Stan Caplan: How to reduce your energy costs

Keeping energy costs down is a process that all good managers and plant owners have been practicing for many years in the past.

This task is a continuing effort, and now it is even more critical than in the past since costs of natural gas, fuel oil and electricity have escalated to high peaks as much as four times the costs of the recent past. There seems to be no immediate remedy by local, state and federal governments.

The only answer to this dilemma is for you, the plant owner/manager, to exercise all possible ways of economizing in your consumption of the three major forms of energy: natural gas, fuel oil and electricity in all combinations of operations.

Boiler, water heater and pipes
Insulation: This is absolutely critical to begin the energy savings program since most of your energy costs are in the boiler room. Boiler, condensate return tank, boiler stack (portion in the boiler room), boiler outlet steam header, water preheater (heat exchanger), hot water heater and hot water storage tank should all be insulated. Insulation will not only save precious fuel dollars, but it will also keep the boiler room comfortably cooler, which is critical to good fuel combustion by the boiler's and water heater's burner.

The best materials for insulation are 85 percent magnesium, fiberglass with vinyl covering and similar synthetic materials except asbestos. Asbestos has been outlawed as an insulation due to its detriment to human health.

One hundred feet of pipe 1 1/2" in diameter will have a radiated heat loss of 376,000 BTUs in an eight-hour day when that pipe is used for steam at 120 psig and at 350° F.

The same size pipe used as a condensate return with condensate temperature at 239°F. will have a radiation loss of 183,000 BTUs in an eight-hour period.

If the same size and length of pipe is used to transport hot water at a temperature of 180° F., the radiated loss is 108,000 BTUs per eight-hour day.

At the end of a normally operating year consisting of 260 days, you will have consumed 936 gallons of fuel oil or 139,620 cubic feet of natural gas from uninsulated 1 1/2" steam pipes, 442 gallons of fuel oil or 68,120 cubic feet of natural gas from uninsulated 1 1/2" condensate return pipes and 260 gallons of fuel oil or 39,780 cubic feet of natural gas from uninsulated 1 1/2" hot water pipes

Steam leaks: Steam piping systems should be free of leaks since they waste steam and can cause unnecessary pressure drops.

To illustrate how costly even small steam leaks can be, the table below shows the loss of steam at 100 psig at various size openings.

LOSS OF STEAM AT 100 PSIG
AT VARIOUS SIZE OPENINGS

Opening	Steam,	Million
Diameter,	Pounds	BTU's
inches	per month	per month
1/2	805,000	942.66
3/8	460,000	538.66
1/4	203,000	237.71
1/8	50,500	59.14
1/16	12,750	14.93
1/32	3,175	3.72

Burner efficiency: It is important that the differential of the "off--on" of the boiler's burner is not too high. The differential of 5 to 7 psig drop before shutting off is the most efficient.

Power burners should have a separate induced draft device for maximum efficiency. Boiler room ventilation is most important to efficient combustion. Do not pump in high velocity air to disturb burner flame efficiency.

True savings are in the efficiency of the boiler's burner. Your local gas and electric company, or other purveyor of natural gas or oil, has a staff of burner technicians ready to adjust, service and tune your boiler's burner.

The burner should be checked annually with an orsat for CO2, O2 and CO. Perfect combustion is 14 percent CO2, 7 percent O2 and 0 percent CO. By adjusting the air and fuel mixture, we try to come as close as possible to those numbers and percentages. The CO2 percentage in relationship to stack temperature gives the efficiency of the boiler. An ideal stack temperature is computed as the temperature of the average steam pressure plus 150° F.

Steam traps: These devices can be a great source of energy waste. A trap which "blows through" will send live steam through the condensate return tank's vent pipe and literally heat the atmosphere. By reading the chart (on the next page) on steam leaks, you can readily see the severe waste of energy dollars by a trap blowing through. Observation of the steam emitting from the condensate receiving tank's vent pipe will instantly tell that a trap, or several traps, are blowing through.

Comparing the trap's inlet temperature with its outlet temperature can instantly tell you if it is blowing through since the outlet temperature should be lower than the inlet temperature. A bucket trap's discharge temperature will be considerably lower than its inlet temperature, and the impulse/thermodynamic trap's discharge temperature will be considerably closer, but still lower, than its inlet temperature. A pyrometer is an ideal device for checking these trap temperatures.

Turbulators: These are corrugated steel flat bars inserted within the boiler's tubes. These tubes produce an even temperature within all the tubes, not just in the top portion of tubes within the boiler as when turbulators are not employed.

By creating turbulence in the hot gases to increase heat transfer, soot is totally cleaned from the tubes resulting in tremendous savings in fuel as well as lower stack temperatures.

Electronic stack damper: This device is installed within the boiler's stack not far from the boiler's outlet base which supports the stack.

When the burner reaches its cut off point, the burner shuts off and the damper closes to keep the heat in the boiler from escaping up the stack. When the steam pressure drops to its cut-in point, the burner comes on and the damper opens for proper draft.

In this manner, the burner stays off longer than when an ordinary weighted damper is employed.

Large size boilers usually employ a modulating burner which goes into "low fire" when the steam pressure reaches its high setting rather than the burner shutting off. Then, when the steam pressure reaches its lower setting, the burner recycles to climb to reach its high setting. This setup is most efficient and does not use the electronic stack damper since the burner is never off during the working day.

At least twice per week, check the flame in the fire box. It should be orange-red for oil and blue for gas.

A bad flame causes soot to build up in the fire box. Soot acts as an insulator, and a mere 1/8" thick layer of soot may add as much as 25 percent to your fuel bill.

Use of boiler coast down for free steam

Tube-type boilers always have a good reserve of steam for about 30 minutes (if the boiler is not undersized) after shutting the burner off. You should utilize this reserve of steam to allow you to continue pressing until the steam gauge reads 60 psig. This should give you at least 15 minutes to 20 minutes of free steam for pressing.

Larger boilers obviously have larger reserves of steam than small boilers. An ideal setup when building a new plant, or replacing an old boiler, is to oversize the new boiler at least 10 percent over the normal allowance for reserve steam and future expansion.

Scale buildup on the tubes or in the tubes: These conditions will increase your fuel bill 15 percent minimum if the scale buildup is 1/16". Boiler water compound should be added as instructed by your technician with daily boiler blowdown as directed.

