Stan Caplan: Getting control of your quality

Much has been published by all forms of communication regarding the lack of quality workmanship within the drycleaning industry.

Mystery shoppers from television stations throughout the country have reported negative results from stain removal, color brightness, color loss, poor finishing and adverse customer relations by owners or managers of neighborhood shops.

Local Better Business Bureaus have reported the same negativity, and individual complaints are numerous, plus there are the complaints that are not formally made. Those unheard complaints are the ones which do the most damage since they are usually made to friends, relatives, neighbors and the public at large -- potential customers who will think twice before patronizing that particular drycleaner.

As competition grows keener, the need for quality workmanship becomes more vital to our very existence. More "industry outsiders" are coming in armed with the knowledge of general public criticism being lodged against the fabric care industry, whether justified or not, and they are promising the public to give the utmost in quality workmanship and customer service.

Discount cleaners advertise that the only difference between them and the regular (high price) drycleaner is the PRICE.

Some of the more successful discount drycleaners have come to realize that it does not cost much more to do the job right, and with quality workmanship, than it does to do it bad. These cleaners do not depend upon steam cabinets as the primary finishing tool, and they are equipped with the best in drycleaning and finishing machinery.

However, most of the discount cleaners are still depending upon steam cabinets and strict production goals rather than the unique principles of "production with good quality," which is the secret to a profitable operation with higher volumes.

Since everybody likes a bargain, the regular price drycleaner must take up the challenge with top quality, attractive packaging and great customer relations.

All these attributes must also be conveyed to the public (in your area) by a viable marketing program, no matter how big or small you are.

Good management is mandatory
Quality workmanship has to begin with quality control which has to begin with good management. Management must set and give clear instructions to the cleaner, spotter, finishers, assembly persons, baggers, customer service representatives at the counters and, most important, the inspector(s).

The inspector must have the authority to determine what goes back and what goes forward. There must be no conflicts between the inspector and processing personnel. Any conflicts must be quickly resolved by management and with quality always in consideration.

Quality workmanship must be continuously instilled in everybody's mind and never relaxed or compromised.

Quality workmanship begins with standard procedures set by management to ensure uniformity. No short cuts in quality can be made in favor of more production, but adequate production must also be adhered to, in the interests of cost control, by avoiding unnecessary steps not required for quality.

Training for quality workmanship
My previous three articles on "Training Programs" were written to help the drycleaner install a viable training program and give the "nuts and bolts" of performing the actual training, key points and steps.

Counter/customer service representatives (CSRs) must be trained to inspect garments for stains and damages either at reception or mark in, or both.

The training must include the discussion of these discrepancies with customers and the care of their clothes, etc. If anything is beyond the scope of the CSRs, the store manager must be trained in this area. Even a short course in fibers to fabrics should be implemented for all persons, including CSRs.

Each CSR must be trained to ask the customer if there are any stains or damages to be repaired in the garments being deposited for cleaning. All of these points should be covered in a "role playing" mode.

Cleaners and spotters must be taught the basics of quality drycleaning and good solvent maintenance. Here, also, a knowledge of fibers is very important to learn garment classification for cleaning and their reaction to chemicals in spotting.

Training in the basic chemistry of spotting and its relation to removal of stains without fabric damage, as well as a knowledge of bleaching and stain digesting, is invaluable to quality control. Learning how to inspect for spots after cleaning and the art of moving the work in groups to the finishers for better production must be part of a quality control training program. Garments that are spot-free, or noted as "impossible to remove without fabric damage," must be distributed to the finishers which not only ensures quality work but also saves valuable production time by moving the work forward rather than backward.

It is critical to quality control that finishers be trained to understand the finer points of quality finishing. This training must point out the areas of a garment that are most important to produce a good first impression to the customer.

Training must point out the proper levels of head pressure against the fabric, how to finish a hard-finish fabric with a crisp look and feel (hand), how to press pleats with no visible impressions, how to properly press a coat collar, how to press a napped fabric without mashing the third yarn, etc.

These and many other questions are answered in a good training program for quality control.

Inspectors, most important of all, must be trained in finishing and basic spotting in order to discern between what can be corrected and what cannot be corrected. In many cases and plants, the inspector is selected on the basis of, or lack of, the qualification to do other work. This can lead to many problems.

Inspection ensures quality
What is inspection? Inspection is the visual searching of a garment to see if it measures up to the quality standards set by management. Basically, the inspector is looking for spots, needed minor repairs and paid repairs, excessive linting, and, very important, the finishing quality. This last item is the area in which we can most easily fail to be thorough. Therefore, inspection determines the quality of the garment your customer is going to receive.

There are three methods of inspection:

1. Central Inspection Area. This is where all garments are inspected at one point. This area is usually found in medium-to-large volume plants that have a great deal of floor space and process many garments per day.

The inspector is also a focal point in managing the "lot" systems by expediting "stragglers" back to their mother lot, etc.

The chief advantage to a central inspection area is that the inspector can concentrate on inspection for a long period of time without any distractions. This is the full-time job of the inspector and nothing else (unless an emergency arises).

A disadvantage to this method of inspection is that any garment rejected at the central inspection point has a long way to travel back to the point where the problem can be corrected. This may create a late "straggler garment" in the assembly area, holding up an entire order.

This problem, however, can be alleviated by installing a viable distributing conveyor to convey the rejected garment from inspection back to the problem area.

Normally, the color, and/or the control number, of the marking tag of a particular lot would automatically place the garment into a priority category, but a special attention flag tag could also be placed on the garment by the inspector to indicate priority.

