Don't know bout the rest of you folk, but I'm enjoying the thread!
(and the outstanding selection of emoticons!) Our company is on a growth plan. Last spring it made sense to purchase our centrifuge, and it has made my job a heck of a lot easier, from quicker dry times, easier rug handling post extraction, as well as almost complete elimination of fringe detailing. We simply are more productive. As we continue to grow our rug cleaning business, we will be looking to add probably a wash tub, larger dusting equipment and possibly if volume dicated a
mor machine and in that order. But as its been stated, you have to let your business dictate what equipment to buy.
Zee mentioned as did Lisa they wanted more affordable equipment that was made for smaller operations. But how do you make equipment that will stand up the rigors of rug cleaning and stay affordable? There are only three ways to really do that: Make the equipment smaller: (Tom already does this as he showed at connections this year) Smaller size may reduce the overall cost but it also limits the size of rugs you can handle. The time saving equipment really shines with larger rugs for if you have spent any time cleaning rugs you know that the time spent cleaning large rugs compared to smaller rugs, is not a nice linear relationship. So smaller equipment limits the size of rug, and so you are still spent hand washing and manually extraction your larger rugs with truckmounts or your extractor of choice.
You could make it with less expensive materials, but then you are looking at increased cost of repairs as breakdowns are likely to happen more often, and probably looking at a quicker replacement cost. Then the question becomes are you really saving any if you have a higher invesment in downtime, repairs, or shorter equipment life? The point of having the equipment is to be productive. Down time from repairs or machien failure is not being productive. If you are handling rugs of any value, it would be terrible to have your machine fail with a rug in it.
And you could make them less complex as lisa stated. A simple wringer with no spray bar would serve its purpose in extraction of water at a quicker rate. But you still have a good majority of time spent on properly cleaning a rug on a wash floor or in a pit. And in most drying situations, you will still have to deal with fringe correction or extended drying. (not all of us can live in sandiego!
) In our business's example, it made more sense to invest in a centrifuge where during the three minutes of extraction, I can get a nother rug out on the floor and ready to be washed, or the rug can stay in the centrifuge until i'm ready to move it to the grooming and drying area and put another rug in. As Tom aluded to above, I can effectively wash 10 to 20 rugs a day by my self with out the need for an extra set of hands. Granted we have a forklift and can roll the rug over a plastic core to put in the centrifuge, but Tom's cart still makes it possible for one person to handle a large rug safely with one person. If we had a wringer, unless I had conveyer system down low to pull the rug up on, I couldn't do it with one person safely. And that conveyor system still adds to the complexity.
Bottom line is this:
Your business model dictates how you grow your business. If you want to be the grow your business to handle volume work, you are going to add the right equipment and the right employees at the right time to stay profitable and the equipment on the market today can handle that.
If you want to remain a botique cleaner and only clean smaller rugs you bring home from your cleaning jobs, equipment now exists for that venture as well. (ask tom about it!)
Or you can control your volume by increaseing your prices in which case less complex machinery is needed (lisa's model).
Yet another reason to support the efforts to find more effective options for extraction that are affordable for those who do not have the larger rug operations. Not everyone has the capital to purchase a $100K set up - nor should they invest at the level of rug volume they are doing. These are volume based cleaning choices.
Right now you have the cheap, low tech end of water claws and wands, and the expensive large equipment. It will be very interesting to see who gets motivated to find something in the middle ground. The Evacuator is interesting. It would be cool to see a floor size version you could wash on and then extract in place. That would be cool. =)
Lisa
The desicion of
Centrum Force to purchae
Mor is great for our industry. It provides ongoing support for the machines that already exist. It provides greater flexibility for
Centrum Force to reintroduce the original machine designs and add additional options such as a lower tech compression wringer. And best of all it means that technology will be around and continue to be made in USA for many many years to come which means people like me who look to take our 60 year old business to 100 will be able to utilize this technology when the time is right for out business, and I'm sure that same can be said about many other businesses out there.
While a company could go out and spend 100K plus on equipment, Tom will be the very first to tell you not to. He knows first hand that isn't how it works.
Starting with a portable duster, a wash pit or wash floor, a truckmount or portable extractor and a water claw, rover, or evacuator, and PROPER TRAINING, can get a company to the point where they can afford and justifty a piece of equipment to make the cleaning process easier.
At $38,000 roughly for a sp12 centrifuge, I believe this is a great middle ground. A compression wringer in my opionion requires two people to operate safely on behalf of the rug as well as well as the safety of the workers: If you already have the man power, then a compression wringer will make sense but if you have to hire an employee to safely work with the rugs and equipment then a centrifuge will make more sense.
And food for thought: if you have something that bridges the gap between water claws, rovers, and such, eventually you'll need more productivity which means you now having step to the large equipment... So is there really any savings? compared to purchasing that 100k in machinery one piece at a time as needed?
Just my thoughts on the subject any ways.
)