You can test the pH of your boiler daily by use of a simple pH testing kit available from any chemical supplier or store which sells tropical fish in tanks. Keep the water at neutral (pH 6.5-7.5) as much as possible.

Management: Close the steam inlet and outlet valves to a piece of steam-fed equipment which is not in use daily. A piece of equipment not in use, but has steam running through it to its trap, will consume almost 3Ž4 of the amount of steam as when it is being used.

Computing boiler horsepower for heating water: Most laundries and drycleaners using hot water do not know the cost of heating the vast amounts of hot water needed for the laundry process.

Without this information it is difficult to project energy savings by using different procedures or to evaluate the savings of a new piece of equipment correctly.

The old guideline that approximately 60 percent of the boiler horsepower generated is used to heat the hot water really doesn't give much usable information.

To arrive at significant figures it is necessary to determine the hourly usage of hot water at the supply temperature. There are several ways to determine this usage.

Some plants may be fortunate enough to have a meter on the hot water line that gives the correct answer. For most it will require using the charts relating inches of water in the washer to gallons of water. This data should be in the maintenance manual for the particular washer.

Some may wish to use the guideline of three gallons of water per pound of clothes washed. Since two of the three gallons used is hot water, the number of pounds processed times two gallons divided by the hours worked result in gallons of hot water used per hour. This last method will not be as accurate as the first two, but it will give a fairly close figure.

The best formula to compute heat consumption is as follows: When usage of hot water (in gallons) per hour has been determined, it is converted to pounds by multiplying by 8.33 (pound weight of one gallon of water).

This figure is multiplied by the temperature difference in degrees Fahrenheit between the incoming cold water (after the heat reclaimer, if installed) and the final temperature of the hot water to equal the approximate BTUs required.

Dividing this figure by 33,500 BTUs, the amount of one boiler horsepower (BHP), equals the approximate BHP required for heating the water. Simply stated: Gallons per hour x 8.33 x temperature change (degrees F.) = BTUs required divided by 33,500 BTUs = Boiler Horsepower.

As an example: A plant uses 1,000 gallons of water at 160 degrees F. per hour with the incoming water source at 60 degrees F. 1,000 x 8.33 x (160-60) = 833,000 BTUs divided by 33,500 = 25 BHP with no incoming water preheater used.

If a heat exchanger utilizing the condensate return is used, raising the temperature of the incoming water by 50°F., the required BHP is now reduced to 12 BHP.

Thus, 13 BHP per hour is saved by utilizing a heat reclaimer. Heating water by a separate fuel-fired heater costs much less than heating water by live steam or by a steam heated coil or vessel. Although, the higher the temperature of the water to be heated, the lower the cost of the heated water, no matter which method of heating water is used.

In addition to the heat exchanger installed within the boiler room to preheat the incoming water, another type heat exchanger is installed within the boiler's stack. Initially, there were some corrosion problems from over condensation within the stack and hence dripping down into the boiler caused severe chemical reactions on the metals used in the heat exchanger.

However, today that problem has been solved through use of better materials and more stainless steel in addition to a much improved design.

Most of the maintenance consists of keeping the fins and the overall unit clean, and this chore is made easier by easier removal of the unit for cleaning and inspection.

One unit on the market is "Therma-Stak" Heat Recovery System manufactured by Energy Saving Devices, Ltd., Lynbrook, NY. Phone: (800) 521-6676.

Another method of preheating incoming cold water is to run the condensate return lines through the hot water storage tank. By doing this, the condensate temperature is reduced, and the heat is passed on to the hot water tank.

Many hot water tanks have provided for this with an extra set of coils in the tank, but if the coils are not available, the use of the heat exchanger will accomplish the same purpose.

Some small plants may find the main steam valve seldom used to heat the water when the condensate passes through the hot water tank.

Finally, during very cold periods over night, you can still leave the boiler off as long as you install a thermostat located in the coldest part of your plant to turn the boiler on if the temperature falls to 20° F. to 25° F.

Electricity
Motors: Avoid stop and start of higher horsepower motors. Continuous running will consume less electric power than the expensive starts which consume more than three times the amount of amps than motors on continuous running.

Examples:

1) Motor to a filter pump on a drycleaning machine should run continuously whether the solvent is being pumped through the filter and back to the drum or the solvent is by-passing the drum and is circulating from tank to filter and back to tank.

2) Motor to an air compressor should run continuously with control by an "unloader" which throws the compressor into neutral when the desired air pressure is reached with the motor still turning the pulleys in a by-pass mode, and when the compressor hits the desired cut-in air pressure the unloader cuts back into the pumping mode and out of neutral.

3) Motor to a sewing machine runs continuously, but the sewing head is controlled by actuating a clutch to throw the contact pulley out of neutral and into the pulling mode to make stitches in the cloth.

Use 3-phase electric motors rather than single phase motors, over 3Ž4 horsepower, since the latter consumes many more amps and runs hotter than the 3-phase motor, especially on a start.

Use fluorescent tubes in place of incandescent lights wherever possible, and turn off lights where no light is needed.

Keep electric motors' vent openings clean and motor bearings lubricated no less often than every six months (unsealed bearings).

Do not use circuit breakers to turn off motors; use their individual switch since using a circuit breaker as a switch will result in abnormal wear of the breaker.

Use of "swamp coolers" in place of refrigerated air conditioners in areas of low humidity will save a tremendous amount of energy cost; plus the original investment of the swamp cooler is a fraction of the cost of the refrigeration unit.

These suggestions are merely a "tip of the iceberg" in the sea of saving energy. Management must apply all its faculties and efforts to overcome the severe heights of current abnormal energy costs. No longer can we ride out the waves of cheap energy of the past or the low costs of gasoline as we enjoyed for many years. Now that the honeymoon is over, management must apply all of its efforts and common sense to corral the high cost of energy whether it be in the boiler room, the production plant or the vehicles on the route.

Ray Colucci: Alive and well in Bergen County

I was honored to be a speaker at a recent meeting on one of my favorite subjects, "Route to Success!" But I must report that I had some very good company aside from the capacity attendance.

This successful get-together was the handiwork of Rich Mason, president of the Neighborhood Cleaners Association's Bergen County (New Jersey) Chapter.

Rich managed to introduce a new service to the drycleaner through NCA, called AmeriGroup, as part of the program. This organization, partially funded by the State of New Jersey, offers medical coverage for employees who, if qualified based on income, cannot afford full coverage.

