Nearly 50 years of Industry experience

Laundry & Textiles Consultancy, Technical and Training Services is owned by Ian Harris who has been actively involved on a day-to-day basis in the Laundry, Textiles and Drycleaning Industry since 1964.

1962 - 1974 (UK)

Ian's first experience in the laundry industry was as a young student aged 14 years in 1962 working during the school holidays in Lambert’s Laundry, Deal, Kent which his uncle managed.

After taking the British Launderers Research Association (BLRA) 2 month full time course at Hendon in January 1964, Ian joined the Ilford Laundry Group (A 5 Star Domestic and Contract Laundry), as a Trainee Manager.

During the following 10 years – which included 1 year (1969) with Brooks at Bristol to learn the principles of Linen Hire and Textile rental – Ian worked his way through every job in both the Laundry and Drycleaning factories as well as taking every Business Management and Technical course offered by the Association of British Launderers and Cleaners (ABLC) in Lancaster gate.

During this period he managed the drycleaning factory (Coronet Cleaners), to ultimately become the General Manager of the Ilford Laundry Group branch at Thorpe Bay, Essex.

1974 - 1992 (UK / South Africa)

Ian then joined Procter & Gamble in 1974, and spent the next 7 years with them, before being invited to join the largest textile rental organisation in sub-Saharan Africa - Steiner Textile Rental Services, in, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ian spent the first 2 years as the Systems, Operations and Methods Technical Manager for the group. He then took over as the General Manager for Steiner in Durban for the following 2 years before being invited to join Hudson & Knight (Lever Industrial - part of the Unilever group of Companies). During his tenure at Hudson & Knight, Ian looked after the Industrial Fabric washing division, before taking over as the company Training Manager.

1992 - 2000 (South Africa)

In January 1992 Ian formed his own independent technical and training consultancy service (SDML Consultancy and Training), which included taking on the franchise to represent the Fabric Care Research Association – UK (FCRA) in Southern Africa.

During this time SDML worked closely with the South African Bureau of Standards to help upgrade a number of the SABS standards as well as re-writing and extending the scope of the SABS 0146. Work was also undertaken with the council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) with a major contribution to a number of CSIR publications.

2000 - 2003 (Saudi Arabia)

In early 2000 Ian relocated to Saudi Arabia to take over as the Laundry Manager at the King Faisal Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh.
He was then promoted to Head of Environmental Services (with over 700 employees) to manage Housekeeping, Laundry, Grounds Cleaning, Pest Control and Waste Management and participating on a number of committees to set the standards for the Gulf region.

2003 - 2012 (UK)

From May 2003 Ian returned to the UK to continue his laundry and drycleaning technical and training consultancy work before merging his business interests with the Laundry Technology Centre and forming LTC&DTC Limited in October 2005.

During the following 7 years the business steadily grew, 2 new consultants were engaged, and a wide range of generic and bespoke technical and training programmes were developed.

One of the most successful training courses provided was the 1 day Textile Seminar – which was presented to more than 200 delegates in both the UK as well as in South Africa.

2012 and beyond (South Africa)

It was due to the major success of the seminar in South Africa – which was organised by Triple M Andrew – a major supplier to the laundry and drycleaning indutry in South Africa – and pressure from a number of key role players in the South African market place that, with effect from September 2012, Ian returned to South Africa, to form LTC&DTC South Africa.

Testimonials

"I have known Ian for about 10 years from his time working in the UK. I am still in touch with Ian now he is in South Africa. At all times I have found Ian engaging, knowledgable and thoughtful. However, he offers much more than this: His experience and expertise across several laundering activities and textile manufacturing make Ian a ‘must’ when addressing any start-up issue, on-going issue, or just anyone wrestling with problems setting a laundry, dry cleaning or even hotel operation. If one wants to achieve excellence in these feilds, then Ian Harris is a man one needs to deal with…simple. Ian’s depth and breadth of knowledge is unrivalled in my opinion; the manner in which Ian addresses all of the issues that come his way is also what sets him apart. In a world of miss-communication and miss-information, Ian Harris rises above the chaos and offers simple, straight-foreward, accurate and proven advice. If I were setting up a laundry or dealing with a textile issue my first port of call would be Ian Harris."

- Mark Shotton