrecht. Rather than discarding past investments, they smartly migrated their reliable, existing equipment while systematically investing in new machinery where it mattered most.
By 2020, the limits of manual sorting on the soiled side became clear. Sorting mounds of mixed hotel and restaurant linen is one of the most labor-intensive, heavy, and repetitive jobs in any laundry. To increase efficiency and improve ergonomics for their workforce, Van der Kleij partnered with us at Inwatec to rethink their soiled side receiving area.
Instead of jumping into a massive, multi-robot configuration, Van der Kleij chose a conservative, proof-of-concept approach. They launched a single line featuring one of Inwatec’s very first THOR.Linen robots. By melding advanced camera vision with RFID tracking, this lone robot instantly began separating and routing 1,200 to 1,400 pieces of soiled linen per hour directly into its existing Futurail Multisort manual sorting setup.
This initial step allowed the team to iron out operational bottlenecks, train staff, and validate the ROI of robotic sorting without a massive upfront risk.
The Modular Scaling Effect
Once the technology proved its worth on the soiled side, the beauty of Inwatec’s modular architecture truly shined. Van der Kleij didn’t need to reconstruct their facility to step up production; they simply added pieces to the puzzle as their needs evolved:
- 2020: Sorting System first first THOR.Linen robot
Launched the first automatic soiled sorting line. Handled 1,200 to 1,400 pieces per hour using integrated RFID and camera vision, feeding directly into the existing Futurail manual sorting setup. - 2021: System Extension
Extended the initial soiled side system by adding a second THOR.Linen robot alongside the first, bumping robotic sorting capacity to a steady minimum of 2,000 pieces per hour. - 2022: Double Capacity Milestone
Installed a complete second automation line on the soiled side. The facility now features a fleet of four THOR robots operating on a compact footprint, engineered to sort small and large pieces with ease.
Small Footprint, Massive Flexibility
What makes the 2022 expansion a true breakthrough for the industry is how it maximized spatial efficiency. The current setup of four THOR robots handles Van der Kleij’s hotel linen on a highly optimized, compact footprint, fed by just one operator.
By integrating seamlessly with their legacy JENSEN MultiSort manual sorting setup, Van der Kleij avoided the hidden cost of a total facility teardown. Automated robots handle the heavy, repetitive work of identifying and sorting items on the soiled side, while the existing manual process handles specialty components, giving the plant total operational flexibility.
The Blueprint for Rising Laundries
For industrial laundries looking at the countless options of modern automation, Wasserij van der Kleij & Zn offers a reassuring lesson: you do not have to automate everything at once.
By starting with a single Inwatec robot in 2020 and scaling incrementally every 12 months, Van der Kleij matched their capital expenditures directly to their operational data and growing commercial volume. They saved on labor, eliminated sorting errors via precision RFID tracking and smart AI identification of untagged articles, and protected their workers from heavy, repetitive strain: all while keeping their initial financial risk remarkably low.
If you are running out of shift hours and processing hundreds of tons of textiles a week, the answer isn’t necessarily a bigger building. The answer is a modular system that is ready to grow precisely when you are.