Thinking about a new shirt unit?
ith the Clean Show
fast approaching, you may have a new shirt unit on your
shopping list or maybe it’s on the list of things to
learn about so that you can make an educated decision in the
future. Here’s a quick snapshot of what is out there.
We will take a look at the major brands of
shirt units. My apologies to any manufacturer that
I have overlooked. I ask those
manufacturers to make it a point to demonstrate their equipment
to me the next time we are at a show together.
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If I have never pressed on a particular
brand of equipment, I feel ill qualified to comment on it. I
could read a manufacturer’s brochure, but then that would
be their opinions and their selling points, not mine.
Also, there are manufacturers that have
many different machines. I will only comment on that model with
which I am most familiar. What many of us know as
“Ajax” shirt presses have other nameplates, also.
Martin, Cissell and American are all Ajax
shirt units. You probably know that if you have one of those
units.
In alphabetical order:
Ajax
The design for the Ajax Classic has been
around for a long time now. “It ain’t broke, so it
don’t need fixin’” is an appropriate phrase.
This is the easiest body press to dress. And it can be dressed
very quickly. I always tell people that I train on this unit:
“just send it in.”
The air bags do an excellent job of
pulling the shirt taut. The unit makes its own air with a ring
compressor, so it isn’t a drain on your compressor.
This machine is a work horse. I have
pressed on units that are over 30 years old. Making adjustments
on them isn’t too different than on the new ones.
On an Ajax Classic, you will get
consistent quality with very little training. The sleeve press
also is a tried and true design. It is very easy to work on.
A novice can diagnose most any problem
that can occur. There won’t be many.
There aren’t any complex electronic
parts on these machines. I like that.
Something to work on: With Ajax’s
resume in the business, I expect them to be the company forever
on the cutting edge of technology. Tried and true is good, but
that can quickly turn to “old hat.”
Forenta
The Magna shirt unit has several features
that make it worth looking at.
First, the sleever: The sleeve measuring
device on this machine is the best in the business. It is
pneumatic. The handle only moves an inch or so.
When you apply downward pressure on it,
the sleeve bucks rise, upwards pressure lowers the bucks. The
light beam shines on the shirt seam. The operator will find it
delightful to use this measuring device. Only the most careless
presser will mis-measure a sleeve.
Unlike the handle on other machines that
requires the operator to hold the measuring device while
pressing the buttons, Forenta’s is user-friendly.
The double buck Magna has a couple of
great features as well. Because of the unique transfer
mechanism, the operator doesn’t need to hold down the
buttons until the steam chests have started to close. Just a
quick tap and the transfer takes place. This really helps
productivity.
Also worth noting is the fact that both of
the bucks are the same distance from the operator. Quite a feat
for a conventional double buck unit.
Something to work on: The vacuum on the
body press needs to be quite a bit stronger.
Fuji-Star
Well, well, what do you know, Fuji-Star
(formerly known as Fuji-Car) is back in the United States with
quite a statement to make. I have pressed about 5,000,000
shirts on Fuji-Car and, yes, they really do produce 200 shirts
per hour with three operators. The 21st century version that I
played with in Japan is great.
The features: The collar and cuff machine
presses four shirts at once, has a vacuum to keep away those
ugly cuff and collar wrinkles and presses with amazing pressure
without breaking buttons.
All of the bucks have a specially made
base pad that is actually hundreds of small, but very durable,
springs. This is installed instead of conventional steel base
pads.
The sleeve press has a unique way of
actuating the cuff clamps: the operator merely nudges the buck
and the cuff clamps immediately grip the shirt. There is a
“hold-down” to keep the sleeve taut while pressing
and to keep it from riding up when the air bags inflate. The
double body press is something to see.
Fuji has been making rotary transfer
double bucks for (I think) 45 years. They also were the first
to introduce the vacuum buck. The operator can select a
different mode of operation depending upon the shirt’s
size and moisture content and, get this, there are robotic arms
that unload the buck and place the shirt on a built in collar
cone! The collar cone then moves towards the operator for
buttoning.
I took some movies of this unit while in
Asia. See them on my web site at: www.tailwindshirts.com/japan_clean7.html and www.tailwindshirts.com/japan_clean3.html.
