Can adding wet cleaning solve your space dilemma?

SERIES: Big Tech for Small Spaces

Editor’s Note: The following article was submitted by Poseidon and has been edited for length, style, and clarity.

For some time, professional fabricare plants have relied on dry cleaning as the primary production method for delicate garments. 

Today, many operators are re-evaluating that equation. 

Advocates of modern wet cleaning systems argue that a greater percentage of garments can now be processed through wet cleaning programs, potentially reducing processing costs and increasing throughput. In addition, this wet cleaning solution takes up significantly less space than an alternative solvent drycleaning machine. 

As a result, some operators are increasing production capacity and reducing operating expenses without expanding plant space.

Throughput is the new competitive advantage

In today’s labor-constrained environment, the most successful textile care operations are finding ways to process more pounds and garments per hour with the same workforce and facility footprint.

The challenge has never been the wash process.

Highly programmable wet cleaning washers and advanced chemistry have been available for years. The limiting factor was often the drying stage. Traditional tumble dryers lacked the precision required to safely process delicate garments such as wool, silk, linen and cashmere. As a result, operators either air dried garments – consuming valuable floor space and labor finishing time – or routed items through slower, more expensive dry cleaning systems.

Modern Wet Cleaning Systems 

Poseidon points to its GS-Series washers and EDS-Series dryers as an example of a modern wet cleaning system designed for garment care applications. 

With the combination of GS-Series Washers and EDS-Series Dryers, fabricare plants now have a complete textile care and wet cleaning production system capable of handling many garment categories while significantly increasing throughput.

The GS-Series Washer is highly programmable, features a 10-inch touchscreen control and a 360° Corner Status Light that alerts operators when a load is complete. The combo means quicker response times and a quality wash no matter the fabric or garment type. 

When paired with a programmable dryer, the system is designed to address many of the drying challenges traditionally associated with wet cleaning delicate garments. 

Because garments are most vulnerable when they are fully saturated with water or nearly dry, EDS Dryers give operators the ability to remove moisture quickly, without tumbling, by controlling G-force and drum action. When garments are wet, the drum must spin with just enough G-force so the garments will cling to the drum, rather than fall and tumble from top to bottom. Additionally, they can hit high drum temperatures extremely quickly in order to evaporate moisture without as much tumbling, and programmable moisture sensing ensures items dry to correct moisture levels.

The EDS Dryer provides complete phased control over the drying process. Each phase allows programmability of drum rotation speed, drum rotation interval, moisture level, timed reversing, input air temperature, drying temperature, heating temperature, drying time and time limit. 

Key technologies include:

• Intelligent moisture sensing that prevents over-drying
• Programmable drum speed control to reduce stress on delicate fabrics
• AutoSpeed technology that automatically optimizes cylinder rotation
• Dual temperature sensors for precise cylinder heat management
• Transflow Airflow Technology that maximizes evaporation and shortens dry times
• Multi-phase drying controls that allow exact programming by garment type

Together, the GS-Series Washer and EDS Dryer eliminate the need for lengthy air-drying processes while protecting even the most delicate garments. Items are dried to a set moisture level with reduced shrinkage/shape loss and immediately finished – saving time. The result is a faster, more predictable production flow from wash to finish.

Higher throughput than traditional dry cleaning

When evaluating throughput, there’s a clear difference.

A traditional dry cleaning machine processes a fixed load through a lengthy cleaning cycle before garments move to finishing. Depending on machine type and solvent system, cycle times often exceed one hour. 

According to Poseidon, a GS-Series washer and EDS-Series dryer can increase production throughput by as much as 50 percent compared with some alternative-solvent dry-cleaning systems. 

For example, a plant utilizing 60-pound capacity GS-Series Washer and EDS-Series Dryer can process (wash/dry/finish/package) 90 pounds of garments in 75 minutes. If that plant used a 60-pound capacity dry cleaning machine instead, it would only process 60 pounds of garments in 75 minutes.

Poseidon also reports that wet cleaning systems may require substantially less capital investment and floor space than alternative-solvent dry-cleaning equipment, citing reductions of up to 70 percent in initial investment and 40 percent in footprint in some installations.

For operators facing space constraints, labor shortages, or equipment replacement decisions, wet cleaning may be one option worth evaluating alongside traditional dry-cleaning systems. 

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