Stan Caplan: Assembly line quality for TQM

Author's note: This is an updated version of my September, 1989, article.

What is Total Quality Management (TQM)?
How can it apply to the fabric care industry?

The concept was conceived by our nation's leading business management universities in the late 1970s to solve the problem of lost sales to Japanese and European manufacturers.

Today, the problem is carried over to the consumer, dress-down concept and economy as the competitors for lost sales.

The foreign competitors saw the major weaknesses in U.S. production management techniques and the poor quality of products, and they took advantage of those deficiencies with more efficient production management techniques coupled with the highest of quality.

The results: lower production costs with better quality. For example: foreign autos were built better and lasted longer, but their prices were no lower than ours. In fact, most prices were even higher than ours, and no discounts were offered. Yet, foreign sales far outnumbered ours.

This trend not only was in the automobile industry, but it also carried over to electronic items, clothing and most of the products desired by U.S. consumers. This is why we saw a tremendous influx of foreign drycleaning and laundry equipment sales in the U.S.

Today, many consumers say they find no difference in quality work between regular priced cleaners and discounters, and the prices are far apart.

Of course, there are still some quality-minded cleaners who are still experiencing very slight loss of sales due to their commitment to high standards of quality and their valuable locations in high income areas coupled with well organized routes. However, no matter what your level of quality is, it can still be improved.

What are those weaknesses?
1. Total de-emphasis on quality in all steps of the manufacturing process. Emphasis was placed on production and cost reduction through "numbers management" only.

2. The U.S. belief that any well educated "general management type" could manage any technically-complex production process (or any business) does not work. Note: This is the reason why Japanese manufacturing companies encourage their line workers to attend universities, technical courses and seminars; they feel that this type of person is the best candidate for future top-level management.

3. The U.S. belief that managers must work out of plush offices with very little feel for the everyday problems encountered in the plant does not work. Note: This is the reason most foreign manufacturing companies require all middle and upper level managers to spend some of their time actually working on the production line. This also permits the manager to keep "in shape" with the process as well as detect deficiencies at the lower level with his supervisors.

4. The U.S. practice of inspecting the finished product only at the end of the production line. Note: Foreign manufacturers inspect the product at each step of the manufacturing process. This not only ensures a quality product, but it lowers the production cost considerably since it is much more expensive to rebuild, or redo, a completed product that has been rejected by an inspector. However, today most of the auto manufacturers follow this new policy of inspection at each level of the production process, and the results are better quality products and lower costs.

The TQM premise
TQM works on the premise that all the employees of the organization are customers. TQM is totally dedicated, therefore, to complete customer satisfaction through quality products.

Each department within the organization considers its supported department a valuable customer.

Each person who performs services for, or supplies parts to, other persons is deemed to be a retailer selling to a customer.

Bonuses are given to line workers for producing quality as well as quantity. Meetings conducted with workers and management are geared toward solving both quality and production problems in the plant.

Since TQM was introduced, many U.S. companies have adopted that concept with increased sales and profits over the old ways of quality management, in spite of the downturn in the economy cycles.

The major auto manufacturers have switched supervisor control on the assembly line to a group effort and teamwork. Each group inspects its own components in addition to regular line inspectors. Workers are consulted for ideas, and recognition is given to individual workers for contributions beneficial to the ultimate purchaser. Advertisements now stress quality and performance in addition to price promotions.

In 1994 I had the privilege of touring the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, KY (thanks to Tom Underwood, executive director of the Kentucky Fabricare Association), and the practice of inspection at each level of production was most impressive.

As the group of workers finished their portion of the vehicle, it was inspected by the group and then conveyed to the next step in the production process. In fact, my own 1994 convertible was being made while I watched. That car gave me excellent service and had no flaws whatsoever.

Does TQM apply to the fabric care industry?
Yes, it most certainly does. Our industry actually uses more direct labor than most manufacturing industries since our product is service, not goods.

At the counter, quality begins with a quick inspection of a customer's garments, and the question: "Are there any spots you wish removed? Can you tell me what they are? Would you like this seam sewn?"

All problems are identified for the markers, who are treated as customers.

The quality process continues with the marking process. Care labels and fiber content labels are read to determine the proper process for the garment (dryclean or wetclean). Garments trimmed with sequins, glitter, fancy buttons and leather details are hung and sent separately to the dry-cleaning/spotting or wetcleaning department for testing and special handling.

All spots and other problems, such as unusual and impossible to match buttons which are removed or protected, are identified for the drycleaner or wetcleaner, as appropriate, who are treated as customers.

The quality process enters the drycleaning or wetcleaning department where attention to good cleaning and wetcleaning procedures are the norm. The drycleaner checks the garments with pre-spot tags and decides whether to remove the spots or let the machine do it. The drycleaner then classifies the garments for proper cleaning, and the spotter removes the spots designated on the flag tags by the marker.

After cleaning, each garment is closely inspected for residual spots and other soils not removed in the cleaning process. Easy-to-remove spots are immediately removed and are conveyed, with the pass-ups, to the finishing department, which is treated as a customer.

The "long-winded" spots and ground-in soils are worked on between loads, and they are then sent to the finishing department as "stragglers."

This is a very critical step in the TQM process since the pressing of a spotted garment results in lost time and money by having to return that garment to the cleaning/spotting department. Also, if the spots are not removed, or discussed with the customer if removal is not possible, the result is a lack of quality with customer dissatisfaction.

Failure to remove, or discuss, the spots before pressing will raise the cost of production due to the rejection by the final inspector. A lot of production time is also wasted.

Good solvent maintenance by timely distillation, use of detergent, proper load factor, time of cycle and temperature control are all necessary for quality cleaning.

The next step in the production process is the finishing of the garment. This process is by far the most critical area for determining a quality job. It is the "first impression" that a customer experiences when the garment is delivered at the counter. There is no hiding of a defect in finishing; everything is obvious.

After finishing, the garment is hung on a hanger chain and examined by the presser before it is conveyed to the central inspector, who is its customer. If a spot is noticed, the presser must return the garment to its supplier, the spotter.

The garment continues to the central inspector who examines it again for any deficiencies not seen, or corrected, by previous persons in the production chain. In most cases, the central inspector is also the assembly person.

Final inspection is the sum total of all the intermediate inspections mentioned herein. It is the final inspection before assembly and bagging that determines the condition of the garment as the customer will see it.