Another disadvantage is that worker fatigue can result from constant standing and eye strain from constant looking and searching for spots, damages, etc. This can be alleviated by giving the inspector a couple of breaks with a substitute inspector keeping up the momentum, or two inspectors can be employed for every other day rotation between the inspection station and assembly area, utilizing the same two persons in the rotation.

2. Roving Inspector. In this method the inspector goes to the work area and inspects all garments ready to leave the finishing unit. The chief advantage in this method is that a rejected garment is in the unit where the problem must be corrected. Consequently, it gets back to assembly area in good time.

A disadvantage is that there is no inspection going on while the inspector is travelling from one unit to another, or while she is moving the pass-ups to the assembling area. Also, the light at the finishing unit may be inadequate for complete inspection.

3. Inspector/Assembler Combination. This method combines the two jobs of inspection, first, then assembly of orders. This method is the most popular of the three, but it is the least effective. In most cases, inspection is either haphazard or not at all, especially when the volume of work is heavy.

The only advantage in this method of inspection is the saving of the cost of a separate operation independent of the assembly. However, in a low-to-medium volume plant, where space is at a premium, this method is employed to solve both problems of cost and space.

Since the combination of the two jobs is almost mandatory in the low-to-medium volume plant, the problem of effective inspection must be solved through proper training in the standards set by management together with strict enforcement. In the busier seasons, another person must be added, however, to help with the bagging and assembly if inspection is required to be continued.

In a low-volume operation, the job of inspection, assembly, bagging and part-time counter work is employed with some success as long as the cleaner/spotter/presser and the main presser are motivated by the owner to produce quality work and be most cooperative with the counter and assembly/bagger personnel.

Next month this series will continue with the selection of inspector and the actual training steps and point of inspection in the various areas.

Note: My video, "The Caplan Method of Stain Removal," which includes my comprehensive text (edited by Hal Horning) and the handy spotting board references, is now available in English, Korean (video only) and Spanish (video only) from the Golomb Group, c/o Dennis McCrory, 7664 Plaza Court, Willowbrook, IL 60521; phone (630) 887-7339.

This video is actually a "Trainer in a Box" and is a complete training course for both experienced and novice spotters. My comprehensive text reinforces all of the background technical material required to produce a professional spotter.

Also, available is my video on step-by-step shirt finishing, which includes my comprehensive text in loose-leaf form outlining each procedure for a single operator cabinet shirt unit and a two-operator cabinet shirt unit. Both units are demonstrated using a cabinet sleever and a single, or triple, heated collar former. This procedure was developed by me for top quality with no touch up (regular sizes) together with maximum production without over-exertion by the operators.

Avoiding shrinkage, wilting and dipping of the collar together with its proper "breaking and forming" on the heated collar former, are all demonstrated. Both the collar and front buttonhole placket, the two thickest parts of the shirt, are totally dried under the press head with no loss of production time.

Attractive detailing and packaging of the hangered shirt padding, steam pressure and timing are discussed. A unique wash formula to give whiter whites, brighter colors and complete removal of grease and body oils is included in the loose-leaf textbook.

Ray Colucci: The successful keep working at it

In a recent conversation with Rich Greco of Hoffman/New Yorker, we discussed the reasons why some people are successful while others, with equal opportunity and assets, seem to continually fail.

Rich felt that "Luck," good or bad, had little to do with the outcome. He had an unusual theory.

In simple terms: "If you took a few hundred successful individuals and a like amount of failures and reversed all their similarities and circumstances, in a reasonably short time, the Failures would return to failing, and the Successful would again succeed."

It was hard to disagree with him. So I started to look at some of my compatriots in the drycleaning business to determine what was their formula for success.

My own simple observation was to look at the winners in our industry and look for duplication. And certainly look at the losers, (I knew for certain that they don't set an example, so no one follows them!)

I would be remiss in my on excellence if I didn't bring the readers attention to Dennis McCrory's December article in National Clothesline on the value of recruiting after the hire.

Dennis seems to have a knack for zeroing in on the utmost importance on having good help, and that they continually do the right job, have the proper training and see to it all have the right employee attitude. He probably has the least employee turnover of anyone in our industry.

Of course my favorite Guru is Stan Golomb, who has passed his 20-year anniversary as the head of the Golomb Group, and a half century in our industry. His 600 members lead our business in the list of "Who's Who." Stan has managed to solve some of the stickiest problems we are faced with: management and promotions.

Among his accomplishments is a very successful method of demographic analysis. Talk to any of those 600 and you'll agree you can never argue with success!

This article was started to bring to light the problem of trying to find, train and keep competent help. We read in the news that unemployment in this country has reached the lowest figure in 30 years! The number stands at 3.9 percent, which also needs some explanation. Within that number is a hard core of "unemployable" which covers total incompetence even at some of the lowliest jobs in our country. There are also some areas where the number of 3.9 percent is a seasonal high that can drop down much lower.

The answer is, since our industry does not command the cream of the crop in workers, that we have to be better managers.

In our pursuit of excellence, we have to have to keep our eye on the profit picture -- return on our investment, which simply means finding and keeping the right personnel. We have to seek the most efficient, productive means of getting out the work, and that means we must have the ability and the patience to manage a comprehensive individual training program.

The cost of "hiring and firing" is a chore that can become too high an expenditure. Let's zero in on the finishing department, since the news on the unemployment seems to have it's greatest toll there.

Have you read reports like this in your local newspaper?

Associated Press item: Skilled-labor shortage hurts trade unions. Manpower is the biggest problem with all the trades, across the country. "We need workers, and they're not out there," including the immigrant population. A healthy building trade makes continual demands.

