The massive central-processing factories of post-war Britain quickly gave way to the high-street unit shop explosion in the early 1950’s, these peaked in the 1970’s, stalled in the 1980’s and have been declining in numbers ever since. All well documented through the years in the pages of Laundry and Cleaning News.
The component parts of our industry, which operate as a viable unit, are complex and very much interlocked. But disturb one element, and the rest fails to perform to specification. The same applies as much to the drycleaning machine as it does to the system in which it operates.
Böwe, from being the pioneers of the dry-to-dry drycleaning machine, has been at the forefront of machine design and processing methods. It has, over many years, been a technical contributor to the Hoenstein German Dry Cleaning Research Institute. The drycleaning machine industry has proliferated with the advent of “Meccano construction methods” being applied to many of the market’s brand-names. The same set of parts are used in the machines, only the configuration changes from one machine to the other, with a few cosmetic touches thrown in to distinguish them from each other.
Processing Cost
They all perform the same processing function and have a processing cost factor which is rarely highlighted during the sales period. Low-priced machines with high processing costs are not cheap machines. Capital cost, running costs plus the residual value of the machine after six years operational use are the component parts of the overall cost. A higher capital cost, for a quality machine, will guarantee the best figures for the other elements of the equation. How often do you hear of a 40% buy-back figure for a correctly maintained six-year-old machine? The current situation in our industry is one of over-capacity, too many machines in use, too many machines on the market (new and pre-owned) and a shrinking turnover in the retail outlets. Not a formula for responsible capital investment. What caused the problem and where do we go from here ? The Clean Air Act reduced the filth and grime that once contaminated our clothing, improvements in garment design and fabric structure greatly assisted their ability to be drycleaned and drycleaning machine design, together with chemical formulation advances, took the industry to the level of professionalism and hygienic excellency that prevails today. So where are the pitfalls? Troubles
High street rents are exorbitant, car parking near impossible, and there are too many drycleaners whose shopfittings and drycleaning machines are outdated but who have not got the finance to update either.
Turnover has failed to keep pace with inflation and they are faced with the new threat of drycleaning services operating at the supermarkets. These do provide parking, one-stop shopping, high-quality drycleaning and reasonable price-lists plus they have ten trading-hours a day. The private drycleaner will find it hard to compete with that.
And the remedy is…
There are a significant number of private drycleaners who are highly-professional, well-established, strategically located and equipped with modern, efficient and durable machinery. They draw the better quality clothing, higher-income customer who does not consider the price-list more influential than the wholesome environment, the well-trained, polite staff and immaculate presentation of the finished garments. (Those drycleaners not aware of these basic requirements should take note here).
The retail customer is far more discerning today and chooses the contents of his/her wardrobe with a much more practised eye than ever before.
Clothes that can be home-washed are gaining popularity, permanent-crease skirts and trousers are reducing the frequency of visits to the cleaners. Casual dress is more common and the business formality of the dark-suit has all but disappeared. The three segments of the drycleaning industry are :
* high-quality, private unit-shops
* supermarket outlets for high-volume, middle-range clothing
*traditional drycleaning units that are currently struggling to find an identity and are looking to lose their turnover share.
It does not need a rocket-scientist to see a way out of their present situation.
Technology
Böwe has been active in developing and supporting the introduction of Information Technology (IT) into the drycleaning processing chain. This includes barcoding all garments, computer storage of customer database information, conveyors network for work distribution, automatic transfer, order assembly and final conveyor-storage for customer collection.
Such a system provides more space, a well-planned work unit, increases output per operator by 30% plus and reduces, or eliminates compensation claims for lost garments. It allows dramatic price reductions to a standard, single-price per piece and stimulates a high-volume of extra incoming garments.
The extra capital needed for such a project is, sadly, clouding the logic of the obvious advantages it would draw. In practical terms it is not expensive and the increased turnover will pay for the upgrade, producing a surprisingly short payback time.
How often has the industry heard the comment “I would like a Böwe but they are too expensive.” Böwe has a clear policy on the residual value of its machines which alone should clear that hurdle.
Stunned
Recent reports in this journal have stunned the industry with news of machinery agencies closing, being transferred or taken over by their stranded employees. It is clear explanation of the saying “What goes around, comes around” and justifies the sound advice given by one of the industry sages years ago to his young salesmen “Always be polite to your peers on the way up the ladder of life, you may have to pass them again, on your way down.” How many of the current industry casualties, I wonder, wish that they had received such counselling in their formative years ?
Long view
When purchasing a drycleaning machine the transaction is not the completion of the deal but should be considered the beginning of a long relationship with the machine and, hopefully, with the company providing it. I believe the ingredient here is mutual trust, hard to create, but easy to destroy.
I believe this article would not be complete without a sincere mention of the groundwork and excellent machinery designed and manufactured by Neil & Spencer of Leatherhead. In parallel with Böwe of Augsburg they created the foundation stone for what we see about us today in the drycleaning industry.
From old oaks came little acorns, of those that sprouted, many wilted and some died.
Böwe is the “old oak” of the drycleaning business and many successful businesses have matured and expanded under its protective and secure branches during the past fifty years of continuous trading world-wide.
One final word of warning. Do you remember when the laundry industry laughed at the emergence of launderettes in the 1950’s. Consider the damage they did to the laundry sector. The high street drycleaners of today should not make the same mistake with the arrival of the supermarket challenge.