During assembly and bagging the garment is "eyeballed" for any obvious defects which may have been picked up in previous departments. Here the orders are neatly prepared, garments are buttoned and properly positioned on the hangers with tissue and/or other detailing as required. Caution is exercised not to place too many garments in one bag as to avoid crushing.

Setting the quality standard
Management's job is to set the quality standards and ensure that each finisher is properly trained in those standards. Even experienced workers must be re-trained in the quality points required by management.

Equipment must be in good working order and all accessories pertinent to the finishing units must be available. Workers must be motivated to produce top quality as well as good production through viable incentive programs.

Please refer to my recent series on quality control (February, March and April, 2001). These articles outline the duties of the inspector and the fine points to look out for.

Next month's article, which is an update of my February, 1996, article, speaks of a college professor's findings as a direct reinforcement of this article.

Stan Caplan has more than 35 years experience in his own high volume drycleaning, laundry and tailoring plant and two package plants with adjoining coin-operated laundry and drycleaning. He is a former chief instructor at the International Fabricare Institute, the Southwest Drycleaners Association School, the Illinois State Fabricare Association School, the Michigan Institute of Laundering and Drycleaning School, the Mississippi Fabricare Association School and the Louisiana Fabricare Association School, the Pennsylvania Drycleaners and Launderers Association (now Pennsylvania-Delaware Cleaners Association) School, the Johannesburg Cleaners Association School (South Africa), the Hyatt Regency Southeast Asia School (Singapore and Hong Kong) and numerous short courses throughout the US and Canada. He offers consulting, training and engineering services in all areas of the fabric care industry from customer service area to the boiler room. His total system (TQM) encompasses maximum efficiency, economy, and product excellent quality. Stan can be reached at 3601 Clarks Lane, Suite 307, Baltimore, MD 21215; phone/fax (410) 358-0870; e-mail: stancap100@aol.com.

Ray Colucci: Ten ways to make business better

I was able to take a survey of some recent convention attendees, those who are determined to spend a load of money, to re-invest and stay in this business and be successful in the coming critical years.

I learned a long time ago that if I want to know about success, talk to the winners and just do what they do!

To make a fortune by spending a fortune is no accomplishment nor is it remarkable to be successful in a great location. The people I wanted to listen and talk to were those who made it on a side street, or surmounted some obstacle and who continually got their share and then some. I reasoned they must be doing something right! Those are the people I wanted to listen to.

I have known for some time that "Up front was where it counts" and if management could perfect that all-important first step in their business, the rest would be easy and any other the problems could be quickly identified. I have met too many owners who haven't a clue of where the problem was, and they accepted it as part of the course of doing business. They reasoned that's "just the way things are, and there's just no way you can fight it."

Believe me, it's not so.

I believe there are individuals in the market place, male and female, young and old, who are natural extroverts, retirees, full- or part-time students, who sincerely like people.

There are also an equal amount of individuals who dislike dealing with the public. They make excellent accountants, typists, lab technicians, file clerks, or any job that has little or no public contact.

What I am concerned about are our counter sales people, those "people persons."

Those individuals who, when they meet, or greet you, will smile and say, "Hi, how are you?" They will look you straight in your eye and act like they mean it.

I found there are literally an army of good people, be they employees or the owners of taverns, restaurants, store salespeople, hairdressers and, yes, drycleaners. They all have one vital skill and that is that they like accommodating people and they enjoy the daily activity of pleasing people. They all have personal problems like everyone but they keep them out of the work place.

If a customer is unreasonable or too demanding, they consider it a challenge to win them over to their side of the situation. They are all patient listeners and can empathize with the speaker.

What's their secret ?

Here is a list of attributes that cost next to nothing, or so little that they fall into the "no cost" category, but are essential for success.

1. Smile and a greeting.

It costs nothing! If we can embellish it by remembering a name, which only takes a little practice of repetition, then the art of dealing with people can be perfected.

2. Uniform appearance.

A jacket, smock or blouse with company name, a uniform matching style and colors, plus a personal name tag that completes the picture. Whoever said "A picture is worth a thousand words!" was emblazing the truth.

I had a chance to chat with Bill McCann of Best Cleaners in Connecticut. All 14 Plants use a company-style uniform. Bill's wife designed the managers' outfits and, let me tell you, they look smart. Each manager wears a dark navy pants suit, a white blouse and a blue white exclusive collar kerchief. Of course they had a personal name tag identifying the manager.

All the staff wore tan khaki slacks or skirts with cotton white summer shirts with the company logo.

There is something that happens when everyone is attired in a company dress policy. It says, "I belong. I'm part of the team," and the morale goes up accordingly.

To support this company policy Bill instituted a bonus arrangement. If a store showed a 20 percent increase in sales over a past period, the manager would receive a check of half a week's salary. For the record, four managers had received this check. Again this program doesn't cost money. It makes money. (See National Clothesline August issue News Makers)

3. Review your shirt cost and charge accordingly

The purpose of shirt finishing is to dry the shirt as well as press it. If padding isn't changed on schedule, buttons not only break but ripples and puckering show up after the shirts are bagged up because the plastic bag acts as a barrier and retains the moisture. Use the larger contour hanger, and don't bag more than three shirts together.

Try crisscrossing the sleeves with a small plastic clip, and use a heavier light blue tinted poly bag. Shirts represent 20 percent of your business but the clientele are the elite backbone who are seldom subject to economic downturns and layoffs and must maintain a high caliber appearance. (Contact Hoffman/New Yorker for shirt cost brochure.)

4. Use three- and four-color printed poly

It's a small price to pay when you consider the cost of a few cents per bag and each one is a walking billboard. Most companies offer a one time, exclusive custom plate charge with orders of 100 rolls, delivered and payable at 25 rolls at a time. Try seasonal designs -- spring and fall and a Christmas design. If you attribute the expense to advertising it becomes negligible. It's like autographing your product and shows how proud you are of your quality.

5. New, up-to-date signs.

It's time to get rid of your old faded posters that carry last year's message. Invest in an overhead turntable with a tissue packed wedding gown or a bright colored prom gown. Use a revolving, changing colored night-light which also acts a security traffic stopper. Add a raffle once a month, using the counter receipt "Beautifully Dry Clean Free!" and have the mayor or some notable draw the winning ticket and publish the winner's name in the local paper. Remember, today's teenager is tomorrow's wage earner and homemaker and the records show that young singles are our most prolific customer.