Shortages of pressers always seem to have been part of the cleaners' problems. At least it is to those operators who haven't taken the problem seriously enough and chose to do "hire n' fire" hoping to get lucky.

Remember what I said earlier? "The harder I work, the luckier I become." Problems don't just go away, we have to work them away!

I'll never forget the problem of never having enough shirt operators in the early '60s. Part of the problem was having the shirt pressing operation in the front window. Most women workers thought it too lowly a job to be seen doing.

One operator cancelled his classy expensive ads after some five weeks with no takers, not a single applicant or even a phone call. I was present chatting with him at the back of the plant, when the counter rep informed him that an applicant was up front, inquiring about the ad for the shirt presser.

He looked out and observed that the applicant appeared to be in need of physical help and was perhaps past her 80th birthday!

He asked me to accompany him for the interview. He simply stood at attention and asked the applicant to follow him to his office. Then he asked her to sit down in his chair and again stood before her at attention.

He told this poor old woman all his sterling conditions: "You don't need any experience, salary is good and then he announced, still standing at military attention andŠ andŠ We always have a coffee break every morning, and mid-afternoon fresh drink or juice break, andŠ and we always give a bonus when business is good. At Thanksgiving we give a free turkey, at Christmas a small gift andŠ andŠ a gift for you on your birthday."

Still standing at attention, he said, "You can ask me any questions, anything on your mind. I've been in business a long time and I treat everyone fairly," and he repeats, "andŠ andŠ you can ask me any questions!"

"Oh no!" she said. "You ask me questions!"

"Oh no?" he answered. "You ask me the questions?"

I don't know if he scared the heck out of her by his unusual performance, but any way she never came back for the job!

Who claims we can't get labor in our industry?

Don Desrosiers: Evaluating your shirt quality

Just by reading the title of this month's article, you may have already formulated a firm opinion as to where you fit in.

I have clients who have done this well before I ever meet them. They usually have a number. That is, they have rated the shirts that come out of their plants on a scale of one to ten.

Many of them are actually quite conservative with their evaluations. That is a whole lot better than those who claim to produce a perfect shirt. It isn't likely that anyone can maintain perfection in this business. If you, at times, produce a "perfect" shirt, do not use that as your "poster child." Doing so is the equivalent of wearing blinders.

A manager's job is to look for trouble, find it before a customer does and fix it before it becomes a customer service issue. The better your operation, the harder it will be to find problems.

Look for quality issues and call them "opportunities" rather than problems. They are truly opportunities. Opportunities to exercise your management skills. Opportunities to improve your business.

Someone much smarter than me once said, "Many of us shy away from opportunities because they are often dressed in overalls and look too much like work."

Get over it.

Rating your own quality
I'll bet every one of you evaluates your quality. And you probably do it a few times a week. Maybe every day. As a result you probably have, in your mind as you read this, a number from 1 to 10. You may be saying, "My shirts are a 7."

Most people say 7. My mission this month is to get you to lower that number (sorry), with the hopes that you will work at the issues that you find and fix them.

Ideally, you will lower your rating to a 6 within a couple of days and then raise it to an 8 within a week or two. In order to do that, I will need to show you a few new ways to check out your quality.

The typical ways to evaluate quality are OK, but not fool proof. Many of you evaluate the quality of the shirts that you process by simply checking out your own personal shirts. If, time and again, you put on a shirt in the morning and it is acceptable, or perhaps even perfect, you settle for that as your rating.

Not a fair evaluation, I'm afraid. If you are a typical size, like 15 or 16 and wear poly-cotton blend oxfords, you are not fairly evaluating your shirts. No offense, but anybody can do a great job on those.

Second, it is remarkably difficult to inspect a shirt while you nonchalantly take it off the hanger and put it on. My business is shirts and I have found myself wearing a shirt with a gross horizontal crease across the back. How gross is that?

It is true that if you find a missing button on one of your own shirts, you can assume that others, too, have been missed. But you won't assume that every other shirt has a missing button.

If you are about to wear a shirt that has a gross horizontal crease across the back, you will not assume that every other shirt has one. So, given that, if your shirt is perfect, do not make the mistake of assuming that every other shirt is perfect.

Agree?

Keeping the boss happy?
Just for fun, though, when you send your own personal clothes through the plant, use an alias on the invoice. This will help prevent someone doing an extra-special job because they know that it's the boss's clothes.

The least effective way to analyze quality is to watch a presser press. If they are bound to do something inappropriate, it is least likely to happen when you're watching. Find a spot in your plant where you can see a particular machine. Let's say the sleeve press.

Ideally, from there you can see your presser, but your presser can't see you. If you suspect that this presser is, for example, hitting the stop button on the machine and thereby, not allowing the shirts to fully dry, he or she probably won't do it while you're watching, but you may catch it if they don't know that you are. That is about all that you can accomplish as an eye witness.

So, then, what is a better way?

The grossest thing that can happen to a pressed shirt is that it wasn't allowed to fully dry. In order to produce a top quality shirt it must be completely dry. That doesn't mean 99 percent dry or 97 percent dry or "pretty close" to dry. It means fully dry.

If you attempt to evaluate this at the plant, you will not succeed. When a shirt comes off the press, it will not feel damp because it is hot. Furthermore, if there are damp areas, they may not be evident until later.

Here's why: Let's say that, for whatever reason, you're body press isn't fully drying the shirts. It could be that your pads are spent or that your equipment is defective or that your presser is shortening the cycle.

