Content about The plant

GRANDVIEW, Mo. — Pride Cleaners turned the shell of a former ice skating rink into a bright, clean central processing plant that services its 37 stores throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area. It processes around 10,000 pieces a day in season.

After the 22,000-square-foot building was cleaned out, Pride had to bring in new power, gas and water services. Every piece of equipment had to be installed, and offices were built.

The plant was laid out to best fit the workflow needed for drycleaning, laundry and alteration services. Laundry and drycleaning work is separated, and flows from the washing/drycleaning machines through the press area, down to assembly, and out to the trucks in a U-shaped design.

Among Pride’s key pieces of equipment is Fulton boilers, Unipress finishing equipment, Metalprogetti auto-sort systems, Union drycleaning machines, petroleum reclaimers, Kaeser air compressor, and a Kemco hot-water system.

SAN DIEGO — Margaret’s Cleaners’ 22,000-square-foot plant, formerly an upholstery fabric outlet, was designed from the ground up for servicing couture garments and accessories. Work on the two-story structure began in summer 2009 and continues today.

“That’s who we are,” says Chuck Horst, president of the family-owned company and the plant’s designer. “We’re always making changes. I have two departments in a temporary home as we’re still getting the remainder of those departments set up. … The plant is 95% complete.”

Margaret’s services more than 150 fine retailers. It offers delivery throughout Southern California plus Las Vegas, and nationwide through CleanByMail.

The difficulty of getting into and out of La Jolla, site of its previous flagship location, and a desire for less cramped quarters were factors in taking on the $7 million project, Horst says.

Operators returning to the industry sawed off an abandoned building to create a dream plant, taking Plant Design honors.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — It was a hot, humid August in most of the U.S., but everyone at Fabricare 2010 in Long Beach, Calif., seemed cool, calm and collected. Held every two years by the California Cleaners Association (CCA), the show benefited from unusually pleasant weather, even for Southern California.

Aladdin Cleaners, Amherst, N.Y.

Celebrating its 70th year in business, Aladdin Cleaners launched a renovation of its call office and spruced up its production capabilities, too. Staying up-to-date is not unusual for Aladdin’s operators, the Schneider family — ongoing improvements to their single location have taken Plant Design Awards in the past.

DALLAS — It was a moment every business owner dreads. Something — perhaps a faulty light fixture — sparked, and the spark became a flame. Staffers scrambled for the fire extinguishers, but soon decided to save themselves instead. Within minutes, a five-alarm fire engulfed the building.

Outstanding Central Plant: DC Center Cleaners, Woodside, N.Y.

Operator Albert Lee had already consolidated production into a central plant once to handle growth, and his continued success recently forced the operation to move again. This time, the company — now one of the largest on the East Coast — faced a massive project. The 20,000-square-foot space Lee had located in Queens required a complete overhaul, but it was the blank slate onto which he could draw the plant of his dreams.

Oh no! Sales are way down this week! Sales were down last week, too! You should probably issue some coupons right away, since customers are getting tight with their money and aren’t spending it on drycleaning.

Have you felt this pang of anxiety over a few weeks or a month in which sales didn’t meet expectations? You have a deep-seated need to take action — any action — to stem the tide, communicate with customers, lower prices, increase discounting or something.

While the Grand Prize went to a production-only, central plant, the three runners-up in American Drycleaner’s 47th Annual Plant Design Awards are freestanding plants-on-premises. Each of the three Outstanding New Builds is a model of production efficiency built to suit the needs of its hometown clients.

HIGH PLAINS CLEANER

More exceptional plant projects from American Drycleaner's 46th Annual Plant Design Awards