He also had Nora Nealis, the new head of the NCA, as a speaker. She was very enthusiastic, alerting the membership to some of the many exciting directions in which NCA is headed. It was apparent to all that the good will be getting better with improved services and benefits.

For several years I have been dismayed at the poor attendance at many of our industry associations' meetings. It seems the Bergen County Chapter has turned the corner, stimulating members' interest with programs they are seeking. For one thing, they schedule only four or five meetings a year and only topics of current and pertinent issues, requiring immediate discussion, are placed on the agenda.

We have all learned (many times the hard way) that the voices of few are seldom heard, so it's time to stand up and be counted.

There has never been a time in the history of our industry that support of our associations is needed if we are to achieve fairness in the treatment by our legislators. Has everyone heard us?

I have often addressed a group such as this by announcing "The most successful drycleaners I have had the pleasure of knowing are those who attend meetings!" It was so at this meeting. They listened attentively and contributed their own personal experiences to the everyday situations that they confront.

It is no secret that no one has all the answers, but by sharing the accumulated knowledge as individuals on a friendly basis, all benefit from their combined experience.

Our industry has been challenged by many changes, from casual dress to a myriad of laundry products with miracle fabrics, all claiming little or no need for drycleaning.

To add insult to injury we have the federal government placing more restrictions on us. EPA talks of the toxicity of solvents while many landlords refuse to rent to cleaners.

By being active in the associations, each drycleaner shares the common problems. If the answer does not come from the speaker on the rostrum, surely it will come from another member who will freely disclose how he or she solved the problem.

Certainly our legislators should have the answers and know of our plight. Fortunately the power of the voting booth still means something in this country.

I was elated to see a good number of Koreans in attendance. Perhaps one of the attractions was the offer of my "route to success" literature in Korean as well as English. They are all hard-working entrepreneurs, who have all sacrificed much to reach their present positions. Our brothers in drycleaning have the same needs and problems, are no different, and are equal in need than all the other owners who seek the solutions to our industry's dilemmas.

I am certain there will be more and more Korean participation in future functions of the various chapters. Also present was Mr. Jimmy Young Rhim, the NCA representative who agreed with me that he would be pleased to see and welcome more Korean participation at future meetings.

Speaking of participation, I was also pleased to see the contributions of several supply and manufacturing companies who had made generous contributions in the way of a raffle prizes to those that attended. I salute the companies such as Laidlaw Corp., Minda Supply, Cleaners Products Supply and AirWorld for offering their practical and valuable gifts. They certainly make attendance more rewarding -- and you always feel fortunate to be called with the lucky number. This is a practice that I hope continues. It shows those participating companies the importance of having a united membership. Hopefully, more companies will give this appreciative and valuable support.

Everyone in attendance also took time to recognize Martin Birnbaum of the Knights of Pythias for his cooperation in the Coats for Kids project. Some 4,000 coats were collected, cleaned and distributed through the combined efforts of many people.

I salute Richard Mason, who hopes to see an affiliation with adjoining New Jersey Hudson and Passaic counties by participating members for a stronger association. All members benefit from his inspiring presidency, which comes at a time when support is so desperately needed.

Don Desrosiers: You and your shirt wholesaler

If you don't do shirts, you need to read this. This is part one of a three-part series on wholesale shirts. This month's chapter, part one, is for the drycleaner who doesn't do his or her own shirts.

This is for the drycleaner who offers customers a shirt service, but uses a wholesale shirt service rather than doing shirts on the premises.

Next month, we will talk about the plight of the wholesale shirt launderer.

The third and final parts will also be for the drycleaner who is currently using a wholesaler. That chapter will help decide if this is the right course for the future: Should I get into the shirt business?

In previous columns, I have discussed that integral part of the drycleaning business that we simply refer to as "shirts." The assumption is that the shirt service that you sell to your customers is a service done on your premises for which you are responsible.

The reality is that this is not always the case -- and with good reason. It just may be impossible to make money if you are only doing a few hundred shirts per week. If you are in that group, you probably are not in the shirt business and may never be.

So, this month we will talk about your plight.

What should you expect from your "shirt guy?" What kind of service is reasonable?

What about quality? What is "normal?" Should you accept excuses for substandard quality and/or substandard service?

What is a good price?
OK, first things first. What should you expect from your "shirt guy?"

That's pretty easy. You should expect precisely what he or she told you to expect. Probably nothing more. Not even a little more.

If you do get more, while never expecting it, you should consider yourself associated with a very rare fellow. Perhaps you are in a situation that is even too good to be true. Cherish it.

Beware, however, of a "compensation ploy." This is when your wholesaler tries to be your hero by doing more than is expected, but does it by skimping on something else.

Example: The shirts get to you a day sooner than expected but the quality is poor. I hope you will not ever consider this to be getting more than you were told to expect.

The reciprocal is equally poor, by the way -- getting great quality, but getting it a day late.

A feeble excuse would be "Yes, I know that the shirts are late, but the shirts look good this time."

What kind of service is reasonable?
Two-day service is reasonable when you consider what needs to be done to the shirts that you send to the wholesaler, rolled up in a ball. They deliver to you tomorrow, the shirts that they picked up yesterday. You may have a shirt wholesaler now who gives you 100-percent next day service. I am not going to say that this is bad.

Certainly, from your perspective, there is plenty of good. It is like having an on-premise laundry without any of the associated hardships.

But the reality is that if you have your shirts picked up at noon on a Monday and expect them back at noon on Tuesday, there are about 25 things that need to go right during the next 24 hours in order for that to occur.

Of those 25 things, we will not even discuss all of the issues related to getting a delivery in the first place, like the driver showing up for work and the delivery vehicle being in operable condition. Those potentials, as you know, exist any day and everyday, regardless of turnaround.

Consider this, if you will: Of the 24 hours that your wholesaler has to produce your shirts to your liking, there is a good chance that during half of those hours, nothing will be done. It is sleep time and the plant is closed. During the remaining 12 hours there are, in most instances at least two hours of delivery time.

In my wholesale plant there were at least five hours of delivery time. (I never offered next-day service.) But let's say it is only two hours. That leaves 10 hours in which to tag, unbutton, inspect for tears and stains, pre-spot, prepare for washing, wash, starch, extract, shake-out, press, touch-up, inspect, re-wash, check buttons, replace buttons, add packaging enhancements, sort, assemble, bag, sort by location, put into storage, load into a truck and then deliver -- each shirt!