The part of the shirt that is most likely to be damp is the button-hole band. But at first glance, it will appear perfectly dry, always. This is because the front surface of this thick band was, seconds ago, squeezed up against a very hot piece of steel. The surface dried by conduction.

It's going to be dry, at least for now, but if there is significant moisture on the back side of the button-hole band, the front side will act like a wick. It will soften and even wrinkle with time as the remaining moisture is absorbed into the shirt.

This shirt can easily get by your inspector because it will still look fine then. Sometime later, however, it just may be an embarrassment to you.

Invite a friend to dinner
The best way to catch this is to look at a friend's shirt. Invite him to dinner. Look at his shirt during that time.

You will see your product in a completely different perspective. You will see the cuffs, the collar, the sleeves, the front and the back of the shirt.

How do you stack up now?

Another way to do this and to get a bigger sampling is to go to your plant on a day that you're closed, maybe a Sunday. There won't be any distractions. Look at shirts that are already bagged and ready to be picked up. Look at all sizes of shirts.

Promise not to be disappointed. Remember that this is an opportunity to improve your business. Also promise not to come in to work in a bad mood on Monday.

The biggest cause of occasional inferior work is doing too good of a job most of the time.

Huh? I bet you read that sentence twice.

I did a work-flow engineering job recently where the pressers did a remarkable job of pressing shirts. The shirts came off the presses quickly and as close to perfect as I've seen. There where very few touch-ups required.

After I had spent a few days there, the owner asked me to rate his shirts on a scale of 1 to 10. I said a 7. Seven? The shirts were generally perfect.

The reason that I scored him that low (and I don't think that 7 is bad at all), is because the inspectors were so used to seeing shirts that didn't need touch-up that their job had become too, ahŠ mechanical. Shirt after shirt after shirt was excellent. When a really bad one came along, it was missed. The inspectors had begun to assume perfection.

Assume.

Don't you just hate that word? Surely the remedy is not to do a poorer shirt right off the presses. The remedy is supervise, supervise, supervise. Don't expect what you don't inspect.

Dan Eisen: So you want to be a wetcleaner?

Here are some things you need to understand if you are going to be a good wetcleaner:

• Water.
• Chemistry.
• Heat.
• Mechanical action.
• Drying bleeding.

Bleeding
Bleeding will take place more on richly-colored cotton garments if you do not keep them moving. Never just soak cotton if there is dye (usually very bright, deep or lustrous colors) on the garment that you are afraid may bleed.

Remember, with water, you must be mindful of shrinkage and the benefits of specialized detergents.

Can we wetclean these fabrics?

Wool? Angora? Cashmere? Pashmina? Polyester? Imitation fur/pile coat? Nylon? Comforters? Quilted Jackets? Wedding gowns? Some rayons?

The answer to all of these is yes.

Rayon-acetate-crepe suits. Silk wedding gowns (because of the finishing time). Some rayons (those that are heavily sized, exhibiting luster, body, sheen).

Detergents
Different detergents have different chemistries that respond better to certain types of fabrics and soils.

Anionic detergents (ask your sales representative which these are) have negative tails. Fabrics that respond best to "negative tails" and therefore clean better in anionic detergents are cotton (Dockers, jeans) and raincoats.

Anionic detergents leave the garments a little harsher but have a better cleaning ability.

Cationic detergents (again, ask your sales representative) have "positive tails." Fabrics that clean better in cationic detergents are animal fibers, silk, wool, angora, mohair, cashmere, etc.

Non-ionic detergents (again, ask your sales representative) should be used any time you need to remove grease, oil and waxes.

Do not mix anionic and cationic detergents, softeners or sizing. They will cancel each other's effectiveness.

Wedding gowns with beads
Do not use cationic detergents. The detergent will stay on the fabric and eventually eat up the glue that holds the beads on.

Chemicals needed to do good wetcleaning,

Alkalis: Good for protein stains. Remember wool often shrinks when alkalis are used.

Acids: Can set some dyes. Good to use on softer fabrics.

Digesters: Low temperature is great on protein stains. High-temperature enzymes work well, also.

Bleach: Oxidizing and reducing bleaches are products cleaners should get to know. A knowledge of bleaches is what distinguishes a cleaner from a craftsman.

You should always add a little detergent into your bleach. It allows the bleach to penetrate the fabric better.

Should you have a chart for the cleaners that tell which chemicals are anionic, etc.?

Yes.

How about putting that information on the side of the wetcleaning labels?

Yes.

The Neighborhood Cleaners Association estimates that about 40 percent of today's drycleaning could be wetcleaned.

Drying
This is very important in making sure the garments are finished properly. The proper amount of heat and mechanical action will help to remove wrinkles.

Too much heat or mechanical action will produce shrinkage and wrinkles.

You want to make sure the garments are 90 percent dry. This is basically where the garments are still damp to the touch, especially the seams.

Proper heat in drying is essential to curing water repellents (making the repellent more permanent).

The key to drying is to start the cooling while the fabric is still damp.

Be very careful with down coats and gas-fired dryers. The tyvak (a thermoplastic resin) coating shrinks when it hits the hot spots in the dryer.

Recommendations on certain fabrics

Wool
Use a cationic detergent. Water temperature should be between 90 degrees to 110 degrees F. Limit the mechanical action. Thorough rinsing may not be needed (follow the detergent manufacturer's instructions).

Silk
Follow procedures as outlined for wool.

Dry only two to three minutes.

Dry in cool dryer for five minutes.

Cotton
Use anionic or cationic detergent.

