2025 Best Plants Competion

By Becca Anderson

We have had very few entries in our competition this year, and I think it’s because people think their plant has be to beautiful to qualify. But different plants have different missions, and how they serve their customers is the key to a winning plant.

A great example of a purpose-driven plant is Krazee Klean, from Ft. Kent, Alberta. The entire clientele is made up of oil field workers, and it’s reputation among them is beyond reproach. It starts with owner Wanda Ackert, and flows through her entire team. (We named Wanda our Industry Person of the Year in 2018, in part for her dedication to excellence in an area most cleaners would not want to tackle.)

Snapshot

Krazee Klean was founded in 2002, and has 10-15 employees, depending on need.

“We are in a perfect location, at the crossroads of 2 major oilfield highways,” Wanda said. “We specialize in coverall and work wear dry cleaning. We don’t do ‘pretty’ (retail dry cleaning) –in fact, we don’t have time, we are so busy in the coverall building. We do refer our customers to a retail dry cleaning company that comes to the military base once a week to pick up any retail dry cleaning.”

The plant runs multiple brands of dry cleaning machines running trichloroethylene (perc). It also includes a separate laundry and linen area, and “the very first Continental Girbau press that folds and stacks linen in North America,” Wanda said.

The plant dry cleaning machines include: Union (40 lb.), Realstar (95 lb.), Multimatic machines (one 95 lb., two 75 lbs.) All washers and most dryers are Continental.

“When all the stars align, we can dry clean 1000 coveralls a day,” she joked.

Krazee Klean sends trucks to pick up and deliver, and also has a 24-hour drop chute for customers.

“I have 2 buildings – they are joined together with the Link (customer locker room). I wanted to utilize every space available. One building is our coveralls and the other building is laundry and linen.”

It’s different in the oil fields

From the type of garments that come in (oil-soaked overalls, safety equipment, gloves, vests, etc.) to the very customers Krazee Klean serves, it’s a different world than the day-to-day dry cleaning operation. As she noted, Wanda does no “pretty” stuff. Her focus is on keeping her customers able to do a really rough job.

“Oilfield workers are a different kind of customer,” she said. “Safety is paramount in the oilfield, and we are able to remove the oil from their coveralls, so they are safe again to work.

“We stand out because we are locally owned and operated. We have same- day service/turnaround. We need 4 hours to process. Customers know that if they bring their oilfield workwear in before noon, they can get it back the same day.”

Wanda doesn’t spend effort on marketing, other than her website. Her customers do the work for her. “When they find a good dry cleaning service, they tell everyone they know. Word of mouth is everything!”

Dirty work, clean plant

One place Wanda and her team don’t compromise is in keeping the plant up and running in the best possible condition. Considering what they clean, that can be a challenge.

“Our floors are swept and washed daily, including behind the dry cleaning machines. I had a visit from Environment Canada (surprise visit), and they reported that they have never seen such a clean dry cleaning operation!” she said, justly proud.

Their commitment to customer service is also top priority.

Wanda stands behind the work. “I have replaced garments that were damaged or lost – it was our fault. This has gone a long way in showing that we stand by our word. Problems like that are rare occurrences, but I make it right.

“We will re-do dry cleaned loads if we feel they do not meet our standards, no extra cost to the customer,” she said. “I have one seamstress on site for quick repairs – using Nomex thread and FR [fire resistant] material. There is also a second seamstress off site for the bigger jobs like winter coat zippers, etc.”

The plant is COR certified, and all equipment has daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance schedules that are followed, including the delivery vans.

Her customers appreciate the lengths to which Krazee Klean goes to satisfy them. Some of their comments:

• “Simply Fabulous”
• “Wow, you guys are fast – your done already ?!”
• “WOW!”
• “You guys are wonderful”
• “Great Price!”
• “They are so clean!”
• “Your staff are very courteous and professional.”

The company has also been thanked numerous times for donating cleaning of all sports jerseys, as part of Wanda’s effort to serve the community.

Challenging place

Fort Kent is over 250 miles from Edmonton, nearly 600 from Calgary. It’s not like Wanda can hang up a sign asking for people to apply. And even when people do apply, they may not stay long.

“Our biggest challenge is getting and keeping staff,” she acknowledged. “It used to be, back in the day, that if a business had high turnover it was because of management. Not anymore. Lack of motivation, lack of work ethics, self-entitlement makes it difficult to keep morale up.

“My senior staff do their best to try and instill all these things. We are aware that this is not a career position, but we want to provide building blocks for the future. It is not something we can overcome. It is an ongoing challenge.”

Future Plans

Wanda is clear on what her company will be doing in the future: “Holding true to our integrity, and providing the best service our oilfield workers deserve,” she said.

She’s also optimistic about what’s ahead. “Contract bidding will be coming up soon for the military bases. I’m hoping to snag a 3-year contract!”

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It’s not too late to nominate your plant!

We’ll be featuring plant stories all month, so it’s not too late to nominate yours.

GUIDELINES HERE

Send with photos ASAP to becca@fabricarecanada.com.