Multiply that by the number of shirts that you send and then multiply that by the number of stores doing the sending. That is a tall order, my friends. But it is possible, assuming that all goes according to plan.

I don't have to tell you what happens if you rely on things going according to plan. It is good business on the part of the wholesaler to allow himself some leeway.

What should you expect regarding quality? A good job. The problem is that your wholesaler will not be objective. He might not even know what a good job is.

Frankly, he probably does know, but hundreds of thousands of shirts have a way of desensitizing you. It is pretty easy to "average out" your shirts.

A wholesaler wants a batch to be evaluated as a group. What I mean is that the wholesaler wants a pressing quality error on one shirt to be offset by a great touch-up job on a blouse.

You, as the customer, simply expect that blouse to be touched-up perfectly and have no idea what it looked like before a quality-control person attended to it. Partly because of this, you allow no slack for the shirt with the pressing error.

This is the classic struggle between the wholesaler and the wholesalee. (I made up that word, but you know what I mean -- it's you.)

Acceptable excuses
Should you accept excuses for substandard quality and/or substandard service? Like so many other situations, it depends on certain things and there is some degree of elasticity to the answer.

If a delivery is late, and the reason is that "the truck had a flat tire," you (and perhaps your customer) should have no problem accepting that.

Naturally, if the truck has a "flat tire", six days in a row, questions about creditability will abound.

I think that most of us are smart enough to be able to determine when we can and when we cannot accept "excuses."

There are excuses for problems and there are reasons for problems. There is a difference.

In my mind, an excuse is something that you point at, after the fact, in order to appear blameless. A reason is something that you witness, that you know in advance, will affect your customers and your business.

An excuse:

"Hey, why is my shirt delivery late?"

"Oh, my driver had a flat tire."

Or a reason:

"Your delivery will be late today. My driver had a flat tire and is just getting underway now."

Do you see the difference?

I know what you're thinking. Your wholesaler should be reading this. Well, he probably is. And I'll have even more for him next month.

But there is a reason that I am telling you this, because it applies to you as well. If you expect to be treated a certain way, be aware that your customers want the same from you.

You may be very short on sympathy when it comes to your shirt wholesaler because his sleeve press broke or his van got a flat, but so will your customer when you make an excuse for "whatever."

If your customer complains of a missing button, you cannot expect him to understand that it is somebody else's fault and you are blameless. If Mr. Smith complains that there is a missing button on his shirt, he considers you responsible.

You may feel blameless and simply say "Oh, that's the shirt guy's fault. We send those out. They are not done here."

Hate to tell you this, but that is a very lame excuse.

So, should you accept excuses for poor quality? No. Reasons? Yes, but only to an extent.

Ignorance will cost you

You see, there is a fair chance that the shirt wholesaler preys upon your ignorance of the shirt business. This is sad, but true.

The less that you know about shirts and shirt equipment, the more likely he will succeed in silencing you the next time you complain about something. It is more likely he will be able to snow you with a line of bull.

You probably know the appropriate cliché: If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.

The more you learn about this business, that you are only a minor player in, the better off you will be. Study the business as though you were doing the shirts yourself. Go to seminars, read this column, study the equipment at the trade shows.

So what is a good price? $2? What is the market price? Half that, maybe less. A sad truth, you know, but a good price is subjective. Good for whom?

Frankly, I don't want to tread these waters. Do not judge a wholesaler by the price that he charges. Do not pick a shirt wholesaler by choosing the one that has the lowest price. It happens to be a very difficult way to make a living.

Furthermore, the market that the wholesalers themselves created is one that suggests that shirts can be done cheaper and cheaper.

If one guy can do your shirts for x, his competitor can do them for 5 cents less than x. Common sense should tell you that this is fishy. Wholesale shirts cost the same today as they did 10 years ago, in some markets, the same as 15 or more years ago.

Of all the expenses that you know, for sure, that your shirt wholesaler has, can you name even one that cost the same as it did 5 years ago, never mind 10 or 15 years ago?

You know the expenses that he has -- hangers, poly, utilities, presser's wages. How much more do they cost now as compared to 1990? Without getting into why this has happened, or even how, you must admit that something is a bit queer here.

Being on the paying end of this exchange, however, you are likely to wear blinders and perhaps remain in denial. You desperately want wholesale shirt prices to remain at 80 or 90 cents.

The last thing that you want to happen tomorrow is for your shirt guy to tell you that he's raising his wholesale price to $1.50. You are oblivious to his cost and it is probably best that it remain that way.

I could go on and on about this, but I won't. I will simply leave you with this: Price is usually the key factor when judging, hiring, firing, retaining or replacing a shirt launderer. In reality, it should be the third factor -- behind quality and service. So maybe you should use the wholesaler that charges the most.

Dan Eisen: Surveying the solvent alternatives

Recently I was asked by the Bergen Chapter of NCA to make a presentation on alternative solvents. In an endeavor to relate valuable and hands-on experience, I went to various test sites and spent time working with some of the alternative solvents.

We wanted to address some issues that have come up in the past regarding the different solvents. For example, NCA and I felt that much information related about alternative solvents did not clearly spell out the characteristics of the solvent.

I found after working with the alternative solvents that each solvent had unique characteristics. Each solvent presented different characteristics than perc and would require different skills and training to effectively work.

Cleaners today have several choices if they want to try different means of cleaning clothes. The main reason why cleaners are seeking different solvents is to escape the burden of the government regulations heaped upon those who do use perc.

Perc still continues to be the best and most versatile solvent available.

It is also interesting to note that care labeling on garments will be more confusing than ever. For example, "dryclean only" would have to specify whether the solvent used can be:

1. Perc

2. Silicone (Green Earth)

3. Hydrocarbon (Stoddard, 140° F)

4. Hydrocarbon (DF 2000)

5. Glycol Ether (Rynex)

For example, a beaded or trimmed garment would be safe when using hydrocarbon (DF 2000), but not as safe when using hydrocarbon (Stoddard 140°F).

Not only would cleaners require more education, but so too would garment manufacturers when labelling their garment.

This article will discuss the characteristics relating to the following solvents:

1. Silicone (Green Earth)

2. Glycol Ether (Rynex )

3. Hydrocarbon (Petroleum)

4. CO2 (Liquid Carbon Dioxide)

5. Wetcleaning (Water)

Terms to understand
In relating information, it is important to understand terms that relate to cleaning performance and solvent characteristics.