Using a little salt or acetic acid will to help set some dyes (to determine whether or not to use salt or acetic acid to set the dye, test with a salt or acetic solution on an unexposed seam).

Turn the garment inside out to reduce crocking.

Use a sizing or softener as required.

Dry at 90 degrees F.

Cotton knits with deep shades or bright colors are never to be soaked.

Sized rayon
Very hard to finish if you wetclean. Not impossible, but very hard.

Absolutely never wetclean crepe or viscose (a type of heavily-sized rayon).

Acetate
Soak. No mechanical action.

Use cool/cold water.

Use cationic or anionic detergent.

Rinse. Hang. Remove excess moisture with towel to prevent uneven drying. No extraction.

Stan Golomb: Times are getting tough. Are you?

As of December 28, 2000, the population of the United States has reached 281.4 million. The population has grown 33,399,123 since 1990.

Projections are that the U.S. will be over 325 million people by the year 2020. The exponential growth is both good and bad. The economy has to expand to accommodate this many people. Roads have to be created to carry the large number of new cars and trucks that will invade our country.

Are we growing too fast? I think so. There were 18 million vehicles sold in the year 2000 alone. Airports are already overcrowded and all methods of travel have increased many times over and are already over capacity.

What will the future bring? Nobody knows for sure but we can look to the past to give us an idea of what to expect. I wrote an article that went out to my ever-growing free e-mail list, as well as to members of the Golomb Group. Now, I'd like to share my thoughts with all those who read my monthly column in the National Clothesline.

The year 2001 will separate the men from the boys. Every year, I review what happened in the previous year and what I anticipate will happen in the coming year. Dramatic changes are taking place in the economy of the United States and the world that will make the future very interesting for all of us. We must learn from the past.

In 1929, everyone was making money in the stock market and thought it was going to go on forever. Then, in October of 1929, the stock market crashed. Everything changed as we started to approach the Great Depression of the '30s.

Those were very bleak years for the country. Hard times persisted until about 1940 when we started to build our military in preparation for events that lay ahead. War had already started in Europe and we began to prepare for whatever might happen.

Sure enough, on December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed and we were at war. Military related industries boomed and my home city of Boston became a major base for training before departure for Europe. Jobs became plentiful as 10 million young Americans joined the armed forces, leaving plenty of jobs for those who remained.

The arms and munitions plants were working around the clock making rifles, cannons and ammunition. Automobile factories stopped making cars and started making tanks, jeeps, trucks and all types of military vehicles. Shipyards and aircraft factories did a mammoth job getting us ready for war.

I turned 18 in 1942 and had just graduated from high school. I did what all my friends did and enlisted in the military. Everything looked rosy when all the young men came home from serving in the armed forces. We had won the war and those folks who stayed behind supported us and treated us like heroes.

For the next 50 years we saw wonderful things happen. In 1946, service men were being funded for school on the G.I. Bill and loans were easy to get to start businesses. Jobs were plentiful for anyone who wanted to work. Women went back to the home to raise their new families and the housing boom started to accommodate all the new families.

The past is history but I did want you to know that I've been there, seen and done that and now I'm looking back for signals for the future. The economy plays a vital part in all of our lives.

The NASDAQ has now surrendered all of its gains since March, 1999. The total loss of capital thus far in the bear market is up to $4 trillion. To make this easier to understand, $4 trillion is the equivalent to a loss of $40,000 per family.

Those of you who have IRA accounts, Mutual Funds, 401(k)s or have invested on your own have seen substantial losses in your portfolio.

Half the families in America own stock and in the average stock-holding family, stock is their number-one asset. The best we can now hope for will be a recession for a few years and suffer the consequence.

At this point, you might ask where I'm going with this report. According to my source, there is still a lot of downside ahead. I'm telling you to fasten your seat belts as we're heading into turbulent times.

When people see their neighbors losing their jobs, they feel we are in a recession. When they lose their jobs, they feel we are in a depression. People lose confidence and nothing creates more fear than loss of savings and jobs and an unknown future.

People will cut back on easy spending. The high-priced restaurants will quickly see fewer diners and you won't have to stand in line to get seated in a good restaurant.

Drycleaning sales will decline, but the industry will survive. This is a somewhat depression-proof business. People have to eat and have shelter and will also need clean garments. They will buy less and maintain their wardrobe longer. The dress-down code has already taken a toll. The fear of loss of jobs or savings will cause another downturn in the industry.

As always, the strong will survive and the weak, or poorly managed, or undercapitalized will fail. My heart goes out to these people who will become statistics. Nothing can be worse than to see debts piling up and be unable to pay debt service, mortgage payments or rent.

What should you do to protect yourself? As marginal drycleaning businesses fail, their customers will look for another source for maintaining their garments. This can be you. Drycleaners will no longer complain about finding good help. There will be plenty of people ready to work for reasonable wages.

What you have to do is tighten your belt and cut any deadwood from your business. Be aggressive in your marketing so you can get more than your share from those who will still spend money on drycleaning. I have a deep concern for my friends in the industry. I know there will be many survivors and, like the industry bloodbath in the early '70s, the survivors will see much better days.

My advice to you is to simply not let fear cloud your judgment. Go back to the basics of doing a good job, marketing your services, taking good care of your customers and do your best.

Are you interested in a survival strategy for the future? If so, contact me and give me your name, plant name, and mailing address for further information. My e-mail address is stangolomb@golombgroup.com .

Frank Kollman: Time for a labor relations audit

Ignorance is bliss. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We have heard these phrases time and again. The average business owner is too busy to worry about problems he or she "might have," so why should that person conduct a labor relations audit?

