Adding Dry Cleaning to an Existing Laundry? What Changes in Your Equipment and Workflow?

How Does Your Workflow Change After Adding Dry Cleaning?

This is one of the biggest differences between expanding washing capacity and introducing dry cleaning.

In a normal laundry operation, sorting may primarily focus on textile type, colour, soil level and suitable wash programs. Professional garment care requires more detailed inspection before processing.

A stronger workflow is:

Receive → Inspect → Read Care Label → Identify Fabric & Construction → Check Stains → Select Suitable Process → Pre-Treat Where Appropriate → Clean → Finish → QC → Pack

Why is this important?

Because not every garment entering a laundry and dry cleaning business should automatically follow the same cleaning route.

A structured jacket, embellished occasion garment and everyday shirt can have very different construction and care requirements. Fabric, trims, dyes, stains and manufacturer care instructions can all affect process selection.

Some garments may be suitable for dry cleaning. Others may require professional wet cleaning or another care-label-approved method.

This means staff training becomes especially important.

Operators should know how to inspect garments, identify visible stains, check care labels, record existing damage and route each item to the appropriate process.

The machine performs part of the work. Correct process selection begins before the garment reaches the machine.