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DRY-CLEANING EQUIPMENT CAPABILITIES Like the laundry, your equipment capabilities need to be considered when scheduling dry-cleaning operations. Based on observations, information data, and review of past records the following can be expected of your dry-cleaning equipment. . Dry cleaning- dry to dry- one load rated capacity per 50 minutes
. Dry-cleaning press utility- 20 pieces per operator hour (POH) These equipment capabilities are dependent on training, ability of personnel, arrangement of equipment, and hotel utilities available for your equipment. SPACE
You should consider the space in the dry-cleaning plant when making your schedule.
Normally, dry-cleaning plants do not have as much space as the ship's laundry and you must have rigid control of the schedule from the
standpoint of receiving and issuing so that the section can handle the maximum amount of work in the space available. Do not receive more dry weight than can be processed in 1 normal working day, except under very unusual conditions.
TYPES OF SERVICES
Any services provided in the dry-cleaning plant should be completed in a period between 24 to 72 hours. Services provided for items other than regular uniforms should be clearly defined in your schedule including the days and times these services are available. You should be flexible in scheduling these additional services especially just before a personnel inspection or on a tender or
a repair ship that may be offering services to ships alongside while in port. For instance, you should not be doing a large load of civilian clothes at the time of a personnel inspection when your work-load will be extra heavy and you won't be able to get the work done on time. Modify the schedule around this time to make sure you get all uniform items done before the inspection, Normally, officer and CPO clothing can be
processed on an individual basis; however, enlisted personnel uniforms may provide too large a demand to do them in this manner. In a situation like this, you may want to handle enlisted personnel uniforms as a bulk (division/ group) load. If you do this, make sure each enlisted person marks his or her uniform according to the U. S Navy Regulations, 1973, so you know who owns the clothing. DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT
To eliminate any problems in receipt or pickup of dry-cleaning items, you should make sure you clearly define on your schedule who is responsible for these tasks. It is advisable to set a deadline
for receiving articles no later than 0900 daily. By requiring delivery before 0900, the dry-cleaning personnel can easily sort the articles into proper loads and keep the washer operating to capacity without having to wait for sufficient articles of one type to make a load. GROUP OR CLASS SCHEDULING
Schedule similar uniform items together because washer loads must be of similar material. Your material groups are broken down into three categories: (1) officer and CPO uniform items, (2) enlisted uniform items, and (3) miscellaneous items such as flags, foul weather jackets, civilian
clothes, and any other items not included in category 1 or 2. You should do officer and CPO items one day and enlisted uniform items another. Any items other than uniform items can be scheduled out over the week. Thus, on any given day you would have either category 1 or 2 scheduled with two smaller groups of clothing out of category 3. Unless it is necessary, don't ever have more than
three different types of material scheduled on any given day. On large ships such as carriers or tenders, the officer and CPO laundry is scheduled on separate days. ADJUSTING THE SCHEDULE
Unlike the ship's laundry, the schedule in the dry-cleaning plant may have to be adjusted more often to meet specific conditions. As stated earlier, you can expect a synthetic dry-cleaning unit to produce one clean load approximately every 50 minutes. You can also expect to dry clean about 1 pound of laundry per person per week. If you take these two factors into consideration you should be able to determine the number of persons you can serve in a 1-day schedule and adjust the schedule accordingly. RECEIVING AND IDENTIFYING
The proper receiving and identifying of dry-cleaning articles is essential in preventing items from being misplaced. There are two methods for
receiving and identifying dry-cleaning articles. Use the method that best fulfills your needs. Method A- Each piece of dry-cleaning work is logged in and out using a dry-cleaning work log. The log is maintained by the receiving clerk in a standard ruled book or lined pad of paper. If dry-cleaning tags are used as stated in method B below, this logbook does not need to be used. If
your dry-cleaning plant is using dry-cleaning lists without tags, use this log in conjunction with the dry-cleaning list.