For the same reason you have your car serviced, your HVAC equipment serviced, and your body looked at by a physician at regular intervals. A medical condition found early can be treated. So can a labor relations problem. A medical condition found late can cause death. A major piece of labor litigation can ruin your business.

The following is a checklist I use, modified for this article, to determine the quality of a company's labor relations program:

A. Is there an employee handbook? Has it been reviewed by labor counsel recently?
B. Are there regular (quarterly or semi-annual) employee meetings?
C. How accessible is management to listen to employee concerns?
D. Is there a mechanism for resolving employee problems?

A. Is the OSHA (or state) poster displayed?
B. Is there a written safety program, enforced through discipline?
C. Is there a written hazard communication program (also know as "right to know")?
D. How knowledgeable are supervisors and employees on how to deal with an OSHA inspection?

A. Is the EEOC (or state equivalent) poster displayed?
B. Have supervisors been trained on proper evaluations, discipline, etc.?
C. Review of prior discipline for consistency?
D. Are personnel records in good order?
E. Is the company vulnerable to sexual harassment claims?

1. Dating among employees?
2. What kind of language is used in the workplace?

A. Are there employees exempt from minimum wage and overtime?

1. Executives
2. Administrative?
3. Professional?
4. Outside Sales?
5. What duties do these "exempt" employees perform?

a. Are they paid a salary?
b. Are deductions made from that salary?

B. Are there issues surrounding the method of compensation for non-exempt employees?

1. Breaks
2. Travel
3. On-call
4. Early arrival and late departure

C. What are the company's overtime practices?
D. Deductions from pay

1. Are they authorized in writing?

E. Are proper time records kept and is the company using accepted rounding practices?

F. Are wage and hour records being maintained for the required time period?

A. Is there a good communications program? See item I above.
B. Are there non-economic issues causing employee dissatisfaction?

1. Locker room and lunch room adequacy
2. Parking lot
3. Other facilities

C. Payroll discrepancies

1. How accurate are paychecks?
2. How quickly are paycheck discrepancies corrected?

A. Have these been compared with other similar companies in the area?
B. Are there fringe benefit programs, and do they comply with ERISA?

1. Health insurance

a. Dependent coverage
b. Co-Pays

2. Retirement

C. How is holiday pay calculated?
D. How is vacation handled?

1. Treatment of unused vacation.
2. How are popular vacation times assigned?

A. What does a review of prior claims and lawsuits show?

1. Unemployment
2. Workers Compensation
3. Discrimination
4. OSHA citations

In future articles, I will discuss these audit items in more detail, making suggestions on what to look for and how to address problems that are uncovered. Let's make 2001 the year you eliminate potential labor problems.

Frank Lucenta: Spray finishing antique leathers

Painted antique leather is produced by spraying a darker color of Leather Pro Painted Leather Finish over a lighter color base coat of Leather Pro Painted Leather Finish using the air spray gun.

The darker color is applied unevenly over the lighter color base coat so that the lighter colored base coat can be seen through the darker colored second overlay coating. Both the base coat and the second overlay coat may themselves be sprayed with a third clear coat of Leather Pro Clear non-pigmented leather finish to impart more shine and a more wear resistant surface. This process is similar to the way a piece of wood would be antiqued.

Spraying leather with an air spray gun
Spray finishing painted antique leather is accomplished by following the spray finishing procedures and techniques previously described. However, since the antique two color effect is produced by spraying a darker color over a lighter color base coat, there is at least one extra step involved.

The item with a painted antique leather finish may exhibit various degrees of wear when it is received for cleaning.

The techniques employed and the finishing materials required to restore the worn painted antique leather finish depends upon the degree of wear present in the surface finish and the surface of the skin.

A painted antique leather item may exhibit any of the following conditions of wear:

• Loss of shiny gloss.
• Loss of shiny gloss and loss of dark colored overlay.
• Loss of shiny gloss, loss of dark colored overlay and loss of light colored base coat.
• Loss of shiny gloss, loss of dark colored overlay, loss of light colored base coat and loss of the surface of the skin.

If the antique leather item has lost its shiny gloss, then only clear leather finish need be sprayed on the item using the air spray gun set at 60 psi of air pressure, from a distance of six inches from the surface of the leather.

Press leather after spraying
Allow to dry, then press with a hot head press or a press equipped with a hot head grid plate to bond the finish to the surface and to make the finish soft and slick.

If the antique leather item has lost both its shiny gloss and dark colored overlay, it should be sprayed with a mixture of equal parts of clear leather finish and color leather finish in the appropriate color, which is usually either brown or black or a mixture of the two.

Spray with the air spray gun set at 60 psi air pressure with the sprayer nozzle held six inches from the surface of the leather.

Spray the darker overlay color unevenly to match the original antique design which can usually be found under the collar or inside the pockets. Allow to dry and then spray with the clear leather finish as described above.

Allow to dry, then press with a hot head press or a press equipped with a hot head grid plate.

If the antique leather item has lost the shiny gloss, the dark colored overlay and the base color but the surface of the skin is in good condition, first wipe the surface of the skin clean with Leather Prep Thinner/Stripper and then spray it with color leather finish that matches the base color.

The base color of most antique leather items is some shade of tan or rust, however, there are occasionally some items with a base color of blue, maroon, rose or some other color.

Spray with the air spray gun set at 60 psi air pressure with the sprayer nozzle held six inches from the surface of the leather. Allow to dry, then spray the darker overlay color unevenly to match the original antique design using the Leather Pro Color/Clear 50-50 mixture.

