Miele’s Little Giants produce big results

Suited for smaller hotels and B&Bs in North America, Miele USA has launched its Little Giants washers and dryers, which provide professional-grade disinfection and fabric care in a high-efficiency, compact system.

According to Paulo Rocha, head of sales of HCS Business Unit in the NAN Region at Miele Professional USA, the German-engineered machines offer high-performance heater elements, intelligent water intake controls and short cycle times as low as 25 minutes. Towels, bedding, tablecloths and garments are cleaned, dried and ready for use again in less than 86 minutes.

The units offer a large, 18-lb. capacity, which means “less loads, leading to more efficiency, less manpower and less water used,” explained Rocha.

The washers feature Miele’s patented Honeycomb Drum, which ensures better wetting and drenching of textiles and improved dewatering in the spin cycle, according to the company. “This allows clothes and textiles to come out of the wash cycle retaining less water, reducing the drying cycle and requiring significantly less electricity, water and total cycle time,” said Rocha. “The web-like surface structure of the drum creates a thin film of water between the drum and the laundry. This allows laundry to glide more gently and protects the fibers with optimum care. The smaller, smoothly polished shouldered holes in the walls of the drum are also gentle on your textiles and prevent pilling and laddering. Foreign objects such as paper clips no longer end up in the drain pump.”

For those properties looking for energy efficiency, the laundry system would be a fine choice, according to Rocha.

“The new Little Giants dryer was named to the coveted Energy Star Most Efficient list in 2020 for delivering cutting-edge energy efficiency along with the latest in technological innovation,” he said. “This rating represents the year’s very best for energy savings and environmental protection. With precision water and energy use, the Little Giants provide a sustainable laundry solution that reduces resources and operating costs.”

Both washer and dryer are available with a Lotus White or stainless-steel front, and are offered in a stackable, small footprint for small spaces. They also offer high-temperature disinfection programs.

“Today’s washing machines should feature high-temperature disinfection, which is a safe and secure process for infection control,” said Rocha. “Disinfection can only be achieved from chemicals or heat, and heat is the safer choice. While high temperatures help disinfect textiles, the ability to hold that high temperature for a specific amount of time is critical. Specifically, the temperature should be held as high as 160 degrees F (71.1 degrees C) for up to 25 minutes, which satisfies the CDC requirements for thermal disinfection. Little Giants machines are highly programmable and unique in their temperature programmability, offering narrow variations of 3 degrees F up or down. This allows thermal disinfection to be achieved easily and accurately.”

Users can control the disinfection programming and other settings with the M Touch Flex user interface, which, Rocha noted, “is a convenient, full-touch interface using color text display. The interface, with no buttons or dials, has easy-to-use navigation in up to 32 languages. There is a plasma coating around the entire control system, making it indestructible.”

The Little Giants are marketed to small hotels, B&Bs, spas and catering facilities, but for large hotels and resorts, Rocha recommended the company’s Professional’s Benchmark machines due to their larger capacities.