KB Value: Each solvent has a value which relates to its ability to dissolve kauri wax. The higher the number of the KB Value, the more aggressive the solvent is relating to wax or oil. The KB Value does not relate to the cleaning ability to remove soil, grime, dirt or wetside staining. The KB Value, however, in most cases would have an effect on beading, plastic coated fabrics and the ability to remove oil- and grease-based stains. Perc has the highest KB Value.

Density: This is the weight of the solvent. A heavier solvent would create more mechanical action and aid in soil removal. Perc is the heaviest of the solvents, (13.5 pounds per gallon). Some of the alternative solvents have weights similar to the weight of water (8 pounds per gallon). This is the reason why water separation is difficult with some of the alternative solvents.

Surface Tension: This is the wetting characteristics of the solvents. Solvents with a lower surface tension penetrate fabrics easily and remove soil and staining more quickly.

Flash Point: This is the temperature at which vapors become flammable and combustible.

Class II, Flash Point 100 to 139°F.

Class IIIA, Flash Point 140 to 199°F.

Class IIIB, 200°F and higher.

Class IV, No flash point, not flammable.

GreenEarth
GreenEarth has a low KB Value of about 20. GreenEarth, when used with a proper detergent, has cleaning characteristics similar to hydrocarbon DF 2000. You can dryclean almost anything without risk of damage.

Beaded garments will be cleaned without risk and come out with a slight sheen that enhances their appearance. Pigment prints, vinyls and plastics are no problem!

Color classification does not have to be strict because cleaning is relatively safe to colors.

The ability to remove grease and oil-base staining would require more prespotting. Prespotting procedures would require different formulas than they currently use. Paint removers and volatile dry solvents currently used may not readily rinse from the fabrics, unless flashed, and leveled.

GreenEarth requires high heat when drying so prespotting is necessary to avoid setting stains. Drycleaning equipment must be designed for GreenEarth solvent.

GreenEarth requires vacuum distillation and must be designed with safety since this solvent does have a flash point (170°F). This is referred to as a Class IIIA solvent.

Rynex (Glycol Ether)
Working with Rynex will give the operator certain advantages and disadvantages. In working with the solvent, it becomes clear that Rynex has an advantage in removing a great deal of wetside staining and soil, to a point that is not even possessed by perc.

Dryside staining must be prespotted, but these agents readily rinse from fabrics. Moisture-bearing prespotters also rinse out easily. Rynex does not affect pigment prints or most color on silks. Cotton and most fabrics are safe.

Rynex will affect acetate fabrics or garments with a disperse dye. This means that acetate or blends can bleed, discolor and shrink. Beaded garments can lose coatings and vinyls can stiffen. This would mean the operator would have to do testing of trimmed garments, similar to those used for perc.

Rynex will cause slightly more wrinkling than perc, but the extra time in finishing is offset by the saving in prespotting time. Rynex requires vacuum distillates and is classified as a class IIIB solvent with a flash point higher than 200°F.

Hydrocarbon (DF 2000)
F 2000 solvent has a KB Value of 27, which is lower than other petroleum solvents (which range from 32 to 37). DF 2000 solvent requires longer cleaning cycles to remove soil. Prespotting agents rinse readily from the fabric. More prespotting will be required for soil removal.

Dryside staining requires more use of oily type paint remover since dryside stain removal is limited. Hydrocarbon machinery maintenance schedules must be adhered to. The solvent is classified as a IIIA solvent, which means more safety features are needed (e.g., nitrogen blanketing) for flammability safety.

Proper water separator cleaning is necessary to prevent bacteria and other odors.

CO2 (Carbon Dioxide)
I went to work with a cleaner using equipment designed for CO2. I signed a nondisclosure agreement and can not disclose specifics about the equipment, but only about the solvents. CO2 is liquefied into a solvent under high pressure (500 to 800 pounds).

Many manufacturers developing CO2 are working slowly, making sure equipment and spotting chemicals are compatible with the solvent. CO2, with proper soap addition, does a decent job of cleaning similar to petroleum solvent.

Special prespotting and spotting agents designed for CO2 are used to remove soil and stains. The lack of heat during drying avoids the setting of stains and wetside staining presents no problem in post-spotting.

Garments can also be prespotted with a wetside prespotter but must be thoroughly dry before cleaning. Cleaning of wet garments will result in gray areas as well as redeposition of soil.

Multi-colored and bright print fabrics are safe when cleaned in CO2. Acetate and triacetate garments do bleed and can even shrink in CO2. Some beads do swell and may be affected. These garments must be classified out of the regular load.

Water (Wetcleaning)
Water is listed as an alternative solvent, but is actually used in conjunction with other drycleaning solvents. Water, when all testing is properly done, can be used on many fabrics.

With the upgrade of equipment and improvement of wetcleaning chemicals, wetcleaning can be used to process up to 40 percent of garments received by drycleaners.

Wetcleaning can reduce the cost of drycleaning and provide an alternative way of cleaning unserviceable beaded and coated fabrics. It can also provide the skilled operator the ability to provide such services as restoration, water repellency and increased soil and stain removal.

Summary
Today's cleaner must know the pros and cons of all technologies. The lack of regulations on a solvent today does not mean there will be no future regulation of a solvent or the potential of retroactive liability.

Cleaners considering using different solvents in their store must also be aware of the potential of cross-contamination.

The solvent used on a "drycleanable" garment may create a reaction, due to its cleaning properties. A beaded garment with a dryclean-only label may be affected by perc, Rynex, CO2 or hydrocarbon (Stoddard, 140°F).

A "dryclean-only" label on an acetate may be affected by Rynex and C02.

A petroleum solvent will have different effects on dyes and trimming depending on which petroleum solvent you are using. Stoddard 140°F has a different cleaning characteristic than DF 2000 and may affect some beaded garments as well as plastic-coated fabrics. A printed garment may be affected by perc only and not other solvents.

The label "washable" may have different meanings. A garment may be able to withstand water, but only with controlled temperature, the use of neutral detergents and maintaining a controlled mechanical action. A "Professional Wetcleaning" label will be used by some garment manufacturers.

Stan Golomb: Tools of the drycleaning trade

A carpenter cannot do his job without the right tools.

In the drycleaning business, you need tools, too. You need a plant, a boiler, a cleaning machine, presses, fixtures and employees.