6. Telephone technique

The phone is not an interruption of business. It can be the purpose of business. How is your greeting? Do you have a politeness program that is in place and monitored? Do you phone back as promised? How can you improve your present system? Some people manage to put a smile in their voice. Do you have such a person answering your phone?

7. Use garment hang tags

There's no postage and they are quickly read and simply installed. Did you announce your new evening and early-bird route service at no extra charge? How about your special on comforters cleaned and pillow regeneration that are bacteria free? Do you offer drapery re-hang service? How about new introductory monogramming free with $25 shirt laundering credit?

8. Offer a "pay in advance" bonus

It seems orders are always picked up when ready when they are paid ahead of time. Some offer a 10 percent discount when charged to a credit card, for encouraging participation and soften a recent price increase.

You eliminate being "father and mother" to someone's wardrobe year in and year out and you get your money in three days and your inventory space is reduced by half.

9. Paint-up, fix-up, clean-up

It's a necessity and should be done periodically. It's your image and you always want your best foot forward. It's true, "You never get a second chance for a first impression."

10. It's anniversary time

Every business has an annual reason to celebrate -- the older the better. Make a big thing about it. It's a time for a sale or announcing a new service.

Time it for your slowest period and always with a cut-off date. Always put in a lavish "Thank You" for your loyal patronage.

These are ten zero cost or low cost items. But you have to let your imagination take over.

Every market is a little different and with different competitor factors, but I assure you the problems of casual dress, conformance to edicts of the EPA and new sensitive fabrics (a few new easy-care products that shout "you don't need the drycleaner!") will be with us for a few years and we are fortunate that we can institute "make-sense changes".

We can become professional marketers, be successful and, most important, have fun doing it!

Don Desrosiers: Pads and covers: Some hard facts

Pads and covers on laundry equipment are very much misunderstood, so I thought that we should talk about them this month.

Whenever I visit a plant, there is about a 90 percent chance that my client and I have a conversation that goes something like this:

Client: What causes this kind of wrinkle (or pressing flaw)?

Me: Your pads (or your steel mesh) need to be replaced.

Client: But I just changed these.

Me: It's time to replace them again.

Sorry about that. Pads and covers don't last as long as you think. But, if you do the arithmetic, you will find that the cost of pads and covers adds very little to the cost of shirts.

There is no doubt in my mind that the questions most often asked of me concern pads and covers.

A few months ago I received a memorable telephone call. A man described to me press quality issues that were clearly caused by poor padding. He added this, "My supplier said that I need to replace the steel mesh."

I told him that it sounded as though his supplier was right. He was disappointed. Apparently his supplier also told him how much it would cost to replace all of this.

This man was obviously looking for an easy way out and felt certain that his distributor rep was trying to sell him hundreds of dollars worth of unnecessary things. I asked him if he had ever replaced the steel on his equipment. He said no.

I asked him if he bought the equipment new. He said yes. I asked him how old the equipment was and he told me that it was six and a half years old.

If you're reading this and you didn't just fall out of your chair, then perhaps you, too, need to be reminded that the steel mesh, although quite durable, needs to be replaced on a regular basis.

I think that some folks, certainly among them this man with the 6 1Ž2 year old steel, think that this steel mesh is not so much a part of the padding as it is a part of the chassis of the press.

Not so. It is actually a key part of the padding ensemble. How long does it last? Well, I refuse to be specific. I have seen factory fresh equipment with steel that is no good. Granted, this is an exception, but I will tell you this" if your steel is two years old, it should probably be replaced.

The cost to replace these covers should be built into your supplies cost budget. And, you should order them like you order supplies -- always have more in the stock room.

About wear and tear:

Humm, wear and tear -- interesting words for this subject.

Generally, covers are replaced when they are "worn and torn" but this is not the best practice. Typically, one of the side bags on the body press is found to have a split in it.

The typical shirt launderer sees that as an indicator that tells him or her that it's time to replace the pads and covers. A new cover is promptly ordered. Good for you, except for four things.

1. I can't tell you how many times I am the one that finds the split in the side bag. I'll bet that 1Ž3 or 1Ž2 of the plants that I visit have perforated, torn or split bags and no one notices it until I point it out. Therefore, you only get points for finding the split bag if you also checked them yesterday and it was not split then.

2. The cover should be in stock, ready for immediate replacement. If you order it from the catalog, you may get the cover in a couple of days. If you order it from your local distributor it may be sooner or later -- later if he doesn't have it in stock, but at any rate, it'll be several hundred shirts before the new covers get on the bucks.

3. When your new covers arrive, you'll kick the box out of your way about five times then, when Saturday comes, you'll change the covers on the body press. Perhaps there have been 2,000 shirts pressed since you discovered that they needed replacing.

4. A split in the bag (or a hole in the cover) is not a proper indicator that the pads and/or covers are spent.

For this first example, let's say that you have a full single-buck unit and your pads and covers necessities consist of the following: 1) Steel mesh for the body unit; 2) combined pad and cover for the body unit; 3) Steel for the triple head; as well as 4) a roll of padding and 5) a roll of cover material.

The sleeve press has but one item -- covers and bags in one piece.

That makes six separate items.

If I suggest that you buy all of this stuff to keep on the shelves in your stock room, you won't do it. You may find that the cost is prohibitive. However, you will have to buy all of it eventually and probably at the worse possible moment; therefore I suggest that you begin stockpiling these six items in your stock room today.

If money is tight, order/buy them using a direct proportion of cost vs. current cash flow. If it's the busiest time of year (for me, in my part of the country, that was October), then buy the steel mesh for the body press. If it's the slowest time of year, buy the least expensive item for the shelf.

I guess that that would be the roll of Nomex® for the collar and cuff press.

Now take a few minutes to decide, using the cost vs. income proportion, what you'll need to buy over the next several months.

There is a good chance, of course, that during the month that you had scheduled to buy, say, steel mesh for the collar and cuff press, you need to replace the bags on your sleever.

That's okay. Simply defer the purchase of the steel until either the next month or until the next month that has similar cash flow, depending upon when you expect to actually need to use that item.

