Meet the GBPAP18’s outstanding PTC showcases: C2K Pressing (France)

For the coming period, we will present you week by week, the most outstanding PTC showcases that were officially nominated for The Global Best Practices Awards Program 2018. The profiles of these companies are also present in the WOPCOM platform, which you can access here.

C2K Pressing (France)

An outstanding case of eco-responsible business

C2K-Pressing gathers two dry cleaning shops on Fontenay le Comte, in the South Western part of France. They are eco-friendly cleaning centers that treat clothes, furniture, linens, as well as professional clothing and textiles.

C2K works with state-of-the-art equipment. The washing machines also use the latest cleaning innovation, limiting the environmental impact to the maximum. The detergents are tested in a German laboratory. They are biodegradable and do not cause allergic or irritative toxic reactions. One of the things that sets the French company apart is the declared aim of minimizing the operation’s environmental footprint.

The personnel’s skills are permanently updated, the team being trained in new techniques and new solutions available on the market. A successful business, C2K relies on controlled management costs and a loyalty offer guarantee a fair price. It is high quality service. There are no ‘discount’ or ‘first price’ delivery at C2K-Pressing. Only high quality. The human resource is one of the company’s main assets. The four employees are totalling more than 100 years of seniority in the laundry.

From IT to dry-cleaning, fully committed to excellence and best practices!

IT manager in an industry in a previous life and internal auditor on standards like ISO 9001 or 14001, Cédric Dekeyser took over pressing business having only the basics in management, marketing, industrial processes. He bought two pressing companies where the staff was technically ultra-competent, but without any organization process in place.

A thorough work was done from the beginning with the employees to make the decisions together and change things without becoming obsolete. Actually, not knowing anything about dry cleaning on his arrival, the expertise of staff was crucial in the success of C2K-Pressing. Today, thanks to the staff, the optimization of production and by entering new markets, the results of C2K-Pressing are progressing every year despite the general decline in traditional dry cleaning of formal garments (the primary target of a traditional dry cleaning).

C2K-Pressing press kit which showcases the incredible free publicity after winning the French Best Practices Awards in 2017

Commercial and technological innovation

C2K-Pressing has been chosen by major suppliers to test since new solutions processes, demonstrating outstanding capability in integrating their processes in the daily operation of the company. The business is also using more innovative communication and offers operations innovative marketing (pyjama party, duvet challenge). They offer various complementary services to the usual pressing services (shoes cleaning, motorcycle helmets cleaning) , as well as services aiming several companies and communities (post-disaster cleaning, rental and maintenance of work wear, carpets, etc). The services include analysis, the supply of textiles and training of staff.

Marketing Innovation supporting the sustainability concept

Besides the innovative and playful marketing campaigns (that produce highly interesting results) C2K-Pressing has a documentary system for grouping all procedures, instructions and records is used for 3 years. A repository of methods and good practices is thus accessible (cost analysis for a one-off service, inventory and monitoring the machine park).

Ecology is a fashionable concept today. Many companies discover the environment friendly approach and include it a marketing concept by applying some striking or spectacular measures. This is not the vision of C2K-Pressing. Their aim is not to sprinkle some marketing actions but to have a global and as exhaustive as possible vision of the ecology in the company.

The water management involves the optimization of two points:

  • limit the use of water through the installation of condensers water recovery (gain of nearly 1000 litres per day);
  • avoid discharges of charged water into the collective sanitation system by setting up a dosing system and detergents that are not harmful to the environment.

The lighting of the premises is replaced by LED lighting with presence detectors. The insulation of the operating location is improved in order to reduce the electrical heating requirements. In order to continue to limit the electrical consumption, the clothes and furnishings entrusted by customers are degreased in a dryer and then dried in a room provided for this purpose at controlled temperature.

The (maximum) amount of waste is sorted and sent for recycling. Some wastes are recycled internally, such as can of detergents, which are used as storage. The ultimate waste that has been in contact with certain solvents is removed, collected and treated by a collector approved by the Water Agency. Even the hangers, essential for the day-to-day activity, are neither biodegradable nor recyclable. As the management states: “Bring your hangers back to our stores and you will participate in our effort for the planet. The management and the planet will thank you.”