You also need special tools to promote the business and this is where many drycleaners fail to either know about the tools or fail to get and use them.

So what are these elusive tools?

They begin with the appearance of your call office. They are the appearance of your employees. They are the attitude of these employees.

There are also tools needed to bring customers to your store and tools to keep them happy and coming back.

Let's start with the appearance of the store. Does your store look neat and attractive? If it does, wonderful. But if not, now is the time to do something about it.

What can you do to improve the appearance of your call office?

Do you need new carpeting? Can the place handle a fresh paint job? Are the counters out of date and showing signs of wear?

Bringing the appearance of the store up to snuff doesn't have to cost very much, but it will make a big difference in the confidence of your employees and the response of the people who visit your store. How about having fresh flowers delivered every week for the counter?

How about your employees? Are they well groomed and do they know how to smile and be friendly? If not, either teach them or replace them with people who do look professional and are friendly.

Did you know that half of all the new customers who come in don't come back a second time? This is a fact, but the situation can be improved.

What tools do you need to get more of your first time customers to return a second and third time and become regulars?

Think of it this way. If you never lost a customer, your sales would double every 30 months. But this is impossible because customers move, die or lose their jobs or just get old and retire.

Knowing this, you can take advantage of those who are still around and using drycleaning services.

One Golomb Group member reported he tracked 1,572 new customers in one year, resulting in $103,567 in sales. But of all these new customers, only 712 came back a second time.

Can you imagine how much more business he would have done if only half of the one-time customers came back a second time?

Once management learned the statistics, they did something about it and sales have increased dramatically.

They immediately treated the new customers with special care and made sure that every new customer's order was checked for all details and was perfect.

They also sent the new customer a thank you card with a special offer to come back again.

Also, not leaving anything to chance, they gave the new customer a small gift and most consumers were not used to treatment like this.

Yes... this plant treated all customers with special care. Nobody left the store without a sincere thank you and often with a small gift to show appreciation.

So, with all other factors being equal, why wouldn't they be likely to return with their second and third orders?

These are the little tools to take advantage of the opportunity to bond with all new customers.

The heavy-duty tools are the methods used to attract new customers.

These tools consist of targeted direct mail to the most likely prospects in the area.

And, in order to target the new customers, they need special tools like a mapped out list of residents in the areas who are most likely to respond.

This consists of a demographic study to find out which mail carrier routes are most likely to become good customers.

This is a tool that is available from companies that provide these services. The Golomb Group is the only company that can provide this type of information for the drycleaning industry.

The Golomb Group was founded some 21 years ago with the idea of helping drycleaners use the tools available and providing special tools when needed.

Getting customers is easy. Holding them is harder but with the right tools and attitude, this, too, is easy.

If you need help you can contact The Golomb Group and I'm sure we can work something out to help you reach your goals.

I have devoted the last 50 years of my life to studying ways for drycleaners to improve their performance. And my company has all the tools necessary to get the job done.

We are ready to share our knowledge with those cleaners who have a need and an open mind.

Frank Kollman: Keeping up to date with labor laws

As a labor lawyer, I have to stay on top of changes in the law, which happen daily. With 50 state court systems, and a large federal court system, there are interesting cases reported each day. Here are a few recent ones:

Louisiana court says DNA test
not too much to ask
Sounding like an excerpt from Kenneth Starr's report, the Louisiana Court of Appeals held that an alleged harasser can be required to provide a cheek swab or blood sample to confirm if he had a sexual encounter with the plaintiff. In this case, the plaintiff had produced a skirt she was wearing during an alleged sexual encounter.

Finding there would only be a minimal invasion of privacy, the appellate court held that the results of the DNA test would provide relevant evidence, in light of the harasser's insistence that he had not engaged in any sexual relations with the plaintiff.

Federal Appeals Court Recognizes Disability Harassment
Courts have long recognized that not all discrimination involves discipline. Some discrimination takes the form of harassment, usually involving racist, ethnic, or sexist comments.

A federal appeals court has confirmed that employees with disabilities may sue their employers for harassment. Expect courts in the future to look at workplace comments about how people work, walk, talk, and so forth to see if those comments rise to the level of disability discrimination.

Religion and sexual preference
A federal appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of an employee's wrongful termination claim when the plaintiff refused to treat patients involved in homosexual relationships.

The plaintiff claimed that homosexual behavior conflicted with her religious beliefs. The plaintiff worked as a counselor in an employee assistance program at North Mississippi Medical Center, providing counseling to the employees of various businesses in the region.

After a patient informed her that she was homosexual, the plaintiff discontinued the session explaining that the patient's lifestyle conflicted with her religious beliefs.

The employer argued that to permit the Plaintiff to counsel clients only on subjects that did not conflict with her religious beliefs would cause an undue hardship by creating an onerous burden on the other counselors. As a result, the employer offered the plaintiff a reasonable accommodation by giving her 30 days to transfer to another position where conflict of care issues would be unlikely to arise.

Because the plaintiff made little effort to secure a transfer, the court concluded by stating that an employee has a duty to cooperate in achieving accommodation of her religious beliefs and must be flexible in achieving that end.

Suspension not trivial
A federal appeals court in Illinois has rejected an employer's argument that a one-week suspension is not "a materially adverse employment action." The employer, which was a hospital, convinced the trial court that the employee's sex discrimination claim should be dismissed because a suspension was not important enough to justify a Title VII lawsuit.

In reversing the lower court, the appellate court found that the suspension was "avowedly disciplinary, with its attendant consequences for her pay and her permanent employment record."

The Court explained that although "minor or trivial actions that make an employee unhappy" are not sufficient to give rise to a Title VII claim, a formal disciplinary suspension is more than minor or trivial.

In a similar case, a federal appeals court in Richmond reaffirmed that under Title VII, employer liability for retaliation is not limited just to those instances when an employer counters with an ultimate employment decision, such as a firing or demotion.

Rather, adverse employment actions which affect the terms and conditions of that employee's job, even if the employer's conduct falls short of an ultimate employment decision, can still expose an employer to liability for retaliation within the meaning of Title VII.

In this case, the employee had complained to her employer, the Maryland Department of Education, of sexual harassment she allegedly experienced while working on a two-person boat with a male co-worker with whom she collected water samples from the Chesapeake Bay.

After she complained to the fair practices office, she alleged her employer withdrew her state car, downgraded her yearly evaluation, reassigned her to less favorable work, improperly handled various administrative matters, and subjected her to retaliatory harassment.

