said Brian Johnson, DLI’s Director of Education and Analysis. “At the very least, plants can put out a good quality product at the same speed, while cutting training time in half.” Bar coding systems, which automate and streamline garment tracking and assembly, have also become entrenched in drycleaning plants. About 30 percent of the students in any given DLI class use bar codes in their home plants, Johnson estimated. “People swear by bar coding,” he said. “They say it’s the best thing they’ve ever done.” “We scan the garment everywhere it goes,” said Dan Miller, CEO of Mulberrys Garment Care, an operation with 16 locations in Minneapolis and San Francisco. “Doing so forces you to see any waste that’s occurring and limits the amount of errors. You can see very quickly if something is off-course.” To track employee productivity at the counter, some operations now use cameras and audio equipment, Johnson said. MW Cleaners, in Spring, Texas, for example, keeps counter procedures consistent and courteous by monitoring in-store audio. Cameras can also reveal who’s slacking with their smart phone. Automatic bagging equipment can eliminate a staff position for many plants and reduce poly waste, Johnson said, and improvements to pressing equipment such as sandwich leggers can help deliver a productivity boost. But many new technologies haven’t “spread like wildfire,” he said. Why? Operators “go to the Clean Show and buy a pants press that promises 60 pairs per hour, and it does 25,” Desrosiers said. “Without training or follow-up, you’re not going to get to 60. You get 25 pairs because that’s all you manage for. The key is to learn to manage your business and run it like a business.” MEASURE AND MANAGE Measuring productivity is the first step toward that goal. Systems such as Wesvic’s PieceCounter, Tailwind’s Profit Maximizer, and the management functions included in many point-of-sale (POS) systems can help operators figure out what kind of throughput they’re getting, what kind of throughput is achievable, and what each piece ultimately costs. “The most important technique Mulberrys uses is data tracking,” Miller says. “ProductionTrac in Spot [a point-of-sale system] tracks how many garments each presser completes throughout the day. We measure pieces per operator hour (PPOH), cost per piece, and what labor costs. It prevents things from spiraling out of hand, and also gives us a chance to steadily and continuously get better.” Mulberrys has tested new workflows using the same measurements, and tweaked or abandoned them based on the results. “You’ll almost always see a little decline at first, because people aren’t used to a new procedure. But you can find out if that’s just a blip,” Miller said. “It’s good to know if you’ve made a mistake, or if you’ve stumbled on something that actually improves productivity.” Using “lean” manufacturing techniques to reduce wasteful steps, Mulberrys uses a trolley system to move clothing around the plant instead of Z-racks, and an automated assembly and bagging system to reduce garment jostling. Plants also employ automated storage conveyors to sort clothing by route stop and set the most efficient routes through the POS system. “We track productivity and cost metrics every day, and continuously strive to drive them down,” Miller said. On the production floor, half the battle is keeping staffers supplied with a steady stream of garments to continued from page 16 MARCH/APRIL 2018 17 COVER FOCUS continued on page 18