Last night we told you about the IDB report which ranked Belize 106 out of 189 countries in terms of the ease of setting up a small to medium sized business. Lascelle Arnold, the owner of Belize Dry Cleaners went through that over 20 years ago when he first set up Belize Dry Cleaners. Now, he's got the market cornered as the only pro grade Dry Cleaner in Belize. But like every other business owner, he's battling rising costs of fuel, electricity and labour. But today he showed us how he's harnessing technology to get past those hurdles: he introduced us to the Princess:...
Jules Vasquez reporting
Even for dry cleaners, ironing shirts is a pain - this is the old way of doing it - more efficient than what you do at home - but for the cleaners it takes about five to seven minutes per shirt - which is too long when you've got three to four hundred shirts to iron:
Lascelle Arnold, Owner - Belize Dry Cleaners
"There is a major problem we have in the company doing shirts where we do it by hand and it takes forever to get it done."
So, Arnold has acquired this device, it's called the Princess, its European made and costs fifty thousand dollars:
Lascelle Arnold, Owner - Belize Dry Cleaners
"We go straight from the washing machine, wet and go straight to the machine to press, so we press it wet. With this machine we could do 40-60 shirts an hour and for production and costs savings this is why we have purchased this machine."
"Automatically that will pay back for the machine over time."
So, what used to take 5 - 7 minutes now takes 45 seconds with a blast of steam, and then a blast of cool air, with a little extra time for the collars and a few creases.
Lascelle Arnold, Owner - Belize Dry Cleaners
"With this it will cut the time down by 80%."
Arnold says that the new machine is a demonstration of the business ethic of investing in a time and cost saving device:
Lascelle Arnold, Owner - Belize Dry Cleaners
"The cost of gas, electricity and labor goes up, so for us to maintain a price to our customer what we do is invest in technology to keep the price down. If you notice our prices, from the time we open the Dry Cleaners, our prices are the same up to now."
Belize Dry Cleaners still charges the same price for ironing and Arnold says if it all works out as he plans, they could bring the price down.