I don't need to go on about how you'll manage to get all of these items in stock because everyone's situation will be different. You don't have to do it gradually. The idea is to simply have anything that you could possibly need in stock and immediately available whenever you need them.

Now let's figure out when you'll need them.

I wish that it was easy to say when covers pads and steel need replacing. It should be easy, but because the real answer doesn't seem to apply in the real world, the correct answer appears vague and standoffish: Replace the pads and covers when the press quality deteriorates or when shirts no longer dry completely in the usual time.

That's really all there is to it, but in real life, we consider so many variables and perhaps rightly so, when "press quality deteriorates."

I can tell you that when you have what I call "crow's feet" wrinkles by the yoke seams; your pads and/or your steel mesh need to be replaced -- unless -- you have low air pressure.

In fact, if you have low air pressure, you can simulate almost any shirt pressing malady there is, from the "rough dry" look to bizarre wrinkles to undressed sides to damp shirts. You name it (almost).

We can also conclude that poor pressing is the presser's fault. This may be a proper conclusion, but it may also be an improper one. We will think little of throwing an extra body into the shirt department to do touch-up at a cost of $50 to $75 per day, but procrastinate when it comes to changing pads that will cost very little per day. We will wait until the cover has a hole in it or the bags are split before we even think about changing pads and covers.

If and when that doesn't work we don't consider the steel mesh. We blame the presser, or the equipment. That just might be a very costly move.

Timer adjustments
And speaking of costly moves, the timers on the machines should not ever need to be adjusted, but they are often set at higher settings than the factory recommends. Why? Because spent pads will not dry the shirts as quickly as newer ones. Somewhere along the line, a shirt didn't dry properly so the timer setting was increased. In many cases, this limits shirts per hour production forever!

The cost of that could easily run into thousands of dollars in unnecessary labor over time. If Jane is used to pressing at a rate that is somewhat dictated by the body press timer set at 25 seconds, you should not expect that she will press 10 percent faster (55 shirts per hour instead of 50) if you turned down the timer to 22 seconds.

This is why trying to make your pads last longer by simply adjusting the timer -- lengthening the time as the pads wear -- will not yield favorable results. Your pressers will adapt to a particular rate, as you surely know, and that rate will not be quickly and regularly adjustable by changing timer settings.

You can fix it by changing the pads this week rather than waiting for the covers to be porous next month. Then maintain that level by always changing the materials before they are visibly worn. Feel free to set the timer where it should be and hope that, over time, your presser will adjust. At least you can be sure that she or he won't be waiting on the machine.

Keep a record
Every time that you change a cover, write the date that you do it on the cover using a black marker in an area that doesn't get direct head pressure. Then keep an accurate count of how many shirts that you press with these covers.

You will find it surprisingly predictable. Let's say, just for illustration, that you do just about 20,000 shirts during the time between your purchases of body press covers. It should be fairly simple to research; check your supply invoices for last year.

Now, in the future, change the pads and covers after you've done 19,000 shirts ­ they will surely look worn, but not torn. This will help to assure that you don't produce inferior quality at the end of your covers' life.

A false economy
The only reason to delay replacing pads and covers must be to save money. Do you think that it does? Let's prove or disprove that now.

First, let's make some assumptions for this example:

You do 2,500 shirts per week on your Unipress single buck VASY.

The unit is purchased new and will last 12 years, pressing 1,560,000 shirts

The pads and covers will last about 20,000 shirts (don't quote me on this) -- 78 sets during its life.

A complete set of all the pads and covers for your units cost $175.

This means that pad and cover cost, over the life of the shirt unit, is $13,650 ($175 x 78 sets). Forget about rising prices and the changing value of money for a minute as this is not relevant to my point. The cost of pads and covers, on a per shirt basis, is .00875 ­ about 7Ž8 of a cent.

Now, suppose that you do like many others do and don't change pads and covers regularly, instead waiting until just it's already a bit too late. You notice split air bags on Monday (you press 700 shirts) and order them immediately, they ship Tuesday (700 more shirts) and you get them on Wednesday (you press 500 shirts).

On Thursday and Friday, you press a total of 600 more shirts while you kick the box out of your way, deferring installation until Saturday.

Because I think that it's safe to assume that you won't replace the pads and covers one week early, next time, we can deduce that this practice, euphemistically referred to as "deferred maintenance," will theoretically mean that you will need only 69 sets of replacements over 12 years because you have made the cover "last" 22,500 shirts. Follow me so far?

You have, theoretically, reduced your pads and covers cost from $13,650 to $12,075 over 12 years, a savings of $1,575 over 12 years That is $10.94 a month, 36 cents a day, or 2Ž10 of 1 cent per shirt.

Now surely, everyone will agree that this is hardly a savings, but I will argue that your costs have actually gone up astronomically by comparison. Here's why:

During that week that at least some of your pads and/or covers are spent, we can be certain that the quality of your shirts off the press is sub-standard.

We will assume that you will do some sort of touch-up that will either add additional people to the shirt department, add labor hours at the end of the day or decrease production. Since we are only talking about 36 cents a day in "savings" on pads and covers, if we spend more than that in extra labor dollars that day, we have negated our savings, right?

It takes about three minutes to use 36 cents in labor. (If you've been following my mathematics carefully, you will realize that in order to truly negate the "savings" on pads and covers, you will need to be adding an average of three minutes per day, everyday. That still makes plenty of sense to me.)

Unless you are certain that the condition of the airbags (for instance) has no effect on quality whatsoever, you must agree that pressing with them is counter-productive.

The worst case scenario is if you come to realize that your touch-up people wouldn't even be needed if the pads and covers were always fairly new and that these touch-up people only exist on your staff for the time when one or more of your machines is in need to some type of maintenance.

What is cheaper? Pads and covers or labor hours?

Dan Eisen: How to avoid hairy problems

When a protein or animal fiber is obtained from an animal other than a sheep it can be referred to as a specialty hair fiber

Specialty hair fibers may be similar to wools, but have characteristics that make it more desirable for consumers. The specialty hair fibers can have a softer hand, feel and texture, even better than the finest wool.

Specialty hair fibers are found in both men's and women's garments. Specialty hair fibers fall into these groups:

Fur bearing animal-rabbit hair. Angora is the hair obtained from the angora rabbit. Angora is a fine, soft and fluffy fiber that is naturally white. Angora is actually a fur fiber and is not technically classified as a wool.