Method B- Each patron fills out the list, removes the receipt stub at the bottom, and attaches the list to the bundle. The receiving clerk then tags each article in the bundle with a section
of the premarked tag and staples the master( s) of the tag set and unused tags to the patron's dry-cleaning list. DRY-CLEANING LIST AND TAGS
A dry-cleaning list is a record of dry cleaning processed for an individual. Such a list saves time and work in receiving and issuing and also reduces the probability of misplacing articles. These lists may be bought commercially or ordered through
the Ship's Store Contract Bulletin. You may use it to check off finished work returned to the assembly room. The list provides for plant control, customer receipt, financial control, and furnishes eight tags for identifying the items that are going to be dry cleaned. The procedure for using the marking tags that are part of the dry-cleaning list is as follows:
1. Detach and safety pin or staple one tag to each article. If a customer has three articles, fasten a detachable tag to each item and leave the remaining tags attached to the master dry-cleaning list. 2. When you assemble the items that have been dry cleaned, the count of the remaining tags confirms the number of articles that belongs to one customer. Thus if five tags remain, the customer brought in three articles. Cost columns that are located on the right side of the list are necessary only when a charge is made for dry cleaning. INSPECTION
Inspect each article for detachable uniform insignia and for items in pockets. Removal of ball-point pens, crayons, lipsticks, and other foreign objects at this point eliminates sources of damage to loads of clothing being cleaned. Put such items in an envelope and attach it to the customer's dry-cleaning
list. Return pockets to proper position before cleaning. If you find spots on an article, send it to the spotter. Spots should be removed from the article before it is cleaned. If time permits, determine whether any
buttons or buckles are missing or loose and note tears or any other marks. Note whether the article has a belt. Care in preliminary examination avoids trouble later. CLASSIFYING
The two most important things to consider when items are classified for dry cleaning are (1) color and (2) lint quality of the material. In general, virtually all fibers or fabrics can be safely dry cleaned provided they are resistant to the dry-cleaning solvent, frictional activity involved in the dry-cleaning machine, and the stress of steam pressing and finishing. Standard military uniforms can be successfully dry cleaned aboard ship with virtually no problems as long as the equipment is used properly and the correct solvent is used. The solvent used should be tetrachloroethylene
(perchlorethylene), NSN 6810-00-270-9982 and NSN 6810-00-819-1128. Always remember to
classify similar items together for washing purposes. If your dry-cleaning plant is washing civilian clothes, it would be a good dry-cleaning practice to first determine the type of fiber or fabric to be cleaned and then carefully check the permanent care label for manufacturer's recom-mendations
or instructions for cleaning. On occasions you may also dry clean Marine uniforms. Sort them together but dry clean them
separately. Classify table covers, drapes, flags, and so on, according to color, material, and lint quality. (Put ties into separate bags and clean them with the blue uniform.)
Foul weather jackets, face masks, winter helmets, and winter trousers may be cleaned
together. Although they have many different colors, signal flags may be cleaned in the same group. Transfer of lint among flags is not detrimental to their use. Do NOT dry clean impregnated, rubberized, or oiled articles, or articles manufactured wholly or in part from leather. Dry-cleaning solvents
damage such materials beyond repair or use. When articles are classified, divide them into equal units for loading into the dry cleaning machine. The weight units should be based on the manufacturer's recommendations for machine capacity. A record of pounds cleaned and the number of loads cleaned daily is kept to determine the numbers of pounds cleaned per gallon of solvent and the cost per pound cleaned. The use of 1 gallon of dry-cleaning solvent to clean 200 pounds of clothes is considered good usage. PRESPOTTING
All articles should be examined for spots before they are cleaned. Analyze all spots to determine what substance caused them and what methods should be used to remove them. Sometimes treating the spot may not remove it entirely but usually it will come out completely during the cleaning process. Note that the flow chart (fig. 6-1) shows both prespotting and postspotting steps. The latter step is necessary in case a spot was missed earlier. If, however, it is necessary to postspot an article, it must go back to be cleaned again to remove the chemical used in spotting. Spotting is discussed in detail later in this chapter. DRY-CLEANING SOLVENT
The dry-cleaning process centers around the dry-cleaning solvent which distinguishes dry cleaning from simple wet cleaning or laundering. The removal of stains and soils is dependent upon volubility, age and extent of soil, size of wash load, type of fabric, the amount of water and detergent in solution, and the level and temperature of the solvent.
Only the synthetic solvents discussed in this chapter are authorized on board Navy ships for use in dry-cleaning plants.
Tetrachloroethylene/ perchloroethylene are the most commonly used solvents and the brands are available through
supply. The solvents already contain detergent which eliminates adding it to the inventory of supplies. Check the amounts of solvent in the storage tank from time to time and make sure that it is refilled as necessary. This prevents the solvent
from getting too low for operation. If it is necessary, remind the sales office when the quantity of solvent is reaching a low level so they can order a new supply.
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