Employment decisions
should be based
on objective evidence
Employment decisions should not be based on perceptions. "He's a better employee," or "he can't do the job," will not do unless there is objective evidence to back up the conclusion. A federal court has recently confirmed this principle under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

The employee, a double amputee, worked for a power company. The company imposed restrictions on the worker based on a good faith belief that such restrictions were appropriate.

The court found these restrictions to be a violation of the ADA because they were not based on an objective, timely assessment of the employee's disability. Rather, they were based on perception and stereotype, just the kind of perception and stereotype the ADA is designed to eliminate. ADA restrictions must be based on facts or at least beliefs based on medical or other objective, scientific evidence. In my opinion, to avoid liability, all employment decisions should be based on objective, provable evidence.

Taco Bell manager
may have sexually harassed employees
A federal appeals court has held that the severity of a former Taco Bell manager's alleged treatment of two employees could subject the restaurant chain to charges of hostile work environment sexual harassment.

The two employees, who were 15 and 20, alleged that the older male manager made sexual jokes and sexual remarks about their bodies on a daily basis, leered at them, and incessantly made put-downs, often calling them "stupid" in front of customers and other employees.

The United States District Court of Maryland had granted summary judgment for the employer, ruling that the manager's conduct was not severe enough to create a triable issue of harassment.

In reversing the trial court's decision, the appeals court took interest with the age of the two employees, who were significantly younger than the adult male supervisor. The Court characterized the supervisor's behavior as a systematic effort to cripple the self esteem of teenagers who assisted him at the store.

In rejecting the employer's affirmative defense asserted under the applicable Supreme Court cases, the Court stated that the two employees complained about the manager at "virtually every available opportunity" but the management failed to correct the harassing behavior.

Frank Lucenta: Spray finishing with an air gun

Spray finishing is the most common method used to improve or restore the color, the finish and the hand feel of suede and leather garments.

The color and hand of suede and naked (or nude) leather garments is improved by spraying with Suede Nu clear neutral spray. The color of these items is restored by spraying with a mixture of two parts Brit-N Dye Color mixed with one part of Suede Nu clear neutral spray.

To restore the shiny glossy look to smooth painted (dressed) leather spray with Leather Pro Clear leather finish and press. Spray a heavier coating for more shine.

To restore a worn surface, color and shine, spray with the Leather Pro Color leather finish and press. To restore an antique finish spray over the base color with a mixture of equal parts Leather Pro Clear and Leather Pro Color.

The surface sheen and depth of color of Cuir Savage leather is improved by spraying it with Leather Sheen. The color and sheen are restored by spraying with a mixture of Leather Sheen, and Brit-N dye color in the shade of the leather. To restore sheen and antique, spray with a mixture of equal parts of Leather Sheen and Leather Pro color. To restore sheen, color and a worn surface, spray with a mixture of equal parts of Leather Sheen, Leather Pro Color and Brit-N Dye.

Unremovable spots and stains on naked leather can be covered by spraying lightly with Leather Pro color leather finish until the spots or stains are covered. Fog the color on so as to retain the dry, dull look and feel of the naked leather.

To protect suedes and leathers from stains and soil spray with Royal Shield Protective Coating. To restore body to limp skins spray the backside of the skin with Stif-N Spray Sizing.

Remember the following analogy for the three types of leather:

1. Naked leather is like a piece of wood that has been stained only.

2. Cuir savage leather is like a piece of wood that has been stained and varnished.

3. Painted leather is like a piece of wood that has been painted with a lacquer.

The first two types of leather will absorb liquids and water. Painted leather will not absorb liquids.

Frank Lucenta invented the Royaltone process and created the products for his method of cleaning and finishing leather and suede. He also wrote related instruction books that document the process, "Handling Leather and Suede" and "Cleaning and Finishing Leather and Suede." He teaches plant owners and managers how to identify, accept, spot, wet clean, dry clean, press and recolor suedes, leathers, and furs to make more profit per garment than on cloth garments by using his procedures and products. For more information on training sessions or on the Royaltone instruction book or spotting charts in either English or Korean languages, call (800) 331-5506 or e-mail frank@royaltone.com. Information is also availbale on the Royaltone web site at www.royaltone.com.

Dennis McCrory: Customer loyalty is no accident

Drycleaners now serve a generation of customers itching to spend their disposable income on any number of goods and services.

These 21st century consumers have growing expectations of what cleaners must do to keep their business. Smart cleaners build a relationship with their customers with the help of a loyalty-marketing program, such as the "Easy Money" program developed by The Golomb Group.

Loyalty programs are mutually beneficial relationships between drycleaners and their customers, centered around prizes and special privileges increasing in accordance with the amount of patronage -- like the airlines' frequent flyer programs.

The telephone industry is another example with their long-distance rewards programs.

Today, businesses spend nearly $100 million in loyalty marketing programs annually, and by 2003 that number is expected to go to $2 billion. It is in fact a small price to pay to extend the life of a customer by up to 50 percent.

Loyalty marketing programs create a much-needed wedge between your company and the competition in the hearts and minds of your customer base. By design, the "Easy Money" program ensures patronage during times of trouble, price hikes and the appearance of look-alike drycleaners.

Today, 70 percent of customers participate in loyalty programs. The allure of discounts and free merchandise or services is substantial, but the bottom line is most customers remained tied to loyalty programs because of the psychological connection formed between the customer and cleaner, creating a perception of VIP status.

Loyalty programs succeed best when they target both the rational and emotional components of loyalty. They are recognition and reward. Recognition has been entirely overlooked by most cleaners, and the reward aspect is usually addressed only superficially with token discounts like 5 percent and 10 percent.

What makes a reward compelling is its perceived value. Perceived value is a combination of what you can get and how quickly you can get it.

It's always wise to study what other successful cleaners are doing, in the form of loyalty marketing, and to copy and build on their successful ideas. It's even wise to look closely at your competitors to see which loyalty ideas are working for them.

Don't reinvent the wheel, simply improve on it. An easy way to build a loyalty program is to adopt The Golomb Group's "Easy Money" program. All of the wrinkles have been ironed out, making it as easy as possible for you to purchase and install this program. It's simple enough that all counter-personnel can readily understand how the program is going to work and implementation can begin immediately.

Here's how it works; you purchase "Easy Money" tokens, in boxes of 1,000 or more. For every $5.00 a customer spends in your store, they are given one token. Each token is worth 50 cents.