Problems: Angora has more scales than other soft wools and other specialty fibers which makes it more prone to shrinkage.

Angora also builds up static electricity readily which makes it prone to redeposition of soil and linting during drycleaning.

Angora is also sensitive to protein formulas and ammonia and other alkalis.

Goat. Cashmere is a soft downy undergrowth obtained from the cashmere goat. The hair is silky and soft and can be blended with wool for additional strength.

Problems: Cashmere does not wear well and signs of wear can be noted on cuffs, collars and pockets of jackets and coats.

Spotting cashmere may cause a pile distortion which cannot be readily corrected. Alkali and protein formulas may also cause discolorations on cashmere. Strong acids, such as oxalic and rust remover, may cause discolorations, especially on tan and beige colors.

Dark fibers may be noted in some cashmere garments and is the result of the manufacturers failure to remove guard hairs and other unwarranted impurities.

Pashmina is another name for cashmere obtained from the cashmere goat in the kashmir region of India and Pakistan.

Claims made for pashmina are that the goat producing this fiber gives a richer and better quality fiber. This translates into higher cost pashmina scarves ranging in price over $500.

Problems: See cashmere.

Mohair. Mohair, obtained from the angora goat, is the strongest specialty hair fiber and usually does not shrink readily due to its lack of scales.

Problems: Fewer problems are encountered with today's mohair. Previous problems were splitting of mohair trousers when pressed due to its lack of tensil strength. Also, it was sensitive to protein formulas and mild alkalis.

Camel hair is obtained from the camel and the type of camel and where it is obtained gives the fiber its quality. Camel hair obtained from some camels gives heat resistance and some breeds give cold resistance. The thick soft undercoat gives the best quality.

Problems: See cashmere.

Inspection
When accepting, examine the garment for discolored areas due to perspiration and wear. If you discover matting and pilling when accepting a garment, point it out to the customer as a sign of wear. It occurs in the areas of the most wear, e.g., cuff, underarm, and collar. Check for holes due to moth damage.

Prespotting
Areas wet with water must be air dried before putting the garment in the drycleaning machine. Wet areas may cause localized shrinkage, matting and redeposition.

Drycleaning
To avoid redeposition, classify into darks, mediums and lights. Place loosely knitted fabrics in net bags to prevent snagging.

Run in a moisture free load and solvent temperature should be 75 degrees F to 80 degrees F. If the preceding load was a moisture load, run a hard load before running to lower the relative humidity.

Dryclean for no more than five minutes and the reclaiming should be at 130 degrees F. Angora should be run no longer than three minutes.

Spotting
In wetside spotting, use glycerine as a lubricant to prevent light areas. Test protein formula and ammonia since dyes are sensitive to alkali. To prevent matting, gently tamp soft wool.

When brushing, angle the brush so only the outside bristles contact the fabric. Keep the steam gun six inches from fabric.

Wetcleaning
Specialty hair fabrics can be wetcleaned successfully provided the right chemistry and equipment is used.

Top-loader washers can only be used in a soaking action. Special wetcleaning equipment using controlled mechanical action and water temperatures can be used. Water temperatures should be 90 degrees F.

Use special wetcleaning detergents that are cationic in nature, neutral or slightly acid. Alkaline-based detergents will shrink and felt specialty hair fibers.

Use an additional softening agent to enhance the feel and texture of the fabric. Some manufacturers do not recommend rinsing of detergent and softening agents after use.

Use a high speed extraction to remove as much water as possible.

Dry in a dryer for one to two minutes to activate the softening agents.

Angora will be better wetcleaned than drycleaned. Limitations on linings and trimmings safety should be considered before wetcleaning.

Finishing
Pressure will cause shine and matting. When pressure is required, use a hand pad or contact pressure with the head of the pressing machine.

Contact pressure is used when the head of the press is just barely in touch with the fabric. If matting occurs steam and brush with a soft velvet brush.

Corrective procedure
To reduce or eliminate problems with the surface texture, try these suggestions.

1. Pilling. Use a pumice stone, available from a drugstore or your supplier, or try an electric safety razor or a special Velcro brush obtained from your supplier.

2. Chafed area or fuzzy look. Try a razor.

3. Matting. Try an "angling" or furrier brush which can be obtained from your supplier or borrowed from a furrier. Brush the fabric in one direction.

4. Matting on cashmere. Steam fabric and brush back and forth with a velvet brush. Use an iron lightly on fabric to flatten distorted nap.

Stan Golomb: It's education, not motivation

A few months ago, I decided to write a book about people I admire. They are the entrepreneurs of America. They are the 40,000 drycleaners who have put their money, blood, sweat and tears into running a business. But there are other entrepreneurs, some 5.9 million of them, who are the backbone of the American Economy.

These are the local business people, your neighbors, who provide the basic services we all need. They are the dentists the self-employed doctors, the beauticians, the restaurant owners and on and on.

These people pay the bulk of the taxes and employ more people than all the major corporations combined. They are the people who make America run.

In Chapter 10, I brought in a character named Garfield, but in this case, it is the name of a real person.

I met Maynard Garfield back in the late 1950s when I was an evening student at Northwestern University Evening School of Business. He was my teacher. We became friends who enjoyed each other's company.

Garfield later became head of the sales school at the university and I was already a teacher working under him.

In 1963, we launched a business together. Garfield, with my help, had become a consultant to a number of large drycleaners and laundries. Our partnership, Golomb & Garfield, was very successful. I ran the business and Garfield brought in some of the major accounts.

We eventually went our separate ways and Garf expanded his business to a national organization with offices in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas.

His job and that of his company was to train company sales organizations.

I brought him into my book, which deals with mythical characters, as another mythical character, but one who is based on the real person.

Garf is now semi-retired but he still handles a number of major Fortune 500 clients. Up until a few years ago, he was limiting his activity and taking on only 60 days a year. Now he has reduced it to 30 as he is well beyond retirement age.

All this to tell you that I sent Garf a copy of Chapter 10 and he called and told me that he never considered himself a motivational speaker. As you read Chapter 11, you will understand why he feels as he does and how he feels about motivational speakers. Garf is not one to hold back so I decided to bring him back into the story.

I'm now about three quarters of the way through writing this book. Each chapter will be illustrated and I expect to have the book printed and ready for sale by the end of this year.

