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Demo Videos: Read the article and then click here to see the Equipment in Action
by Michael Griffin
Most drycleaners believe that since basically similar equipment is used on the cleaning end of each operation, what separates one cleaner from another are the stain removal and pressing/finishing aspects of a shop.
It seems a couple of recent trends in the marketplace have only made this fact more evident, with tighter pricing and competition affecting the industry along with an increase in the use of wet cleaning by many cleaners.
This potentially puts a heightened focus on effective spotting techniques and quality pressing as the keys for cleaners to retain customers and build business in the modern market. Creating that perception of valued, professional service in a customer's mind is important to over-come the price factor when battling the cost-cutting outfits around the corner.
And within an environment where the costs to run a dryclean business - from building utilities to fuel to insurance rates - are continually rising, cleaners are looking for equipment and processes that can help streamline the operation while keeping that quality and service at a high level and remaining profitable.
To enhance his production levels while maintaining quality on the finishing end, Tim Nichols of Neighborhood Cleaners in Woodstock, Va., has become a big user and proponent of the modern tensioning machines to assist with pressing.
"European-style finishing and tensioning equipment for the drycleaning and laundry industry is the most revolutionary improvement to garment finishing in over 50 years," according to Nichols, who operates two shops in the Shenandoah Valley with Sean Corso.
"We personally use Fimas and Hi-Steam products for our in-store operations and apparel every day, and have gained a first-class reputation for delivering the highest possible quality in the area," he adds.
Nichols and staff are so proficient in the modern equipment that Neighborhood Cleaners operates as not only a local cleaner’s, but also an equipment distributor and a demonstration facility/plant for wet cleaning and dry cleaning operations and equipment, along with sales and training for tensioning machines, pants toppers, form finishers, shirt units, spotting boards, and other pressing and finishing equipment.
Always looking to incorporate modern advances, he believes that many of today's new fibers need the special attention of a professional drycleaner in order to keep them looking fresh - and keeping up on equipment and techniques will help distinguish the good cleaner from the discount operations that keep appearing.
"The shift in our economy from a manufacturing- to service-oriented economy has created a greater number of garments in need of cleaning," he adds, meaning that more and more garments could be coming into cleaners' shops, for either wet cleaning or dry cleaning.
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