Customers are then allowed to redeem these tokens on future purchases of your services.

Although you may allow the redemption of any quantity, some cleaners elect to require a minimum of 10 tokens for redemption. This part of the program can be customized to suit each cleaner's needs.

At first this appears to be a 10 percent discount, but remember orders under $5 receive no reward; orders like $7.50 only receive one token. This not only encourages customers to bring in larger orders, more frequently, but averages out to considerably less than a 10 percent discounting of your regular price. In fact, it's much closer to 5 percent after all factors are considered.

Loyalty marketing programs are not usually cheap to establish and maintain, but because all of the leg-work, printing, and testing of the "Easy Money" program has been done by people who are in the business of developing marketing programs specifically for drycleaners, this is a practical and economical program.

Drycleaners who continue to use to strategies built around traditional approaches to attracting and retaining customers will continue to see profits dwindle. Those who ignore a loyalty marketing program will continue to shrug their shoulders and shake their heads in disbelief as they slash prices, compromise quality, promise more and still end up with less - less market share, that is.

Loyalty programs, after all, are bout a value exchange. Cleaners provide value in the form of recognition and reward, and customers respond with larger and more frequent orders.

Alan Robson: Who is in charge of your future?

Everyone knows that the number of garments being professionally cleaned each week is decreasing and that new drycleaning plants and drop stores are opening every month. With this scenario, you have to ask yourself: Where is my business headed?

Half of the answer to that question will depend on factors that you have no control over (the overall health of the economy) and the other half depends on how you decide to manage your own destiny.

Knowing that 50 percent of what will determine your future is outside your sphere of control -- you have a decision to make. You can decide to surrender to fate -- what will be, will be -- or you can learn and proactively respond to the things that drive consumer behavior.

Responding to consumer behavior will require operating your business as a professional manager -- not as a technician.

The news media are constantly headlining the volatility of the stock market and the announcements of layoffs. These news stories hammer away at consumer confidence, which in turn leads to more "doom and gloom" headlines. These headlines are scaring the marginal consumers away from spending money at the drycleaners.

Four types of customers
There are four types of drycleaning customers:

1. The ones that use a drycleaner three times a year, the "two weddings and a funeral" customer.

2. Customers who be-grudgingly spend $100 to $150 a year, the marginal ones.

3. Customers who consistently spend $10 to $20 weekly. These are the good ones.

4. Lastly, there is that small niche market of people who spend $40 to $50 a week.

The first two categories (two weddings and a funeral and marginal ones) make up a large number of the drycleaning customer population but they represent a small portion of the total drycleaning pieces. These people are the ones who will wash and iron their own shirts and dockers when things get a little tight.

Your business future is dependent on your ability to properly service the significant few (categories 3 and 4) -- those who use drycleaning services on a regular basis.

The best possible way to take care of your customers is to fulfill the needs of your company. How? By controlling costs. The lifeblood of every company is money.

Avoid fear management
Your job is to make sure that the money keeps flowing. You cannot accomplish this goal through fear management. Examples of fear management:

• Cleaners who are unwilling to establish production standards for fear that their employees will quit.
• Cleaners who pay their employees for forty hours when there is less than thirty-five hours of work. When asked why they do this -- the typical response is, "They need a full weeks pay or they will quit." Sounds like a government job to me!
• Cleaners who pay their employees under the table (not withholding taxes and avoiding their share of FICA, FUTA, SUTA, etc.) Employers do this for a variety of reasons, but I suspect it is mainly because they actually think they are saving money. This, of course, is absurd. The minute you begin this practice you have compromised your integrity and your employee has you over the barrel.
• Owners who put their production employees on salary. This is truly an oxymoron -- production people on salary! Production employees are paid to process the available work and when there is no work they should not be getting paid. Any owner who does not understand this concept needs to enroll in Management 101.
• What about prices? Ninety-five percent of my management group members have increased their prices since January 1, 2001. As a result of these price increases no one has lost any business. In fact, the ones who increased their prices have also increased their dollar volume. As I've said many times before... when your costs go up (energy, wages, insurance) the money will have to come from your customers in the form of price increases or it will have to be paid for out of profit. The choice is yours.

A looser labor market

Statistics show that the tight labor market is coming to an end. Currently, unemployment is at 4.3 percent and the experts are predicting that it will go to 4.5 percent in the next few months.

Even more telling is the decrease in Help Wanted ads. The percentage change in Help Wanted ads in major metropolitan newspapers for February 2001 compared to February 2000:

New York: minus 42.7%

Dallas: minus 41.8%

Cincinnati: minus 39.6%

Detroit: minus 34.7%

Cleveland: minus 33.3%

Dayton, OH: minus 32.7%

Memphis: minus 32.1%

Denver: minus 29.7%

Columbus, OH: minus 29.5%

Milwaukee: minus 29.0%

The only region with an increase in Help Wanted ads in February was New England. With a trend toward higher unemployment, there will be more people looking for work. Will this fix the problem of fear management? Absolutely not. This is a management problem and management must take action to solve this.

World's hardest job
The hardest job in the world is that of business owner. As owners, we do not want to give the appearance of being unreasonably tough with our employees. In addition, we never want to be perceived as being greedy. It is often much easier to put our tail between our legs and make no decision than it is to make the hard/unpopular decisions.

Anyone who consistently takes the easy road in their business life and does not take charge by establishing performance standards throughout their organization is doomed to fail.

The first standard you must establish is in the area of customer service.

The second is in the area of quality work. When a consumer can get the same level of service and work at a low-priced competitor, guess where they will trade?

Distinguish yourself
The easiest and least expensive way to distinguish your company is to insist that your counter people never treat a customer with an attitude of indifference. More than 60 percent of the customers you lose leave because of indifference and 30 percent leave because of the poor quality of work.

To create a reputation for excellence, you must know what your competition is doing.

Do this by "shopping the competition." Scrutinize their level of customer service and the quality of their work. Bring them drycleaning with stains and shirts with two missing buttons. After completion, take them back to your plant and inspect these items with your employees. Now, raise your standards to exceed theirs.

Once you establish your business as a company delivering superior service and superior work, you can start raising your prices.

Next, you must establish production standards in terms of pieces per hour.

For more information on this subject, go to the library on the Biz Builder website (www.bizbuilderonline.com) and do a keyword search using the words "production standards."

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