Meet the GBPAP18’s outstanding PTC showcases: Fornet – China; winner of the Overall Best Practice Award 2018 RTC

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.

Beijing Fornet Laundry China – The Overall Best Practices Award at GBPAP18 – Retail Textile Cleaning

Where customer satisfaction is the goal

Ever since the foundation of the company in 1997 in Beijing, China, Fornet Laundry Services has been aiming to provide quality dry cleaning and laundry services at reasonable prices. After more than twenty years of hard work and dedication, the company now boasts more than 1’500 outlets, (both cleaning locations and dropoff
points) spread over 300 cities across 31 provinces and municipalities in China. Customers can count on Fornet Laundry Services to offer a large variety of textile care services, from classic dry cleaning and washing to the cleaning of interior decoration items and the maintenance of leather items. At Fornet Laundry, customer satisfaction isn’t just one of the many performance indicators, it’s the objective. The company is constantly looking for ways to make the use of its services even more convenient for its customers.

These measures range from the development of a mobile application to facilitate laundry management, to the setting up of automatic drop-off points and a reliable pick-up and delivery service. Everything is aimed towards making it easier for every customer to manage his or her laundry needs and wishes. With a leading position in the industry such as the one that Forney Laundry Services holds in China also come a lot of responsibilities, especially in regard to the environment. From investing in the latest, most efficient washing machines with set programs for different types of textile to regular inspections and maintenance by experts to strict policies regarding the handling of goods and the correct handling of waste, Fornet actively seeks to make its organisation more sustainable throughout. Thanks to its size and success, the  company has an exemplary position in the domestic textile care industry when it comes to the promotion of environmental-friendly operations and processes.

One of Fornet Laundry’s locations, seen from the outside

The best customer is a satisfied customer 

There is only one way in which a company like Fornet Laundry Services can grow from a start-up in 1997 into a nation-wide network of textile care outlets consisting of more than 1’500 locations: by offering high-quality services. In combination with an efficient organisation and reliable cleaning results throughout the network, the company has been able to build up a loyal customer base across the country in just over twenty years. Add to that the fact that each outlet offers a comprehensive set of textile services, from classic laundry cycles to the care and restoration of delicate items, and it becomes even clearer why so many people in China trust Fornet with their laundry.

Over recent years, Fornet has also taken the step to the online world. On the company website, customers can get directly in touch with Fornet through an integrated chat system, to start with. Besides that, the company also has an app that can be downloaded by customers and used to make their laundry management even easier. Through this digital platform, customers can keep track of the status of their laundry order, check their order history, and access customer satisfaction surveys. Fornet can then quickly collect this information and use it to identify fluctuating customer needs and wishes. The fact that Fornet offers its customers a network of more than 1’500 outlets across the country is a great convenience, but the company went a step further. Every day of the week, hundreds of transport vehicles are providing Fornet customers anywhere with a fast and reliable pick-up and delivery service. This is especially convenient for those people who can’t or don’t want to visit one of the Fornet outlets to have their textile care needs addressed.

Fornet operates an omni-channel model with delivery, lockers and apps besides their regular shops

Success with an emphasis on the environment
Apart from working with state-of-the-art equipment, all of the machinery used by Fornet Laundry Services is overhauled once a year for a thorough inspection. Vulnerable pieces like gaskets and pipe fittings are usually replaced during these planned maintenance routines to ensure that operating the machinery concerned remains safe and as efficient as possible. On top of that, the company also plans for routine maintenance cycles, based on a extensive manual with which all employees and franchisees need to be familiar. As part of its efforts to become a sustainability leader in the industry, Fornet has passed the cleaner production project, which is organised by the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. A major reason for this achievement is the efficient way in which Fornet consumes water, power, and solvents. Using  different digital washing programs for different types of textile, mounting automatic detergent dispensers and water softeners, and using only well-reputed products from recognized brands are just a few of the efforts Fornet is making to reduce the negative effects of its operations on the environment.
Finally, the company also pays close attention to its recycling efforts. The warm coming from the dry cleaning cooling systems, for instance, is collected in water tanks, distilled, and made ready for disposal, all internally. Residues are transported to a professional waste management facility, which is operated by a company directly linked to the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. Thanks to its dedication to the environment and a greener future, Fornet Laundry Services has become a reference for sustainability in the Chinese textile care industry.

After the extraordinary result at GBPAP18, Ms. Zhu Lijun, General Manager of the Fornet company told CINET: “We were so surprised and honored to have these two great awards by Cinet in Milano. It was such a wonderful chance to learn from the other companies with the best practices in the industry all over the world. We are so lucky to have such a good and huge market in China. The world is changing, China is changing and we want to chang too. We have a lot of things to do for the Better and will try our best. Thank CINET for what they have done for the development of the industry. We have been learning a lot from CINET.”

 

Fornet Laundry Services’ outstanding performance was covered extensively in the Chinese media, with an impressive reach