DRY CLEAN PLUS - A STUDY OF HOW TO DO THINGS RIGHT FOR A NEW START-UP.
A start-up dry cleaning business in Newark is fulsome in its praise of the services of Renzacci UK, following a highly efficient and successful installation of laundry and dry cleaning equipment at its new premises in the Nottinghamshire town. Dry Clean Plus, owned by Russ Langthorne, opened in early June 2009 having been equipped with a comprehensive selection of Renzacci and Pony machines.
COMPETENCE ENGENDERS CONFIDENCE
Having been made redundant from his post in the hygiene and cleaning industry, Russ decided to fulfill an ambition to open a retail dry cleaners. He spent over a year researching the project, often posing as a mystery shopper and popping in at every dry cleaners he could find to gather background information on approach, marketing and in particular on the relative quality and performance of equipment brands. At this early stage he was already beginning to get positive feedback on the reliability of Renzacci equipment. This was underlined by the quality of the follow-up and negotiations with Renzacci UK compared to the competition. “Renzacci UK’s tender was much more thoroughly thought out” says Russ. “It also demonstrated a deep knowledge of the industry and gave me the confidence to accept their quotation in the knowledge that they would be there to help at every stage of the installation”. And so it proved.
PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME
The difficult nature of the laundry part of the installation threw up immediate problems, but
the preliminary survey conducted by Managing Director of Renzacci UK, Jason Alexander, identified ways of getting the equipment in. This involved taking the downstairs shop window out completely and, to get the washer and tumble dryer upstairs, it entailed removing one wall completely. “I was very impressed with the competence of the installation team”, says Russ. “They worked from 7am till 6pm on the installation day, then went all the way back home before returning the next day at 7am to finish off. No praise is sufficient for their performance.”
The installation covered all the operational equipment needed for a start-up dry cleaners – a Renzacci Progress 35 Club dry cleaning machine; Pony Cosmos-E rotary finishing cabinet; Pony Silver-SV top of the range finishing table; Pony Jolly professional spotting table; Hawo bagging machine; washing machine and tumble dryer together with a high performance hot water boiler.
TRAINING AND SUPPORT
The rest of the service Russ received from Renzacci UK maintained the same high
standards. Senior engineer, Jeremy Jones, followed the installation with a day’s visit to the shop to explain how each of the machines worked and gave some tips on how to look after the equipment and get the best performance from it. This was followed by a week long on-premise training course conducted by industry training specialist, Roger Cawood, who runs such dry cleaning courses for new start drycleaners exclusively for Renzacci UK. The course was attended by Russ and his two staff and covered such topics as textile recognition, machine operation & maintenance, spotting & stain removal and textile finishing and presentation. “Roger is acknowledged as a leading industry expert and the time he spent with us was invaluable” says Russ. “He was so patient and the week’s course gave us great confidence with our customers’ garments in the early days.”
The acid test of an equipment company is its response to customer problems. Technical service can never be proven in advance, of course, but Russ had an early insight into what he can expect when he had a minor issue shortly after installation. An early riser, he left an email for Jason at 6am on a Sunday morning, expecting a response on the Monday. Instead, he had a reply from Jason by 6.30am and the Renzacci UK engineer turned up at 7am on the Monday. “What service!” says Russ. “It confirmed my confidence in Renzacci UK and bodes well for our future relationship”.
Summing up his experience of Renzacci UK, he continued: “I cannot fault the service I have had at every stage from Jason and his team. Their whole attitude and approach has been faultless. They could not have been friendlier and their ‘can do’ mentality was frankly very refreshing and in stark contrast to some of the other suppliers I met”.
