CHICAGO — It was January 1962 when Tremont Cleaners, Upper Arlington, Ohio, received the Grand Prize in American Drycleaner’s 1st Plant Design Awards. The plant was situated in a small shopping center, and the judges were impressed by its overall workflow and layout.
When the 20-by-170-foot plant could no longer keep up with business, the owners leased another 7,000 square feet, converting the original space into a shirt laundry and housing a 40-pound drycleaning machine in the rear. The store front featured large plate-glass windows and a stone veneer, with an 8-foot canopy suspended over the sidewalk.
Flash forward to 2013 and the announcement of the 52nd Grand Prize Winner, Rainbow Cleaners, Oxford, Miss. Rainbow invested more than $1 million to build a bright, airy plant store that invites customers to see all the work that goes into cleaning their garments. Computerized LEDs that project colored lights up the face of the building and under the white canopy (shown) sometimes represent the shades of a rainbow.
Have you recently renovated your existing drycleaning plant or built a new plant to have a fresh look and improved efficiency? You make customers look good, so why shouldn’t you boast about the image your business projects?
To learn more about this year’s contest and to nominate a plant for awards consideration, complete the online entry form HERE.
Perhaps you’ll soon join Tremont and Rainbow among the Plant Design champions!
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].