Those folks who are on my free M&M program have been getting the weekly chapters. That list grew rapidly and then drifted off as any sales effort will do. You can still join my M&M mailing list. The M&M stands for Marketing and Management. I'm now in my 20th month of sending out these weekly reports.

All I need is your name and e-mail address and you will be added to my e-mail mailing list.

Now to Chapter 11 so you will get a feel of what this story is all about.

Chapter 11: The Entrepreneurs

After the last Entre-preneur's Club meeting, Garfield (the speaker they hired to help the group) contacted Doctor Dave. He told him that he had listed Garfield as a motivational speaker. Garfield said that he was not a motivational speaker. He said, "I hate motivational speakers -- they wind people up and send them out for failure."

He continued about what motivational speakers sayŠ "You are goodŠ you are empoweredŠ now go forth and make it happen. And the people go forth with no new tools or skills and soon they have broken fingernails and blood blisters.

"That is not what I do. I'm an educator. I give knowledge, information, tools and skills. Now when they try, they will achieve improvement and/or success. It is this success, this feeling of accomplishment, this self-empowerment that gives them internal self-motivation. It is lasting. I am an educator and not a motivator."

Garf did not feel it was a good idea to correct Dave when he was introduced at the meeting, but he did want to get this corrected.

The newest member, Larry of Larry's Liquors, told the group that he was having great success with an ongoing monthly mailing program that was going out to his prime market areas.

He said that he had a demographic study made of his location and then he was able to prepare a traffic flow map of his existing customers to establish where his present business was coming from.

He explained that the study showed a map and color coded mail carrier routes going out from his location to a five-mile radius.

He also had computer printouts of all the mail carrier routes in his area showing income, home values, number of people per household, age breakdown and the resident's type of work, broken down by professionals, sales people, etc. It even showed the ethnic breakdown per mail carrier route.

From all this, he was able to do a profile of his best customers and communicate with those people on an ongoing basis.

He told the group this was the most cost effective thing he had ever done and that his return for dollars spent was higher than any other type of marketing he had ever used.

He also told the group that he learned a great deal about holding customers.

He said he had no trouble getting customers but keeping them as steady customers was a problem. He was going to try some of the follow-up programs discussed at the meeting.

Regarding the "Thank You" cards, in order to get the necessary information from his customers, he decided to offer an incentive for just filling out a card with their name and address. Then he would mail the "Thank You" card to that group with another offer. He said he would give a bottle of imported champagne to every one who came in with the card.

He told the group he would give this program a fair test and get back to them with the results.

Jenny, the young lady who opened the garden shop, recently sent out a full color postcard showing a garden with flowers in bloom with an announcement that she had just opened a store in their neighborhood and to invite them to come by and receive a free gift.

This was a very expensive card to print in full color so she only mailed 2,000 homes in the immediate area of her store. The results were excellent.

Ever since that one mailing, she has been busy doing a lot of consultant work going to people's homes at her fee of only $50 an hour. But each call resulted in more items that she sold in the store or could order for her customers.

In the next chapter, you will read some of the results Larry got with his thank you card promotion and also an update on some of the others in the club.

Frank Kollman: Overtime pay rules ­ who's exempt?

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employees must be paid minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime after 40 hours.

Exceptions are made for certain employees; these exceptions, however, are based on many factors. Very few employers are aware of these factors.

First, under Department of Labor regulations, no employee is exempt from overtime or minimum wage unless he or she is paid a salary. If the employee is hourly-paid, even $50 an hour, the employee is entitled to overtime. In addition, the employee cannot be docked salary, except in extraordinary circumstances, like an extended absence from work.

Second, only executive and administrative employees are exempt. Actually, there are exemptions for professional employees or outside salespersons, but these exemptions are not normally found in the drycleaning industry.

An executive employee is exempt from the FLSA if he receives a salary of $250 or more per week and his primary duty is the management of a customarily recognized department or subdivision, which includes the regular direction or supervision of two or more employees.

If the employee's salary is between $155 and $250, he must:

1. Manage a customarily recognized department or subdivision.

2. Regularly direct or supervise two or more employees.

3. Have the authority to hire or fire employees (or to effectively recommend hiring and firing).

4. Customarily and regularly exercise discretionary powers.

5. Devote 80 percent or more of his time in activities directly and closely related to his managerial duties (in other words, NOT doing work of the rank and file employee).

If an employee is paid a salary less than $155, regardless of his duties, he is not exempt.

[Note: It has been years since these salary limits were amended. In 1980, at the beginning of the Reagan Administration, these limits were supposed to be raised. The regulations were rescinded before they went into effect.] An administrative employee is exempt if he is paid a salary of at least $250 and (1) he performs office or non-manual work related to management policies or general business operations of his employer and (2) his work requires the exercise of discretion and independent judgment.

If the employee's salary is between $155 and $250, he must:

1. Perform office or non-manual work related to management policies or general business operations, exercise independent judgment and discretion, and either: a) assist a proprietor or bona fide executive or administrative employee; b) perform work along specialized or technical lines under general supervision; or c) perform only special assignments or task under general supervision.

2. Devote less than 20 percent of his time to non-administrative activities, such as working in the plant.

If an employee is paid a salary less than $155, he is not exempt.

If you have employees who are working overtime and not being paid for it, you should decide whether they meet the tests set forth above. If they do not, you should take steps immediately to correct the problem. Change their duties, raise their salaries if necessary, change their hours, etc.

Many employers have problems determining what are hours of work under the FLSA.

For example, must employees be paid the minimum wage for hours spent on breaks, travel, machinery breakdowns, and so forth?

In some cases, the Department of Labor has taken the position that employees should be paid for hours spent at home.

Obviously, employees must be paid for all hours engaged in actual work. If machinery breaks down, an employee must also be paid, unless he is sent home for more than a half an hour. The time an employee spends waiting to work is normally compensable time. Therefore, if the employee is ready, willing, able, and expected to work, he must be paid.

Break times of less than 30 minutes must be compensated. The Department of Labor takes the position that an employee really does not have the time to use less than a 30-minute break to his advantage, so the time is compensable. A 30- to 60-minute meal period, however, does not have to be compensated.

Recently, employers allowing employees to take cigarette breaks have been astonished to learn that the breaks are not required, but paying employees who take those breaks is required.

