Imaginative use of space

[T Monahan]

Do you think you have an imaginative use of space for processing rugs at your shop?

1. check in
2. dust
3. wash
4. rinse
5. dry
6. finish

It seems that those with limited space come up with some of the greatest ideas for use of space.

Brainstorming what can be done in one's existing space to increase capacity proves to be the interesting challenge.

If you think you have licked it, please share your idea or picture.

I intend to drop some pictures in on this thread of places and situations that I have seen that may be of interest to other rug cleaners.

Who wants to start?

 

[Ron K]

No pictures. But between shops we washed rugs in our garage 17X20 sft area, dust ,wash, rinse and dry 8' ceilings. Propane heaters and big dehumidifier. Man those were the days and they sucked. 2000 sft now, just living the dream.

 

[T Monahan]

Well...I had hoped to have some neat pictures contributed, with permission of course, to include in a power point presentation I delivered at the ICE Conference and Trade Show just recently in Vegas. I managed to dig from my files 3 operations that work within 900 sq. ft. of floor space that really utilize what they have to work with. Two of them were doing around $200K in rug washing within that footprint. With efficient use of space, along with tools, each had capacity to do more. The problem increasingly becomes the storage or inventory area for the rugs scheduled to be returned.

I still would like to see great ideas to pass on.

 

[tmdry]

We are currently expanding to a larger warehouse/office combo from our current 1500 sqft office space, and would also like to get some ideas, especially for when a client can stop by and drop off the rugs.

Would there be a separate counter for the person(s) taking in rugs that is located inside of the warehouse, so the client does not have to come inside of the office?

Pictures of automated plant (generally speaking), that shows check in/counter, dusting, cleaning, drying, etc, so we can visualize what we are working with.

The current space we've been looking for is on average 2000-2500 sqft for our needs.

Thanks,
Bill