Train counter people to be productive
The best run plants I have observed are the ones where the counter people take
an active part in management and production.
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The counter people are the ones who can easily check quality and aid in
production. The biggest bottleneck most plants have is at the spotting station.
Failure to keep up production, poor cleaning, missed stains and re-runs lead to
bad service.
Your counter people should be trained to uphold the quality and aid in
production. Managing a drycleaning operation requires the assistance of your
counter employees.
Drycleaning management
Counter employees can easily observe if the level and the drycleaning standards
are under par. They can observe if the drycleaning solvent and filtering
systems of your cleaning machine are operating properly.
Every so often they should take a swatch test. This can easily be done by
cutting a clean white cotton cloth in half and pinning it to the pocket or
lining of a light colored garment to be cleaned.
After cleaning they can compare the clean sample with the uncleaned sample and
report signs of graying to the cleaner.
There should also be a general store rule that the counter employees or anyone
else passing the drycleaning machine should check the sight glass and filter
pressure.
A cloudy condition in the sight glass is the sign of water.
Dye or colored solvent is a sign of impure solvent. The solvent color should be
the same as light colored beer.
Filter pressure five pounds above normal should be reported to the cleaner. High
filter pressure leads to redeposition and graying.
Stains
One of the biggest bottlenecks is stained garments that go to the presser after
cleaning.
When the presser starts to press a garment and notices a stain, there is a loss
of rhythm and a great deal of lost time
When garments are received at the counter, all stains should be noted. It is
often a waste of time to just merely put a stain sticker on the garments.
Stained garments should be hung up and then given to the spotter.
Garment checking
The responsibility for checking the pockets for pens and other objects should be
done by the counter employees. Spotters and drycleaners usually do not have the
time.
The counter employees should also be the ones to detect bad trimmings and
possible color problems. The job of covering trimmings with tinfoil should be
untaken by the counter employees to save time.
The test for the serviceability of plastic trimmings can easily be done by
putting a drop of amyl acetate on your finger. Then touch the beading and an
unserviceable beading will be revealed by a sticky condition.
Utilizing time
The counter employees should utilize the time when the spotter-drycleaner goes
to lunch.
They can run the next load of drycleaning or hang the garments up after a load
of drycleaning is through. This time period is also the perfect time for the
counter employees to do some pre-spotting on some garments.
There are very safe prepared protein, tannin and dryside agents that can be used
for pre-spotting.
This is also a good time to pre-spot since the garment will have enough time to
dry before cleaning.
Checking for moisture
Anybody can go back and check a load of garments for possible moisture in the
solvent, which can lead to shrinkage and redeposition. Check the pockets or
linings of garments that have been drycleaned. Badly wrinkled linings are a
sign of excessive moisture in the solvent.
Review of drycleaning problems
1. High filter pressure causes slow solvent flow and leads to redeposition,
linting and graying.
2. Cloudy solvent is a sign of moisture and leads to shrinkage and redeposition.
3. Low pressure is a sign of a bad pump or a ruptured filter that leads to
redepostion, graying and linting.
4. Wrinkled lining is a sign of moisture which leads to redeposition and
shrinkage.
