Dinner Plate Washing Automation Process

"the staff are going through plates like it is going out of fashion, and with a hotel of our size it is costing us a fortune!"

Are plates being broken by staff or are "guests" using a lot of plates and staff cleaning them is costing a fortune?

A few more details might be helpful. It sounds like you want to pre rinse the food off the plates before going into the wash. If so, why not place the very dirty plates in the rack and pre rinse the plates before putting the rack into the washer?

If the staff is breaking them, rather than washing, two things come to mind.

First: A few folks should learn the joys of paying bills while unemployed. With unemployment approaching 14% replacements should be easy to find.

Second: For those folks remaining, an incentive program might be in order. It would be based on your current broken plate charges. An incentive bonus would be given to those shifts that don't break a certain quota.

Weigh the plates at the beginning and end of each shift.

What is the name and location of your emporium, I shall expect a discount on my next visit.

Why are you trying to re-invent this? Train your employees! Let them know their job is on the line!

Features & Benefits:

CHEMICAL SANITIZING: (low temp)74 racks per hour. 40 second wash time, 25 second rinse time and 25 second dwell time.

• 1.5 gallons per rack
• 2 each pumps, 61 gallons per hour each
• Chemical sanitizing
• Built-in detergent, rinse agent, and sanitizer pumps
• Wash/rinse thermometer
• Deliming switch for easy removal of hard water deposits from machine
• Interchangable upper and lower wash/rinse arms
• Built-in waste accumulator
• Built-in water pressure regulator
• Safety door switch
• 2 each 3/4 H.P. motors, 22.8 amps
• 120/60/1
• UL, NSF

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for the quick answers. I have watched what is going on and it looks like the staff pile up all the plates in a bucket on wheels then bring them back to the kitchen. Once they are there they need to rinse them and then rack them to go into the machine. It is during the loading and handling stages that they either get dropped or cracked when they are putting them in the bucket or the tray.

I am thinking if you eliminate most of the human interaction this should help. This is why I am thinking if they just put it on a conveyor and let it do all the work, all they will have to do is take the already loaded tray and put it into the machine to be washed?

Am I going overboard here by trying to automate this or is there a better solution here. I like the weighing idea buy who would weigh them, I know that this would never be carried out properly but it is an ideal solution to hold them accountable.

Thanks for all you input here folks it is much appreciated!

Thanks Lyn, I will take this into consideration. Your help is much appreciated, take care.

If the plates are slipping when being handled in the kitchen then might the answer be as simple as making it mandatory that the person wear textured rubber gloves?

Sounds like a good idea, thank you very much for your input.

Hi Tcmtech,

You are right about the cheap plates, we do need more durable ones, any brand that you would recommend?

I still think though that there must be a solution without spending $20k or more on high end plates?

Thank you for your input.

Thank you Solar Eagle, I will look into this. Your help is appreciated.

Unfortunately I don't wash dishes. Ever. Just ask my wife.

I just know that he says resturants W and X tosses out more broken stuff than he washes but Resturants Y and Z have stuff you can run over with truck that won't break!

I do know that the classic old style stamped stainless steel and aluminum alloy plates and bowls always appeal to me as a customer and I seriously doubt that they wear out either.

Thanks tcmtech.

Just look at the picture. No wonder your dishes are falling out and getting broken.

Being a hotel, you should look at royal doulton hotelwear. With thirty years experience in the hospitality industry we used their dishware and had little to no breakage. If we were only able to do the same with crystal glassware. It is slightly more expensive than typical restaurant dishware like Syracuse china for example. (~33 -42% more).

Thank you for you input here, much appreciated.

Your proposed dish cleaning system sounds familiar. When I was a kid I did a stint as a "Food Handler" (a fancy name for dish washer) on a supertanker called the Atigan Pass. I would rinse off the dishes and place them in a tray. Once the tray was full I would push a button and the tray would move on a small conveyor to the steam cleaning system. Dry the dishes, stack them and repeat. So it sounds like there are systems out there that can do the job in the manner you described. You should look at restaruant equipment stores, in major cities, for the system you need. I'm sure you will find one.

Thank you for your input.

Your problem seems to be simple to fix but you need to provide more information. What about the cutlery and the cups and tumblers?

What is the number of items you need to handle per hour?

I would like to look at your problem more closely if you are interested. You can contact me on johankerk@absamail.co.za.

I think your problem needs work study instead of automation. I suggest your waiters should be provided with a trolley with compartments in bottom (sort of closed container,with half opening on front side), middle and top. Waiter should pick up each plate and dump left overs in bottom compartment, stack the plates one above other around 6-7 stack in top compartment, middle compartment should be used to carry bowls, glasses etc.

Trolley should be taken to dish washing area and plates should be loaded in dish washer indvidualy, by destacking the plates. Stacked plates are safer to handle and can avoid breakages due to slippages as used plates normally are greasy. This is simple and economical solution.

Further addition to my previous post. Instead of providing bottom compartment for left overs, you can attach small garbage plastic bag to trolley which can be thrown away after wards.

Thank you, this sounds good!

Lyn's got the best solution. Your staff MUST handle the plates once to remove them from the table. Other handling steps are optional. The wait staff takes care when handling the dishes in front of customers. The scullery staff, on the other hand, are more concerned about speed, and the dishes get very sloppy while laying in the bus tub.

If the wait staff put the dirty dishes directly into the rack you can save two handling steps (before & after the rinse). The rolling table should be the same height as the conveyor line and be able to latch into the open end of the conveyor. Just slide the rack off the table onto the conveyor.

Also, you don't need to rinse the plates one by one; the open grid of the rack is designed to allow you to spray the dishes standing in the rack and let the debris fall into your catchment. The first stop on the conveyor should be the rinse station. This could either be a stop-point station the size of the rack or a longer tunnel so the conveyor could run continuously.

This is bang on the money, I like this. Thank you very much!

Check on "Flight Type" dish machines. No more dish racks! -- JHF

Not directly concerned with the breakage problem, but a possible reason that some plates are not cleaned fully and properly is that for many (but not all!) normal dishwashers, the plates must "face down" for washing as the pressure sprays come from below.

Even the pictures shown by dish washer manufacturers often show the plates "facing up" (as in your example), which may look good in the pictures but means that the plates are only cleaned as the spray falls back down, rain instead of pressure wash......

Try this at home (where the water pressure is usually from below), you will be amazed at the way the cleaning of such things dramatically improves.

We use probably 98% of the time, a 40°C glass program FOR ALL OF OUR DISHES; PLATES AND POTS AND PANS.

Only oven dishes sometimes need a "Better" program I find.

A further improvement that many can make with regard to plate washing is to NOT use those detergent "Tabs" or "Tablets". They are expensive and if you check the weight of the tabs against the weight of the cheapest "old fashioned" powders.

Some of the Tabs imply that no salt is needed. Total rubbish if you really want clean plates and no calcium buildup in the machine.....assuming a hard water area of course.

Here (in Germany) there is a huge difference in weight and price between powders and Tabs, a price factor alone with regard to weight gives a factor of 4 times more expensive for Tabs. A waste of money.

Also, salt usage with regard to the salt generally sold (and bought of course) is far higher than it needs to be. Salt tablets sold for larger water softeners are far cheaper and better. The tablets are almost an inch wide and extremely hard and till they are small enough to pass through the filter, some months will pass, whereas the salt powder probably does not stay put for a week....

I buy a 25Kg. sack of salt tablets once every 5 years or so (I have forgotten exactly) and we use the machine at least twice a day....

Salt refilling is only needed 2 or 3 times a year!!!!