Everyone is talking AI these days and so it’s no surprise that it’s in the same in the laundry industry too.
In general, in recent years, technological advancements have impacted almost every industry, transforming forever the way businesses operate and services are delivered. AI is being integrated into everything, from holiday booking experiences to personalising adverts on social media, from recommending what to view on a streaming service, even to opening iPhones with FaceID.
The integration of AI and automation is also revolutionising the way laundry services are conducted.
This technology is being employed to streamline processes, improve service quality, and meet the growing demand for reliability and efficient and eco-friendly solutions.
Miele at the vanguard
Miele, of course is at the vanguard and powering ahead with its use of AI. Smart Food ID automatically recognises and prepares food using a camera in the oven and with the Picture Share feature, allows an image taken by the oven camera to be forwarded to friends on social media in the blinking of an eye.
At Liver Laundry we don’t deal with ovens just the machines that wash the dirty pots, pans, crockery, aprons, tablecloths and napkins – but you get the picture.
Given Miele’s credentials in laundry appliances it surely won’t be too long before the German geniuses completely revolutionise this sector too. Indeed, the ability to keep track of the energy consumption of the washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher at all times has made Miele’s Consumption Dashboard one of the most popular features in the Miele app. (More on the app in a future blog).
AI, including machine learning and computer vision, are being used to optimise various aspects of laundry operations, enabling machines to learn from data, recognise patterns of use, and make decisions, leading to more accurate and efficient processes.
One of the most labour-intensive elements of laundry services is sorting garments. AI-powered sorting systems will revolutionise this process by automating the identification and categorisation of clothes.
Intelligent sorting
With intelligent sorting, computer vision and machine learning algorithms identify different sorts of colours and fabrics separating whites from darks, heavy from delicate, even able to recognise the difference between socks and sheets.
This has benefits for efficiency: reducing time to prepare laundry loads and improving turnaround times; and accuracy: high precision sorting reduces the chance of fabric damage and colour bleed. Clearly there would be saving too in labour costs.
Miele has long been designing and developing smart washing machines incorporating AI and IOT (Internet of Things) features from load sensing and remote use, but they recently presented a further function featuring artificial intelligence: AI Diagnostics has been live for washing machines and tumble dryers since early 2024. If fault messages are shown on the appliance, it uses AI to determine the most likely cause of the fault and then provides users with help so that they can take
corrective action themselves.
Personalising the experience
It’s still early days for AI and automation in laundry services, but much is just around the corner. It’s predicted in the near future that laundry appliances will be able to communicate with each other and other appliances around energy usage, for example. And as in AI’s integration in holiday booking – from AI-powered travel itineraries to VR tours allowing travel agents to personalise their service to individuals – AI-personalisation will become more available and common in laundry to offer bespoke services. Customers could receive recommendations based on their laundry habits, and services could be tailored to meet individual preferences and needs.
AI will of course also offer the opportunity for humans to reduce their environmental impact – something which Miele has made a priority – products and programmes developed to save water and energy and improve efficiency, as well as in the circular economy to protect natural resources.
The digital revolution may be in full swing and will continue to evolve at a rapid pace, but even with the rise and increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence, don’t be fooled that humans are becoming obsolete.
I mean, someone’s got to bring the shiny new white goods into the building. Or do they?
Call us today on 0151 263 7451 to plan your future and about our great range of Miele’s smart machines.