Problems sometimes arise under the FLSA for that rare employee who reports to work early and leaves late, usually to get his work done. If the employer permits that individual to work, he must be paid, even if the employee states that he does not want the money, and even if that means overtime rates.

The Fair Labor Standards Act is enforced by the Department of Labor. In addition, employees can sue their employers under the Act, and if they recover, they are entitled to receive liquidated damages and attorney's fees.

In the case of ordinary violations of the Act, two years' worth of back pay can be awarded. In cases where it is established that the employer wilfully violated the Act, three-years' of back pay can be awarded.

Review your current policies with your attorney. The cost of guessing incorrectly can be great.

Frank Lucenta: Know your suedes and leathers

Accepting suede and leather for cleaning can be easy and profitable or full of headaches and claims.

The difference between the two is a thorough understanding of the nature and characteristics of the skins, which are the materials from which suedes and leathers are made.

If you accept suedes and leathers for cleaning, it will be worth the time it takes to read each article in this series to become familiar with the nature of suede and leather. I will try to make this as brief as possible with every word of interest and importance.

Every person accepting suede and leather garments should study this information and be ever alert to avoid problems.

If the customer is forewarned and prepared for possible problems before processing, many lengthy discussions and arguments can be avoided and customer good will can be safeguarded. Consider your own feelings when you buy a product or a service. You enjoy dealing with informed, alert personnel.

Suede and leather garments are different from cloth garments in many ways. You absolutely need to know the facts about suede and leather in order to successfully accept them for cleaning and refinishing.

Proper acceptance of suedes and leathers requires the correct identification of the various skins. All suedes and leathers are made from animal skins and can be placed into two major categories: (1) Sueded leather and (2) Smooth leather.

Sueded leathers
Sueded leathers are animal skins with the hair removed and the flesh side of the skin rubbed by an abrasive wheel to raise a velvet like nap on its surface, which then becomes the outside surface of the sueded item. Suedes are identified by the name of animal the skin comes from. There are several types of sueded leather.

The three most common types of sueded leather are: (1) Sheepskin suede, (2) Cowhide suede and (3) Pigskin suede.

All suedes are highly susceptible to staining from spillage of liquids, rain or contact with wet objects unless they have been treated with a special leather water repellent like Royal Shield by Royaltone. The special leather water repellent can easily be applied by any one with an aerosol spray or by air spray gun as an added service for $10 extra for added income and profit.

Sheepskin suede is made by dyeing and sueding the skins of sheep and lambs. It is light in weight, soft in texture with a velvet like suede nap. Sheepskin is the softest, most delicate skin of the three types. Sheepskin suede can usually be cleaned and refinished with the least effort and with the highest probability of success.

Cowhide suede is made by dyeing and sueding the skins of cows and calves. It is called by many names including bush coat, rough out, rawhide, split cowhide and calfskin. It is typically a stiff, heavy, thick skin with a coarse nap. It is a tough, hard wearing and durable skin. Cowhide suede can be cleaned and refinished satisfactorily but usually requires more effort than a sheepskin.

Pigskin suede is made by dyeing and sueding the skins of pigs. It is typically a stiff and heavy skin with a very short nap with pores like human skin. It is a very durable, tough and hard wearing skin. Pigskin suede can be satisfactorily cleaned and refinished but usually requires more effort than either a cowhide or a sheepskin.

Smooth leathers
Smooth leathers are made from the skins of animals that have had the hair removed and have been dyed or painted on the hair side of the skin, which then becomes the outside surface of the leather item.

Leathers are named for the type of surface finish they have on them rather than the name of the animal they came from. There are three major types of leathers: (1) Painted leather, (2) Cuir savage leather (or analine leather) and (3) Naked leather.

Painted leather is made by applying a special pigmented leather finish (a leather lacquer paint that stretches with the skin) to the surface of the skin. The result is a surface coating which is smooth, slick and shiny.

Painted leather is usually the most serviceable and durable of the three types of leather.

Painted leather is like a piece of wood that has been painted with a pigmented lacquer paint so that you no longer see the wood grain.

Cuir savage leather (or analine leather) is made by dyeing color into the skin and then either buffing or applying a light coating of a special clear leather finish to the surface of the skin. This gives the effect of seeing the color down in the skin through a transparent surface sheen finish.

Cuir savage leather is attractive, delicate, soft, comfortable, slick feeling and porous. It is not as serviceable as painted leather and will readily absorb soil and liquid stains if they contact the skin. They are therefore very easily stained due to liquid spillage, rain or contact with wet or soiled objects unless specially treated with Royal Shield water repellent.

Cuir Savage leather is like a piece of wood that has been stained and then painted with a clear lacquer so you can still see the grain of the wood.

Naked leather is made by dyeing color into the skin. There is no surface finish. It is a very soft, dry, porous leather. It is the least serviceable of the leathers and will scuff easily and will readily absorb soil and liquid stains that contact the skin. They are therefore easily stained by liquid spillage, rain or contact with wet or soiled objects unless treated with Royal Shield water repellent.

Naked leather is like a piece of wood that has been stained with a stain so that it has color with no surface finish and you can see the wood grain.

Dennis McCrory: Don't shoot the horse in the race

The number-one reason why a marketing campaign generates poor results is a lack of patience.

Business owners seem to have an internal alarm clock. Even though they claim to understand that successful programs require a time commitment, they become impatient and decide that the activity is a failure when it doesn't produce results according to their schedule.

Impatience is the biggest enemy in sales and marketing. The purpose of marketing is to create an environment that allows a flow of business over a period of time. Impatience destroys that process.

When we develop a program for a drycleaner, it is usually based upon already agreed on objectives. Good marketing strategies match objectives with appropriate activities.

Problems occur when the activities are revised (corners are cut) by the business owner, while the goals remain the same. This inevitably leads to the failure of the program.

While many small businesses realize the necessity of taking some risks, most are actually adverse to risk. They prefer to avoid taking chances. They want ironclad assurances of success.

Getting attention is one of the most difficult sales tasks today. It takes daring to cut through the clutter and capture the customer's mind, even for a moment. Yet, when a leading-edge program is offered, it is often rejected because it's "too chancy." In reality, the business owner cannot tolerate risk.

