Incirlik fabric care facility goes green, saves money

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Heather Stanton
  • 39th Air Base WIng Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey --  The 39th Services Squadron fabric care facility has designed many machines that are environmentally friendly and save the Air Force money. 

Incirlik's fabric care facility is one of three such Air Force-owned facilities and sets the example to reach out to other resources to save money and the Earth. 

The facility's mechanic, Bedir Tanir, redesigned an old dry-cleaning machine that used an environmentally harmful solvent banned by the Air Force, turning it into one that uses a safe solvent. 

"Our dry cleaning machine was converted into an environmental friendly one this past winter for $15,000 in parts," said 2nd Lt. Kandis Sallustio, 39 SVS Combat Support Flight commander. "If this conversion was not accomplished, the laundry plant would have been forced to purchase a new dry cleaning machine for $75,000. We were able to save the Air Force $60,000 and help protect our Earth." 

Other inventions Mr. Tanir has developed are a hanger-making machine and a carpet rinsing and drying machine, both of which were made out of salvaged parts, said Zafer Cetindemir, 39 SVS fabric care facility manager. 

"By taking advantage of parts that could be found at the Defense Reutilization Marketing Office and putting them toward a creative invention, the fabric care facility has saved about $10,000 on the hanger making machine alone," said Lieutenant Sallustio. "In addition to this, they have increased business with the carpet machine and drastically cut down labor costs when compared to manually cleaning carpets." 

Though these inventions may seem like they could have taken years to build, Mr. Tanir admitted each one didn't take very long. 

"It took me one month to modify the dry-cleaning machine, two months to make the carpet machine and three months to make the hanger machine," said Mr. Tanir, who has worked at the fabric care facility for more than 23 years. 

The carpet rinsing and drying machine saves time, and therefore money, by making the turn-over time quicker, said Mr. Centindemir. 

"It used to take at least five days to dry a carpet," he said. "With this machine, it only takes two. We get more business because of how quickly we return the carpets." 

The machine works by winding a carpet around a beam and securing it. The machine then spins the carpet at a high speed, removing all excess water, similar to the spin cycle on a washing machine. 

The hanger-making machine can produce 240 hangers an hour at six cents a piece, rather than buying the hangers from an outside source at 12 cents a piece, said Mr. Centindemir. The Air Force saves 50 percent on hangers that are stronger and more reliable. 

The hanger machine takes wire from a roll, cleans it, cuts it, and then bends and manipulates the wire into a hanger, all just by pushing the start button. 

The fabric care facility cleans an average of 60,000 items per month and has been known to go as high as 100,000 items, said Mr. Centindemir. 

"The fabric care facility employees are setting the example for everyone that works for the United States Air Force," said Lieutenant Sallustio. "They have taken a step back to look at how to cut costs and done an amazing job of implementing innovative ideas in order to do so."