Allow to dry, then spray with the clear leather finish as described above. Allow to dry, then press with a hot head press or a press equipped with a hot head grid plate.

If the antique leather item has lost the shiny gloss, the dark colored overlay, the base color and the surface of the skin is worn or damaged, again wipe the surface clean with Leather Prep Thinner/Stripper. Then the worn areas of the skin should be sealed by spraying with a light coating of the Leather Pro Color Leather Finish in the original base color.

Spray lightly with the air spray gun set at 80 psi air pressure, with the nozzle fluid spray adjustment screw and the air flow spray adjustment screw set at minimum, and with the sprayer nozzle held eight inches from the worn surface of the leather.

This procedure will resurface the worn area without excessive amounts of the finish soaking into the worn skin.

Allow to dry, then apply the base color as described above. Next, apply the dark overlay color as described above.

Allow to dry, then apply the clear leather finish to restore the shine. Allow to dry, then press with the hot head press or a press equipped with a hot head grid plate.

Author's Note: do not use products not specifically formulated for use on suede and leather. The products referred to in this article are specifically formulated for use on leathers. Other products made for use on suede and leather may not give the same results when used as described in this article.

Dennis McCrory: Problem employees are your problem

Lola is a problem employee. She usually shows up late for work, her work is of poor quality, and she always seems to have a chip on her shoulder. Her bad attitude has gotten complaints from both customers and other employees.

So, is Lola about to be fired?

Not even close. In fact, she'll probably get a raise this year, just like everyone else.

There are thousands of Lolas in thousands of cleaners across the country. But Lola is not the problem, nor is the tight labor market. The problem is you, Lola's manager.

When managers blame a bad employee on the tight labor market, they're trying to avoid admitting they made a hiring mistake. They say it's too much trouble to terminate an employee and find a replacement. It is trouble, but no one said managing was supposed to be easy.

No matter how difficult hiring may be, employees expect the manager to step up and confront poor performers. When they don't, morale begins to slide downward.

In other words, given time, Lola's work habits could become contagious, even disastrous.

If you allow one employee's poor performance, that sends a message you're willing to tolerate low performance. As a result, either your good workers will begin to under-perform or they will leave, rather than be associated with mediocrity.

Most experts estimate it costs a cleaner $2,000 to $8,000 to replace just one employee. So who can afford to lose even one?

Owners and managers have considerable difficulty managing people when they're so worried they'll quit. And you're right to worry about the best people if they leave, but you should also worry about the mediocre people that stay.

The truth is, the problems managers thought were caused by understaffing are more likely caused by under-motivating the staff they already have.

What really makes the labor market tight is that businesses have a lot of work that needs to get done. And., instead of "warm bodies," you need people who are motivated to get the work done.

The "I'm irreplaceable" mindset needs to be addressed head on. Managers need to let employees know that despite the tight labor market, inferior work will not be accepted.

The way to deal with the situation is to create an environment where work has to get done and successful performance is rewarded.

Take an aggressive approach to coaching employees and enforcing regular deadlines while giving employees a say in when and how they work. Managers must create an atmosphere where performers are rewarded and low-performers are pushed until they either perform or are pushed out the door.

Nowhere is the impact of a poorly motivated workforce felt more strongly than in a service business like ours. In most cases it is financial necessity and a lack of job skills rather than sincere interest that led these workers to our door.

The problem is made even greater when managers lack the coaching skills needed to help connect these employees to their jobs.

Managers are caught between a rock and a hard place. There's no doubt they're having a hard time motivating and demanding performance. Particularly in the drycleaning industry, there is a lot of quitting and walking across the street, where they see one job is as good as the next. The only way to stop that is to make your job much, much better than the next.

A good way to begin would be to hold a meeting with all of your employees (Or in the case of a very large organization, gather a group of representatives. Be sure to include the negative thought leaders, as these can become a real asset to your plan.)

Join with your workers to decide how best to measure and reward their performance.

A solution to retaining good people is to change their work environment to help them perform better. It's a matter of recognizing that quite often they are the experts on their jobs.

While carefully selecting, training, coaching and empowering your employees to pack their own chutes will go a long way towards ending your staffing woes, there is no guaranteed cure.

No reward program is going to turn an employee with a bad attitude or skill problem into a good performer, but it could mean the difference to someone who's on the edge.

Dennis McCrory works with The Golomb Group which provides direct mail and marketing services for drycleaners. They also produce the following book and video packages:
"The Caplan Method of Stain Removal"
"The Caplan Method of Shirt Laundering and Finishing,"
Also available is McCrory's "Pre-employment Screening Kit."
To order any of these, call The Golomb Group, (630) 887-7339.

Alan Robson: Have a weekly cash flow check-up

For most business owners December 31 is not only the end of the calendar year, it is also the end of their fiscal year. This is when you close your accounts, make year-end adjustments and file your tax returns.

The three financial reports that get the most attention at this time of year are the: Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet and your Annual Cash Flow Statement.

This article is an attempt to explain the difference between your accountant's year-end Cash Flow Statement and the living, breathing Cash Flow Report that you generate every week. What? You don't get a Weekly Cash Flow Report?

No one could imagine trying to run a plant without steam and I can't imagine trying to manage a business without a Weekly Cash Flow Report. I have heard some owners rationalize their lack of maintaining timely cash reports by stating, "What difference does it make if I write it down or not? If the money doesn't come in, there is nothing you can do about it. Writing stuff down won't pay the bills or make payroll."

If you have ever been behind with your payables or had a hard time covering payroll (and who hasn't?), it is time to start running your company like a business and not like a lemonade stand.

