Smart sales from shirts

Shirts services can reward the investment

3 December 2010



Tony Vince discovers the high-tech options that are available to drycleaners thinking of offering a fully finished shirt service


Many high street drycleaners are still assessing the effect of the economic downturn and whether add-on services can continue to play a key role, particularly in keeping customers in regular contact with the shop and in encouraging them to bring other items for cleaning.

There has been a continuing decline in the UK’s traditional drycleaning market while add-on services such as laundry are growing. An increasing number of drycleaners now offer a fully finished shirt service to their customers. In many cases, laundry services, including shirt finishing, now make up around half of the drycleaner’s business.

The latest high-tech finishing equipment can turn what was once a labour-intensive, low-return job into a profitable service that the drycleaner wants to promote.

Stephen Pick, sales and service director of Service Machinery Limited (SML) says: “Most of my customers see shirts as a valuable addition to their core business.”

According to Pick, one customer in Dunstable has used illuminated signage and a special price to drive shirts from virtually none to around 1,000 per week in just 5months.

SML is the official sales and service source for the range of garment finishing equipment produced by Veit of Germany. Pick says that the main attraction of Veit shirt machines is that they produce a consistently high quality finish.

Depending on the mix of labour cost and pricing, a Veit shirt finishing solution can justify its purchase price on less than 100 shirts a day. This number can be finished in a little over two hours. “A Veit shirt finisher will reduce costs, allowing prices to be lowered while maintaining margin and driving increased volume,” says Pick. “The result is higher profit.”

This year Veit introduced the 8326 shirt finisher. The machine features Veit’s direct airflow function, which directs airflow through the front clamp for fast efficient drying. Long-sleeve and short-sleeve shirts can be finished without marks with the drop-shaped sleeve tensioner.

Height can be adjusted using a touchscreen colour display, which clearly shows all the functions.

Added value opportunity

According to Jason Alexander, managing director of Renzacci UK, many drycleaners have already added a shirt service to their business as an added value opportunity that generates customer loyalty and repeat business.

A shirt service can be a quick turn-round item and it gives customers an additional reason to visit the shop and use other services. “More drycleaners are grasping the opportunity and promoting it,” he says. “The shirt service will grow as more people become aware of it – and then it will become a habit.”

Renzacci UK is able to provide a suitable finance scheme for those making their first investment in shirt finishing equipment.

Alexander says that one characteristic of the current recession is the limited availability of funds for investment. He points out that whilst there has been no shortage of clients willing to invest, funds from banks and finance houses have been difficult to come by. Although the situation has eased a little in recent months, finance is still difficult to obtain.

He adds that this scarcity of investment funds has had a severe effect on the industry’s ability to upgrade and invest in modern technology that offers cheaper running costs and better quality results. “We have been astonished by the positivity in the market but it has been frustrating not to be able to fulfil this positivity due to the lack of funding options available.”

Renzacci UK is in a position to loan customers the money to purchase a broad range of laundry and drycleaning equipment from such manufacturers as Renzacci, Pony and Hawo.

Renzacci UK is a licensed credit broker with strong links to one of the largest sources of funding in the country and is therefore much better placed than most equipment suppliers to ensure that its clients get the best finance plan possible for their installation.

Alexander says: “We would always encourage our customers to try the more traditional sources of finance first but if that is impossible we are often able to rescue deals by funding them from our own resources.

“Using our own money allows us to be more flexible with repayment terms and deposits. If a client would like a finance plan tailored to his or her needs, we would be willing to listen.”

Jason Alexander recently returned from Expo Detergo in Milan, where Pony was exhibiting two developments in shirt finishing, the 405 EVO and the single-buck the Angel shirt press.

Pony says that the Angel, which was unveiled at the show, is specifically designed for high-volume shirt finishing. The first models are due to be delivered this month and Angel will be exclusively available in the UK through Renzacci UK.

A powerful hot air flow and the two Teflon-coated, steam-heated finishing heads give excellent results in under 30seconds. The Teflon coating ensures that there is no shining, even on dark shirts.

The Angel’s controls are simple and intuitive so that it can be used by unskilled operators, thereby reducing labour costs, while the fine tolerances used in construction and the high quality finish avoid any need to touch up shirts after they have been on the machine. The shirt press is also equipped with a touchscreen PLC, giving operators total control.

Energy consumption is reduced and the finishing quality is consistently maintained to the same high standard. Sleeve finishing is enhanced by two cuff placket presses as well as by the Angel’s pneumatic adjustable-height sleeve tensioning system.

The latest addition to Pony’s established 405 range of shirt finishers is the model 405EVO.

This machine is available with yoke press and tuck press as standard. Shirts can be dried in 42seconds, cutting energy consumption by over 25% and significant increasing hourly production.

The Pony CCP collar and cuff press is designed to complement either the Angel or the 405 series. This greatly helps in the finishing of those key parts of the shirt that help to achieve a smart formal look, according to Alexander.

Buoyant business

Investing in the right finishing equipment is important, says Jonathan Gray, sales director of S&E Services. He comments: “Shirt processing in the UK has been one of the buoyant parts of the drycleaner’s business for at least the last decade.”

He says that once the business has decided on its staffing requirements, the next step in developing the shirt service is to move from hand-ironing to automated shirt finishing machines. This may seem a huge step in financial terms as the investment level is considerable, says Gray.

However, if the basics of the business are right and if the weekly volumes are sustainable over the medium- to long-term, then the investment is worthwhile and the volumes to be processed can comfortably benefit from the increased production rates and the improved finish.

