12 | REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster T T Kelly Deeks Sustainability ‘part of our culture’ An upgrade in 2022 doubled the capacity for laundry and reuse water, capturing the final rinses which are virtually clean and using these as pre-wash to lower overall water use. For its targeted efforts towards business excellence in customer experience and environmental sustainability, Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster made it to the finals of the Ashburton’s ANZ Business of the Year awards and was highly commended in the Excellence in Environmental Sustainability category. The Ashburton District has a strong, sharp, and often high achieving local business community which works hard to support its people and its economy. On February 23 the best of these were celebrated at a sold-out gala dinner at the superhangar of the Ashburton Aviation Museum. “We were up against some tough competition,” says Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster managing director Stuart Cross. “Some of the other entrants were also our customers, including the Supreme Award winner Ōpuke Thermal Pools & Spa.” With five different service lines, drycleaning, industrial laundry, food industry laundry, aged care laundry, and Linenmaster towel and linen rental, Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster’s excellence in customer experience extends to its own customers and also their customers. “The experience is all about us making sure we are delivering on time and that what we are delivering is high quality,” Stuart says. “A crisp bed and a soft towel is all part of the package our customers are providing for theirs, just as a clean, smart, and professionally laundered technician’s uniform is also part of their customer experience.” Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster has provided high quality product on time around Ashburton and Mid Canterbury for the past 75 years, and for the past 14 years has been working as hard on business sustainability. In 2010, the Apparelmaster group joined environmental monitoring and reporting programme Instep, and started setting and achieving emissions reduction targets. “As a group we were early adopters of sustainability measures, and Apparelmaster itself becomes quite competitive as we benchmark our achievements against each other. It’s good to be able to measure ourselves against other businesses that are doing the same things.” Instep measures Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster’s CO2 emissions per ton of laundry and updates it monthly. “In the time we’ve been involved with Instep we’ve managed to reduce our carbon footprint “In the time we’ve been involved with Instep we’ve managed to reduce our carbon footprint by a third.” by a third. Sometimes it’s the little tweaks that really make a difference, but it’s also about making sustainability part of our culture for our whole team. Having the numbers in front of us from Instep means we can substantiate our claims and plan our next steps.” Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster expanded and upgraded its Grey Street premises in 2022, and more sustainability measures were initiated at this stage. Fluorescent lighting was replaced by the latest LED light fittings, and the concrete panels were painted white to naturally reflect light. The capacity for laundry was doubled and so was the capacity for reuse water, with Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster capturing the final rinses which are virtually clean and using these as pre-wash to lower overall water use. Water is now heated via steam from the clothes dryers, returning it to the boiler makeup tank where two heat exchangers remove the heat from the steam and use it to heat the water. Six new Kannagiser dryers with the latest technology out of Germany reuse 80% of their heat and work faster than traditional dryers, significantly reducing their energy consumption and further lowering Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster’s CO2 emissions. Excellence in customer experience and environmental sustainability is a whole team effort for the 30 staff at Wrights Drycleaners & Apparelmaster and even though the business has some customers for life, this is never taken for granted. “It’s about delivering on time, doing things right, and helping our customers to provide a professional and exceptional experience for their own customers. We’re proud to play our part in that.” 0800 807 126 | info@blstringer.co.nz | www.blstringer.co.nz | 61-63 McAlpine St, Wigram BL Stringer is a New Zealand- Owned company established in 1973 to provide quality products and support to the Healthcare and Hospitality industries throughout New Zealand and the Pacific. Our customers include District Health Boards, healthcare providers, motels, hotels, commercial laundries, surgical hospitals and backpackers throughout New Zealand and the Pacific. Health & Aged Care Hospitality Laundry
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