Something to work on: Fuji-Star needs to
establish a strong distributor network if this equipment is
ever to become mainstream.
Itsumi
Also at those same web addresses are
movies of Itsumi’s entries. They are worth a look. Itsumi
has a fast single-buck unit that I find the easiest to dress of
all the units with blown sleeves.
The vacuum is very strong. This not only
holds the body of the shirt firmly on the buck, but it also
aids in drying the shirt. A cotton oxford with typical moisture
retention dries fully in less than 15 seconds. The collar cuff
machine is probably my favorite for two reasons. First it is
very narrow, maybe 30 inches wide.
This is very convenient and comfortable
for the operator. But mostly I like that you can press the
collar and both short sleeves in one singular lay.
Try that on any other collar cuff machine.
It can’t be done! As a direct result, your quality is
improved a bit.
When you have a short sleeve shirt and a
blown-sleeve shirt unit, you have either inferior quality (a
blown short sleeve does not look as good as a long sleeve
because there isn’t a good way to attach them to the
machine without leaving a mark), or reduced productivity. If
the presser presses the short sleeves (one at a time) on the
collar press, quality is greatly improved but rhythm and
productivity are lost. Itsumi fixes this.
Something to work on: The space between
the collar press head and buck is only about an inch in height.
Can’t we make that a bit bigger? I find that annoying
when I operate the machine because if a collar tip curls a
little bit, the head catches it and presses the collar folded.
Sankosha
For years, Sankosha has had the reputation
as being the shirt unit that will do the best job. Personally,
I think that all shirt units can do an outstanding job. You
just have to understand the differences in their operations and
be familiar with their idiosyncrasies.
It happens that Sankosha does a couple of
things that are pretty neat. The built-in miniature presses
that press the sleeve pleats haven’t been beat yet. nor
has the back hold-down that pulls the box pleats taut. It has a
separate yoke press like the old Unipress units used to have.
Sankosha has been around long enough now to allow me to say
that they are a durable machine.
Japan makes very good products, for the
most part, and Sankosha has proven to be worthy of that simple
phrase that has made a complete turnabout in my lifetime:
“Made in Japan” is now synonymous with top quality.
I have talked with people that make their living working on
equipment for drycleaners and they have told me that they never
need to repair these units.
Something to work on: The single buck
Sankosha is slow and has dozens and dozens of moving parts.
This is the hardest unit to train on.
Unipress
Surely, Unipress must be viewed as the
innovator in the industry. I can’t remember a Clean Show
where Unipress didn’t introduce a new and exciting
product. But the key is that when they introduce something new,
you don’t feel like you’re going to be a guinea pig
if you buy one.
When they introduced the rotary press four
years ago, I liked it right away. I liked it for important
reasons. It appeared to me to be a culmination of good features
of many other units. They only make one buck and one steam
chest.
The “buck & head”
combination on the rotary unit had been (and still is) used on
other units in the past. The concept of blown sleeves had been
proven earlier.
I saw the rotary transfer as a
“blast from the past”, reminiscent of my FujiCar
days. The sleeve pleater on their cuff and collar machine
offers the only innovation in the industry for this rather
mundane piece of equipment. Unipress doesn’t do anything
that’s unbelievable.
Their equipment is reliable, durable and,
well… familiar, in spite of constant innovation. Their
sleeve press has no buck, per se, it’s just a bag and,
because of that, it can’t break sleeve buttons. The body
presses do a wide range of shirt sizes. I like the buttons that
you push to send a buck in. I like how (in some climates) you
can put the blower motors outdoors to keep the noise down.
Something to work on: Does that rotary
double buck really have to be the size of a small bathroom?
Take what I have to say with a grain of
salt, take it under advisement, or use it to finalize your
decision. Whatever you decide on will satisfy you as long as
you remember that each machine has its own quirks,
peculiarities and limitations.
Donald Desrosiers has been in the
shirt laundering business since 1978 and is a work-flow systems
engineer who provides services to shirt launderers through
Tailwind Shirt Systems, 867 Spencer St., Fall River, MA. He can
be reached by phone at (508) 965-3163 or by e-mail at tailwind1@attbi.com
and he has a web sites located
at: www.tailwindshirts.com and www.dondesrosiers.com
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