S&E Services provides a comprehensive range of equipment exclusively from the Rotondi Group. In Gray’s opinion, 40 shirts an hour is a good benchmark on which to base an investment decision and this level of volume can easily be met by Rotondi’s SR 3000 shirt finisher.

He adds that when the installation is enhanced by the addition of a Rotondi BLCLP collar-cuffer, the business can deliver a result that meets customer demand.

The Rotondi finishing system benefits from computer control, with a choice of up to nine programs. There is also a comprehensive series of self-diagnostic checks to manage the complexity of the machine operation and identify and isolate any electrical or mechanical fault immediately it occurs.

In processing, the shirt or blouse is held by vacuum until the front and rear padded clamps are positioned by photo-electric sensors and activated by foot control. The full-height front clamp ensures a perfect ironing position and the latest additions to the features include double clamps for long- and short-sleeved shirts and joy-stick control for correct positioning for crease-free, underarm finishing of the shirt.

The Rotondi system can process a mix of shirt sizes in the same batch and the helps the shop’s production.

Safety features on the BLCLP Collar and Cuff machine include enforced two-hand operation of the heated pressing head. The head is guarded by a safety frame, which prevents the operators hands being trapped and this feature is standard.

The BLCLP has both heated head and buck to combine greater productivity with excellent quality finishing to the collars and cuffs.

Rotondi includes options for both steam-heated systems and all-electric versions. The steam option can finish shirts from a wet or dry state and Gray says: “This is a fantastic feature that removes the bane of the operator’s life – a carrier bag full of bone dry shirts!”

S&E Services also offers the Rotondi SR1000 shirt finisher. This unit is ideal for a customer that wants to automate their existing process but doesn’t have the volume to invest in the SR3000.

The SR1000 will comfortably process around 20 – 25 shirts per hour to a very high standard and will process wet or dry shirts.

Fastest growing

The shirt finishing market is now the fastest growing sector within the industry, says Paul Higgs at Dane Realstar. He believes that this trend will continue well into the future.

“Shirt finishing equipment can provide useful additional revenue for drycleaners and therefore provide added benefits to their customers,” he says.

Dane Realstar is the UK distributor for Sidi Mondial. Founded in the 1960s, the Italian company offers a complete range of finishing machines.

The company’s latest offering is the top-of-the-range Sidi Major Plus, which Higgs describes as the perfect shirt finisher for drycleaners, combining ease of operation with Sidi ’s high level of technology.

The latest form finisher in the Major series comes with a shoulder pressing device.

The Major Plus is available with yoke and tuck press as standard, so reducing cycle times and cutting energy consumption by more than 25%.

The time for drying a shirt is reduced to around 42seconds, leading to a significant increase in hourly production. The air-operated clamps are Teflon-coated so that pressing marks are prevented, even on dark fabrics, says Higgs. Designed with the operator in mind, the Major Plus is easy to use, requiring the minimum of training and fuss. Operation is started with control pedals; the front paddle closes automatically and the cycle starts when the second sleeve clamp is closed.

At the end of the finishing cycle the machine releases the shirt and automatically resets ready for the next cycle. The vacuum is applied to the whole surface for easier shirt dressing. Pneumatic clamps at the front, side and rear tension the fabric and seams.

The rounded cuff clamps and the tuck press achieve perfect sleeve finishing and the sleeve height is fully adjustable. A state-of-the-art microprocessor allows the business to customise programs and up to 10 can be stored.

The short-sleeve clamp system is available on Major Plus as optional extra.

In addition to the Sidi Major Plus, Higgs points out that there is a complete range of shirt finishers from Sidi including the modestly priced M951 for connection to central steam supplies, which offers a good entry level machine for shirt production.

The popular Easyform range offers a very high quality finish at an economical price. Dane Realstar can supply the Easyform 2000 (manual stretching) and Easyform 3000 (pneumatic stretching) steam shirt finishers which can be used both for shirts, wet or dry, and jackets. Both machines are available either for connection to central steam supplies or with a built-in boiler.

Higgs adds that Sidi’s shirt finishing machines can be combined with its AT770/CTCP collar cuff press to provide a modern and functional shirt unit.

Huge increase

In the last seven years, Parrisianne Dry Cleaning Solutions has seen a huge increase in its sales of the Sankosha range of shirt finishing systems, according to managing director James Holt.

He attributes this to both the levelling-off of drycleaning growth within the shop unit and the qualities of the Sankosha shirt finishing systems.

Parrisianne has installed systems for the drycleaner that wants to enter the shirt market and for more established businesses, which process up to 15,000 shirts per week, says Holt.

One recent installation took place at Swiss Clean in London. This installation consisted of a Sankosha LP570E and LP690E, two of the most popular models sold by Parrisianne. The system features full tensioning of the shirt on both the LP570E shirt and sleeve unit and the LP690E collar and cuff press, so allowing for higher production rate of up to 2,500 shirts per week.

Owner Maz Iqbal says he is very happy with the investment. “We were processing 300 shirts per week, which took up a lot of my presser’s time and put pressure on finishing the other garments.”

Since installing the Sankosha system, he says: “The quality that we get is very high and we have more than doubled our shirt market”.

At the top end of the market for production, Parrisianne can now supply the Sankosha LP185E double-buck body and sleeve unit with a yoke press as standard and an improved blower motor.

The yoke press was a popular feature on the single-buck LP570E.

Parrisianne recently installed the Sankosha LP185E at Masterclean in London. Owner Sayed Sami Haider comments: “We currently operate these machines with two operators and minimal touch up. This has not affected the level of quality that we pride ourselves on, in fact we have had very pleasing comments from our customers who have noticed the improvement in quality of shirt since we have installed our new Sankosha machine.”




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