By Bruce Grossman
This article pertains to the irriguous and oft misunderstood subject of treating water for use in boiler operations.
Ask. Listen. React. The Art of the Exit Interview
By Don Desrosiers
Many decades ago, I first heard the term “exit interview.” The context was the voluntary termination of a restaurant manager – a good one – leaving his post, much to the chagrin of his employer. I was told that an exit interview would take place so that upper management could learn, from the departing employee, how they could improve their retention of quality personnel in the future. I was impressed. This type of job separation was certainly the polar opposite of Johnny Paycheck’s famous “Take This Job and Shove It!” No question. I sometimes ask when I learn about the departure of an employee I am used to working with, if an exit interview was performed. “Yes,” is the customary response but I suspect the extent of the “interview” was “so, why are you leaving?” “My uncle offered me a job,” could have been the answer. That’s the end of it. Hardly an interview.
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How To Use DLI’s Garment Analysis Service
Mail-In or App Service Provide Same Great Report
By John Paul Roggenkamp
In addition to its regular mail-in Garment Analysis service, DLI experts can analyze many garments thorugh images you share on the Garment Analysis App. After installing the Garment Analysis Application, you’ll need only two other things: a mobile phone with a built-in camera and a stained or damaged garment. With this App, you’ll get feedback in “Just a matter of hours in most cases and certainly within no more than 24 hours,” according to James ‘Dr. Jim’ Kirby, chief garment analyst at DLI. Each garment analysis comes with a report detailing these four areas: Examination, Findings, Explanation, and Conclusion. We’ll look at these in more detail a bit later in the piece.
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DLI Certified Professionals Make the Grade
DLI congratulates the following professionals on achieving new professional certifications. Certification demonstrates excellence in critical disciplines of the cleaning profession. Cleaners who earn all three certifications, Certified Professional Drycleaner (CPD®), Certified Professional Wetcleaner (CPW®), and Certified Environmental Drycleaner (CED®), automatically earn the Certified Garment Care Professional (CGCP®) title.
DLI’s Certification exams are administered online and are available in English and Spanish.
DLI’s next online Certification examination period runs November 10-18. Register online at DLIonline.org/Certification or call 800-638-2627 by November 2.
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DLI Names Hotel Monteleone as Clean 2019 Headquarters
Launched in 1886, the Hotel Monteleone is a charming French Quarter staple offering easy access to the excitement of New Orleans. Inside the hotel amenities abound, including a rotating bar, swimming pool, fine dining options, entertainment, a spa, fitness center, in-room services and more.
Exhibit sales are open to all companies for Clean 2019, the textile care industry’s premier trade show that will be held in New Orleans Morial Convention Center June 20-23, 2019. Register now at http://www.CleanShow.com. Learn more about the hotel at www.hotelmonteleone.com.
Reservations for the Hotel Monteleone are open through Connections Housing, the official housing agency for Clean 2019. Reserve your room space at the Hotel Monteleone here: https://book.passkey.com/go/DLI2019.
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Exciting Events Coming Our Way (Moment with Mary)
Clean 2019 will be in New Orleans June 20-23. While it’s still a ways off, preparation has already begun. The previous show, Clean 2017, was named one of Trade Show Executive’s50 Fastest-Growing shows. Clean 2017, held in Las Vegas, was included in all three categories of the awards competition: net square feet of exhibit space, number of exhibiting companies, and total attendance. Trade Show Executivepresents the Fastest 50 awards annually to trade shows that have excelled in each of the three categories. Though 50 shows are named in each category, Clean 2017 is one of the few trade shows that exceeded the level of growth to be named in all three. Anyone who attended Clean 2017 would agree it was a fantastic show and we expect no less of the upcoming show in New Orleans.
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Demystifying Social Media
How Four DLI Members Tackle this Tough Subject
By John Paul Roggenkamp
Drycleaners looking to grow their brand and attract new customers are increasingly turning to social media to both engage directly with the public and showcase their garment care skills. Using social media to interact with the public has many advantages, chief among them the ability to connect with members of the community wherever they may be via the devices they use every day – their cellphones. Keep reading to see how four different drycleaners and one marketing maven approach the world of social media.
By the Numbers
By Don Desrosiers, Tailwind Systems
Sometimes change can cause problems in the workplace. Some people don’t like change and fight it, tooth and nail. I met a cleaning business owner who made a name for himself as a numbers guy. Outward appearances suggested he ran his company “by the numbers.” Forget personalities and employees with personal issues. Forget any resistance to change, his company was run by the numbers. Except it wasn’t. In a private conversation with this gentleman, coupled with a glance at his labor hours, it was very clear to me that he was wasting labor in his shirt department. It was a waste of 12 hours per week. In PiecesPer Labor Hour terms: Three pieces per labor hour (PPLH) wasted. When I called this to his attention, he was blunt. “If I make any changes, the presser will quit, so I will forfeit the three pieces per labor hour.”
Hot Weather Cooling Problems
With summer upon us your drycleaning machine’s cooling system will be under greater stress. It doesn’t matter if you’re using a water tower, chiller, or city water for cooling, conditions that weren’t an issue during the cooler months may become problems as the ambient (surrounding) temperature rises. Most cooling problems rear their ugly heads during the drying segment of the drycleaning cycle. Drying, in the drycleaning machine sense, is all about moving heat energy. The media which moves all this heat is called a refrigerant (most machines use R22 Freon. Some of the newer models and K4 machines use R400 Freon as refrigerants) and some form of coolant (generally water or a water and glycol mixture). It doesn’t matter which Freon used, the process itself requires a device called a REFRIGERATION CONDENSER which changes hot, vapor rich, Freon gas back into liquid Freon which is constantly being recycled during the drying segment of the drycleaning cycle. In almost every case this condenser is cooled by a liquid (there are a few air-cooled condensers which are not the topic of this article). Hot, compressed Freon gas if forced by the REFRIGERATION COMPRESSOR into the REFRIGERATION CONDENSER where it is cooled and condensed by water (called a COOLANT) In this case we are transferring the heat from a vapor rich, hot, compressed Freon gas to the coolant flowing through the refrigeration condenser. Continue reading “Hot Weather Cooling Problems”
How Will Tax Overhaul Impact You and Your Business?
A Look at the Highlights of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
By: Richard Weisinger
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 represents the most sweeping tax legislation since 1986.
Included among the many provisions of this new law is the abolition of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) penalty, an across-the-board reduction in the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, a doubling of the estate tax exemption to $11.2 million per decedent ($22.4 million per married couple), an elimination of the deduction for meals and entertainment, and a substantial curtailment of the applicability of the Alternative Minimum Tax.
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