In: Operations Management
What's the supply chain for a dry cleaning service? The actual supply chain for the service itself.
Dry cleaning services: Dry cleaning services are the services provided by any shop or a company for cleaning of clothes and fabrics by using chemical which contains little or less water.
Dry cleaming services this days provide home delivery services to customers they pick up the clothes and leave the clothes after it is drycleaned. Due to increase in variety of fabrics and people purchasing expensive clothes, the demand for dry clean have incraesed. Customers prefer dry clean for expensive clothes rather than machine wash or laudry wash.
Supply Chain for a dry cleaning service:
Supply chain for dry cleaning consists of suppliers, warehouses, distribution centres and retail stores. It includes raw materials, inventory, serviced products and how they flow from one facility to another.
Raw materials here it will be wahsers& Dryers, cleaning chemicals, Presses, sorting bins, hangers, garmet coverings and racks.
Supply chain management:
In laundry services the main supply chain management is cleaning of clothes and then delivering it on time. Supply chain is the oversight of the movement of the chain of supplies of clothes and fabrics. Here, in dry cleaning effective supply chain management requires the integration of suppliers, warehouse and stores to ensure products are distributed at the right place at the right time to minimize costs while meeting the service level.
Supply chain cleaning management must manage inventory, suppliers, purchasing processes, and products. Streamlining these processes result in perational efficiencies including cost saving and increased sustainability.
Suppliers:
Dry cleaning services should streamline their products from a single supplier. Products like cleaning chemicals are required for cleaning the clothes. Some stores might use one large holistic supplier getting everything they need from one stop shop.This has some benefits:
Purchasing processes:
With fewer suppliers cleaning stores can purchase what they need with fewer transactions, making for an easier purchasing process, delivery and reporting. Product bundling and fewer invvoices help cleaning organization to save on product costs.
Inventory management:
Dry cleaning servies with fewer suppliers and products to manage, along with a centralized purchasing process, cleaning organizations will have better handling on inventory management.