How Do We Keep It All Straight?
Week after week you drop your clothes off to be cleaned. After we process your order, how can we tell your navy blue wool pants from the many other navy blue wool pants we receive? We appreciate your business and thought you might like to take a peek behind the scenes.
Before a garment goes through our dry cleaning operation we give it a tag, so we can identify its owner. We do this by attaching a tag to each garment. The tags are specially manufactured so the ink and dye will not come out during cleaning.
Recently, we have installed a new system called “iassemble”. This integrates with our current software to improve tagging/tracking procedures, and reduces paper waste.
Iassemble uses “bar code tags” which are placed inside garments, instead of stapling/pinning paper tags to each item. These tags should be permanent, and hold a detailed description of your garment, as well as your preferences like (no crease on pant, heavy starch etc.) These bar code tags are only compatible with our dry cleaning software. If scanned elsewhere, they will appear as a number only with no personal information.
Once the clothes have been sorted according to the care process they require, they are dry cleaned or professionally wet cleaned. At the end of the cleaning cycle, the clothes are taken to the finishing department to be steamed and pressed.
Pressers in the finishing department restore your clothing to its original appearance on pressing equipment designed to handle the great variety of fabric types and garment designs we receive every day.
After pressing, the clothing goes to an inspection and assembly area. We identify each item by scanning the bar code attached. The computer assigns a location for your items. The system recognizes once all your items are assembled into location and the order is complete. We take the completed order, attach the invoice and cover it with plastic. Your order is then scanned onto our conveyor system and awaits pickup. When you call or drop in, we have the ability to view at any computer station, exactly when your order is scanned ready for pick up.
Using this system, we process hundreds of pieces each day, belonging to different customers and still put them back in order, without losing any of your clothes!