Initially, when a program is approved, some business owners feel it's O.K. to make their own adjustments, like going from a full-color or two-color piece to black and white. While there are instances when changes should be made, the most frequent problem is changing horses in mid-stream.

The best results are always obtained by waiting for the first full cycle to be completed so that an honest evaluation and appraisal can be made before deciding on any changes.

Many drycleaners tell their customers "you get what you pay for" even though they themselves often deny proper funding for their own marketing programs. An inadequate budget assures failure. For instance, direct-mail campaigns require repetition to achieve the desired results. Nevertheless, there are business owners who don't appreciate the fact that a certain frequency is needed to gain customer attention.

Some drycleaners are keen on initiating new programs but fail to maintain the momentum over time, which defeats the easy part of reaping the benefits of their efforts. Every month or so they want to start a new program before the first one has had a chance to fulfill its potential.

The greater success comes from staying on track. Penetrating the mind of today's customer is more difficult than ever. Just because prospects receive one mailing doesn't mean that the job of helping them understand the benefits of doing business with you has been accomplished.

For the most part, marketing activities require uninteresting and repetitious efforts. As a result, it's easy for companies to always be looking for something new and different. The real reason isn't as much to capture the attention of their customers and prospects as it is to get the business owners and employees excited.

Good programs demand constant attention to all of the details, Drycleaners, like many other business owners, don't have the extra time to spend implementing these programs on their own. That simple fact, recognized by Stan Golomb some 21 years ago, is the reason for The Golomb Group's success. Stan saw this opportunity to help drycleaners, as well as other small- to medium-sized businesses, achieve a level of success higher than many would have been able to achieve on their own.

There's a tendency for the entrepreneurial mind to base marketing decisions on instinct and to sometimes even ignore the facts, as if their sales problems can be solved by a magic wand. They continually search for this non-existent single solution. Decisions based on valid timely information are the only fuel that drives successful marketing programs.

Every business owner is guilty of at least some of the faults discussed here. Even worse, many permit the same mistakes to be repeated, causing limits to be placed on their success and precious funds to be wasted.

Every company needs that extra edge to thrive and get ahead of the competition. Doing everything possible to strengthen your marketing efforts should be your top priority.

Alan Robson: What business can do to help

"War is a blessing compared with national degradation."
-- Andrew Jackson, 1845

The depth of emotion associated with the horrific events of September 11, 2001 are greater than most thought possible. Shock, disbelief, fear, sadness, anguish, grief, anger, hatred and an overwhelming sense of helplessness -- all these emotions and more -- raging through our hearts, minds and souls for days, weeks and for years to come.

How do we as individuals and as a nation cope with such tragedies?

First, we as business owners must not expend our time and energy playing the blame game.

There are more than enough experts and talking heads to exhaust all real and imaginary causes as to how these hijackings were allowed to take place. What we need to do is get back to business -- not business as usual, but back to business with a new spirit.

Before the tragic events of September 11, the economy was in low gear. Now many analysts are predicting an even weaker fourth quarter. Their predictions are based on the assumption that Americans will spend less because they will stay home to watch breaking news events unfold on TV.

If this is true, what effect can American businesses have on consumer spending?

What drove our economy in the 1990s was consumer spending. Consumer spending was driven by increases in productivity.

Our economic strength
In fact, the International Labor Organization ranked the United States number-one in the world in productivity per worker. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal last year (2000), productivity per American worker in constant 1990 dollars was $54,870, about $1,500 more than Belgium, the number-two nation.

The report found that productivity per worker in the United States was $10,000 higher than in Canada last year and $14,000 higher than in Japan.

Furthermore, U.S. worker productivity in the second quarter of this year grew at a rate of 2.1 percent.

By maintaining and improving this robust increase in productivity we can and will drag this economy out of the clutches of a potential recession.

How do increases in productivity improve the economy?

Employers can pay higher wages without increasing prices and improve profits at the same time. When wages are increased without a commensurate increase in prices, we have no inflation.

Higher wages and higher profits without higher prices mean that there is more money for Americans to spend. The more we spend, the stronger the economy.

What impact can the drycleaning industry have on our economy? Let's take a look at the numbers. Drycleaning is a $7 billion a year industry. If we increased productivity by 1.25 percent per quarter, or five percent per year, we would generate an additional $350 million dollars in disposable income and profits.

That's $350,000,000 and that is HUGE!

Revenues per employee
Using the macroeconomic approach, analysts measure revenues per employee on an annual basis.

In the drycleaning industry it is quite easy to measure revenues per employee on a monthly basis. It is even easier to measure revenues per hour worked each week.

To measure revenues per hour worked use incoming sales dollars for a week. Use total sales dollars from all sources; over-the-counter, routes, drop stores, hotels, contract work, etc.

Match your incoming sales period to your payroll period. For example, if your payroll period starts Wednesday morning and runs through the following Tuesday, use incoming sales for the same days. Any work that carries over from one week to the next will be automatically adjusted in the following week.

The most important thing to remember is to use the same period week after week.

Track the information
Because a one-week period does not provide enough data to make an informed management decision, you should track this information every week for at least six months. To determine sales dollars per hour worked -- divide total sales by total hours worked that week by all employees (including CSRs).

Do not include full-time office personnel, full-time managers who do not actively process or move garments, or full-time maintenance personnel.

The Formula: Total incoming sales in dollars divided by total hours worked equals sales dollars generated per hour worked.

The goal is to increase your sales volume for every hour worked. This information is good for comparing your performance against your own performance over a period of time.

However, it has no real value in measuring your performance to other drycleaners.

For most drycleaners monthly sales fluctuate from season to season. This means that the number of employees and the number of hours that the employees work should also fluctuate.

Make them useful
For the owners who feel obligated to pay their employees for 40 hours worth of work no matter what -- ask those employees to be productive in some other way. Pay them for two hours to donate bloodŠ pay them to volunteer at the local food bank or soup kitchenŠ pay them to volunteer at a local hospital or nursing home. These actions will improve the economy and will strengthen the moral fiber of America.

At this horrendous time in American history we all need to display the American flag at our homes and businesses. We all have an obligation and responsibility to support our president.

Some people say that with new and tighter security measures America will be less free. The truth is we may be inconvenienced, but we will not be less free. America will continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.

In the game of business the more you know the better you can play the game.

Copyright © 2001, National Clothesline
Maintained by: Hal Horning