CHICAGO — While knowing when to replace press pads is essential, understanding the factors that affect their life performance can help dry cleaners get the best use and longest life from their equipment.
In Part 1 of this series, we examined the impact that worn pads and covers can have on the quality of the cleaner’s final results.
In Part 2, we looked at some warning signs that tell plant owners and operators the time has come for new pads, and the economics of pad replacement.
Today, we’ll conclude our series by looking at the environmental factors that can shorten a pad’s life, as well as exploring some of the future possibilities in pressing practices.
Chemistry Questions
There are cases where pad and cover life might be compromised by other factors, such as the plant’s cleanliness, says Jim Groshans, sales manager and quality and productivity specialist at Unipress: “Keep everything clean, because a dirty environment affects the pads and covers. If lint accumulates in the plant, it gets on the pads and covers, and then it gets on the garments.”
Chemicals and treatments used in the cleaning process, such as spray sizing and spray starch, can also affect the padding.
“It makes the pad sticky,” Groshans says. “It clogs it up, and affects the steam flow and the vacuum. If you’re using non-commercial products, like residential products never designed for a commercial operation, that can affect it. And soap residues that are not properly rinsed out can affect everything from press pads to your vacuum hoses. They can break down all that silicone and rubber. It happens all the time.”
“For shirts, jeans and cottons, chemistry on the wash deck is critical,” says Mike Tungesvick, vice president of sales at Sankosha, “as is the proper maintenance of your washer extractors. And then, if you have out-of-balance residual chemistry, if your pH is either too high or too low, that’ll start creating premature degradation of both pads and the outer covers.”
Maintaining Your Equipment
Stuart Ilkowitz, president of Trevil America, says he believes treating pads and covers as consumables, just as you do oil in a car, is all part of proper maintenance.
“You invest a lot of money in equipment,” he says, “but then you need to maintain it. And maintenance means you make sure you have the proper steam flow and you’re not having dirt coming through your air lines. Make sure that your machines are regularly recalibrated and serviced as needed, and actually do some preventive maintenance rather than wait for a breakdown. That becomes much more costly in terms of paying the mechanic and paying for parts, as well as the lost productivity time.”
Greg Wilson, quality control/customer service manager at Forenta, agrees with Ilkowitz about the importance of regular maintenance.
“What I would recommend is to have a schedule set up for lubrication and general maintenance, and then have a separate maintenance schedule set up for your padding,” he says. “That is a visual and touch-and-feel process where you just go over the pads. And once you develop that schedule based on the volume that’s coming across it, then you can tell when you should automatically change the padding, whether (the operator) thinks it’s needed or not. You just do that on a maintenance schedule.”
“Replacing pads and covers should be part of anybody’s preventive maintenance program,” Ilkowitz says. “Don’t wait for your quality to become so diminished or for the pads and covers to be literally falling off before you change them. You should change them on a regular basis based on the volume that you’re doing.”
Looking Forward
The future of pressing technology may be shifting in unexpected ways.
“The hottest thing selling right now is a no-press system,” Groshans says, “which in our case is a steam cabinet. We can’t make them fast enough.”
One of the elements driving this development is fashion.
“There are a lot of knit items on the market right now,” Groshans says, “and with the knit items, a lot of them just need steam and air. You can do 300 pieces an hour, and in most cases, they don’t go over to the press. Your press pads are going to last a lot longer.”
Labor is the other driving force in offering options in the process.
“People want to be more automated,” Groshans says. “So, we’re going to continue looking at that, too. Things that we’re making today, we probably weren’t even looking at 10 or 15 years ago.”
For Part 1 of this series, click HERE. For Part 2, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
