CHICAGO — While many dry cleaners understand the importance of quality pressing equipment, it’s tempting to want to get every last press out of pads. Timely pad replacement, however, is crucial not only for maintaining garment quality but also for protecting a cleaner’s reputation and bottom line.
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. Today, we’ll look at some warning signs that tell plant owners and operators the time has come for new pads, and the economics of pad replacement.
Warning Signs for Replacement
Knowing when to replace pads is critical. Part of that is knowing what to look for, and the other part is keeping track of usage.
Mike Tungesvick, vice president of sales at Sankosha, suggests looking for physical signs of wear: “Check and see if there’s no give left on the felt and the silicone padding. The silicone will break down to where it gets kind of gummy, and the felt pad will just get hard. You might start breaking buttons more because there’s no cushion.”
Greg Wilson, quality control/customer service manager at Forenta, also believes in a hands-on approach to inspection.
“Probably one of the first things I would recommend is to take your hand and run it over the surface of the pad,” he says. “Try to feel for any low points, waves or indentations in the padded surface, which would then indicate that there is a breakdown in the padding. Just because the outer cover may look OK on the surface doesn’t necessarily mean that the latex rubber underneath is good.”
Jim Groshans, sales manager and quality and productivity specialist at Unipress, says metrics can also be a guide.
“On their pads and covers, we tell people that, on a shirt unit, you’ll get 10,000 cycles per buck,” he says. “And the reason why we put 10,000 cycles on there is from tons of R&D. Once you go beyond that, you’re going to start having increased touch-ups, productivity problems and quality issues.”
The False Economy of Delay
One tactic that many dry cleaners employ to cut press pad costs is to use cheaper alternatives. While this might seem to save money in the short term, Stuart Ilkowitz, president of Trevil America, believes there are consequences to this type of strategy.
“I’ve had cases when people have called me and complained that their white shirts were suddenly getting discoloration and dye run from the pads,” he says. “When they sent me a photo, and I saw the dye run was green, I told them, ‘Well, that’s interesting. We don’t use green covers.’ They’ve bought some low-cost aftermarket thing, and they start getting dye bleed on a $150 shirt because they decided to go cheap on the covering. Was that a good economic decision?”
And this impact can extend beyond individual garments to a dry cleaner’s overall business performance.
“You start to do more touch-ups, which take more time and cost more money to process,” Ilkowitz says. “And how many garments, particularly shirts, do you send out where the quality was not what it should be? How does that affect the customer’s perspective of your business?
“If you went to a restaurant every Friday night and half the time the food is good and half the time something’s wrong with it, you’d probably stop going there at some point because it becomes hit or miss.”
Making an Investment
When considering the economics of pad replacement, Tungesvick suggests taking a more practical, big-picture approach to avoid the pain reaction of paying for new supplies.
“Break it down,” he says. “If you pay for a higher-end pad, make sure you’re counting your shirts. See how many shirts you can get out of one set of pads and covers, and then divide the cost of the pad by the number of shirts. You’ll see it probably comes out to something like two cents a shirt.”
“The useful life of a cover with polyester padding is not an exact calculation and there are no expiration dates for the materials,” says Oscar Cacciamatta, sales manager for Pony S.p.A.’s U.S. market. “However, we can suggest to those who use a press for eight hours a day, five or six days a week, to change the covers every six to eight months.”
Come back Tuesday for the conclusion of this series, where we’ll examine the impact of chemistry on pads and covers, along with methods for maintaining equipment. For Part 1, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
