From Tokyo to Oconomowoc
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Little was lost in translation when Leather-Rich, Inc. hosted a group of Japanese drycleaners during a recent exchange of ideas.
A six-member delegation which included
businessmen from Tokyo Wholesale Co. — the largest
leather cleaning operation worldwide — took full
advantage of the hospitality offered by the leather cleaning
company located in Oconomowoc, WI.
Representatives from Hakuyosha were also
present at the event. The company, founded in 1906, is
considered a pioneering drycleaning plant in Japan with a total
of over 1,200 outlets located internationally.
The visiting group, lead by Tokyo
Wholesale President Kesami Isawa, enjoyed a two-day tour of the
Leather-Rich facilities. They examined a little of everything,
including the inspection and checking-in process of incoming
orders that utilize a special computer program.
Of particular interest to the Japanese
guests were the topics of wetcleaning and finishing techniques
for suedes and leathers. In fact, they snapped many photographs
using digital cameras and one man even recorded a video of a
load of suedes being wetcleaned. Afterward, he asked:
“What program uses a longer pause between left turning
agitation before going to the right?”
On the second day of the tour, leather
cleaning, finishing and spraying techniques were the main focal
points of discussion. According to Ron Kantor, president of
Leather-Rich, finishing is the most crucial step in the
cleaning process.
“While good cleaning is very
important, it represents only 25 percent of the process,”
he noted. “The balance of 75 percent is what you do in
finishing.”
Kantor also outlined improvements his
company initiated in 2003 when it installed five Brüske
Kompact Former suede/leather machines and a pants topper. Prior
to that time, pressing was traditionally performed with a steam
form and hothead press in both the United States and Japan.
Kantor added that the new Brüske
tensioning equipment has provided better consistency in quality
and less employee fatigue. The Japanese cleaners indicated that
they were greatly impressed by the demonstrations. Kunio Sato,
the plant manager of Tokyo Wholesale, chimed in his approval.
“This is some of the best quality
leather cleaning that I have seen in the world,” he said.
“We are very interested in adapting many of the
wetcleaning and finishing techniques we have seen during this
visit.”
The exchange of ideas wasn’t the
first time the geographically distant companies had interacted
closely together. Managers from Tokyo Wholesale originally
visited Leather-Rich in the late 1980s and continued the
tradition on several occasions during the past decade. The
diplomacy was reciprocated when Tokyo Wholesale executives
urged Kantor and his wife, Joanne, to spend several days in
Japan touring their plants in Tokyo and surrounding areas.
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