Back to your accountant's year-end Cash Flow Report. Your accountant's report shows the sources and uses of cash that do not show up in your Profit & Loss Statement. This is very important because there are things in your P & L and your tax return that you don't write a check for. These are things such as depreciation and amortization -- you deduct these from your Income Statement, but you never write a check for them. Because you don't write a check for depreciation, it is considered a "non-cash expense" and your accountant will add it back to your cash position.

When the IRS allows you to reduce profits by deducting depreciation -- something you never wrote a check for -- you can bet you will pay for it somewhere else. Typically, depreciation reflects a charge against a "capital expenditure." An example of a capital expenditure is your drycleaning machine or any other piece of equipment (even computer software) that the company will benefit from over several accounting periods or several years.

When I stated that the IRS "allows" you to charge off depreciation, I should have said that they require you to depreciate capital expenditures over several years. Following are two real life examples of depreciation. These examples are over-simplified in order to make them easy for me to explain.

Also, for this example, we will forget about accelerated depreciation. Using straight-line depreciation for five years you will deduct $10,000 per year from your Income Statement for each of the five years. If your company generated a $60,000 profit and you deduct $10,000 from that for depreciation, you will pay a tax on $50,000.

In this case, you spent $40,000 more this year than you can deduct as an expense, which means that you are paying an income tax on money that you don't have. You will deduct $10,000 a year from your income for the next four years, but you already paid a tax on that money in the first year. This is just one reason why you should not pay cash for capital expenses even when you have the money.

Two other reasons are that 1) when you pay cash for a large piece of equipment, you are converting a current or liquid asset (money) into a fixed asset (equipment), and, although total assets are the same, you can't pay for a box of hangers with a piece of equipment; and, 2) when you pay over a period of time, even though you are paying interest, you are paying with dollars that are worth less than they were a year ago.

At the end of 12 months, you will have paid the bank $12,000. Of that amount, you can deduct from your P & L and your taxes only the amount that you paid for interest.

You cannot deduct the principle amount that you paid back to the bank. Your accountant will have to deduct the principle portion of the loan payments from your cash position on his annual Cash Flow Statement.

What all this means is that your Profit & Loss Statement will never match your company's cash flow. Cash flow and profits are two different animals.

Back to your Weekly Cash Flow Report. Your cash flow report can be set up on a spreadsheet such as Excel or you can do it the old fashioned way -- on 13 column accounting paper. Either way, here is the format to use.

Down the left side of your worksheet list the following line items;

Beginning Balance (this is the amount of money you have in cash and in the bank at the beginning of the week.

Receipts (cash, checks, and credit card receipts).
A/R Received (this is the money paid to you from your account customers).
Other (other cash receipts, such as a insurance rebate, etc.).
Total Cash Available (Add the above four-line items, which equal total cash available).

Below these line items list your recurring weekly expenses as follows:

Gross Weekly Payroll (this is total payroll plus the company's share of FICA, FUTA, SUTA, etc.)
Contract Labor (suede and leather cleaning, outside services, etc.).
Auto/Truck Expenses (gas, tolls, etc.)
Other (things purchased out of petty cash, etc.)
Total Weekly Expenses (the total of the above expenses).
Remaining Cash (subtract Total Weekly Expenses from Total Available).

Rent
Electric
Fuel
Other Utilities
Accounts Payable
Supplies
Loan #1
Loan #2
Lease Payments
Other
Other
Total Monthly Expenses
Ending Balance

Before you post any dollar amounts to the right of these monthly expenses, across the top of the spreadsheet post the week ending dates for each week of the current month. *Leave one column blank between each week ending date.

Next, post the dollar amount of the bills owed under the week in which they are owed. Example: if your rent is $1,200 and it is due on the first of the month, post $1,200 to the right of rent in the column marked 02/03. If your electric bill is $450 and it is due on the twelfth of the month, post it to the right of electric under the column marked 02/17.

After you post all of your monthly bills on the spreadsheet, total your monthly expenditures for the first week in the column marked 02/03.

Then subtract that amount from "remaining cash" above and post the answer in the "ending balance" column. Also, post that amount in the "beginning balance" column for next week -- the column marked 02/10.

Fill out this form for the month of February. In the columns that were left blank (between each week ending date) write in what actually did get paid. Lay this form out for each month and fill it in weekly. Do this for 13 weeks and you will be amazed at how much you learn.

As you fill out this form weekly, look for places to reduce expenditures and to increase cash flow. Are employees milking the time clock trying to squeeze out another 20 to 30 minutes at the end of the day? What about increasing your incoming cash flow: Are you getting the upcharges you should be?

You cannot afford to let your cash flow "just happen." You must manage it. To do this you must write down cash in and cash out every week. This will allow you to watch what is happening to your money. When you can "see" it, you can manage it.

This year, when you sit down with your accountant, pick his or her brains. Don't be afraid to ask the "stupid question." Your accountant should not only be doing your taxes, but also should be educating you in the process. Don't be intimidated. You are paying them; get your money's worth!

In closing, here's a great quote that I saw on the menu of the Golden Ox restaurant in Kansas City, MO. "The Golden Ox restaurant is in business for the enjoyment and pleasure of our guests, not the convenience of our staff. If you have any problem with any staff member concerning rudeness or indifference, please ask for a member of management immediately."

Reminder: Visit the Biz Builder website at: www.bizbuilderonline.com and take our poll.

Remember in the game of business the more you know the better you can play the game.

Copyright © 2001, National Clothesline
Maintained by: Hal Horning