Thanks to new software, the Husky Express laundry service hopes to quadruple its profits for 2009, said Dominic Coryell, CEO of Husky Express.
The new software, which cost the company roughly $200,000 and has been a few years in the making, will help make student's lives easier through its efficiency, Coryell said.
"The more our company does and the bigger it gets, the more tendency there is for mistake so we are trying to eliminate human error through this new software," Coryell said.
Husky Express, founded by Northeastern alumnus Adam Jacknow in 1999, is a full service laundry and dry-cleaning company. With the help of Bryan Healey, a part time computer science major at Northeastern, the company developed a new way for customers to specify how they want their laundry to be done and track its completion through a website. The website will allow customers to change their personal preferences online.
However, some students said it wasn't the speed that bothered them about the services.
"I don't want other people touching my clothes," freshman nursing major Alex Drao said.
According to an October 15, 2007 article in the Northeastern News, Husky Express has made improvements since its inception. Students living on campus originally picked up their laundry from the front desk at the residence halls. Lockers were installed in several residence halls for students to retrieve their laundry, according to the article said.
Coryell said he and his partners at the company had been in the market for a tracking software for their customers. After attending a number of dry cleaning conferences, Coryell said he found the services other companies were using to be "archaic software" or "glorified ticket printers."
The new software will serve as a tracking suite, Coryell said. Husky Express clients will be able to make detailed requests regarding their clothing, whether it is allergy requests or stain removal, he said, and clients will be able to specify how their dry cleaning should be completed. Once they have placed their order, the new software will allow customers to track their laundry. They will be able to see where it is being cleaned and learn when it is in transit to their home.
Coryell said the software not only aims to simplify the laundry service process, but will hopefully drive down the cost of Husky Express services to students. With the software eliminating extra human channels, labor costs are expected to decrease, which should allow Husky Express to lower its prices, Coryell said. Plans currently range from about $350 to $750, according to the company's website.
The new software will also allow students to purchase the Husky Express services on a monthly basis versus the traditional semester programs that have been offered in the past.
Chelsie Ouellette, a sophomore communication studies major, said the month-to-month system appealed to her.
"Right now I don't really have a need for the Husky Express services, but with the option of monthly plans, it would be practical for when I am on co-op and wearing suits that need dry-cleaning," she said.
Freshman biology major Page Coleman agreed that the monthly plans were a good idea, but said she wasn't sure if she could afford the service.
"Maybe after seeing how often I do my laundry [I would consider it]," she said. "I'm just weighing the expenses right now."
By improving the speed at which orders are processed, leading to a faster turn around, the software will continue the growth that Husky Express has seen during recent years.
"We have doubled in revenue every year since 2004 and hope to continue that growth in the future," Coryell said.
Students and off-campus clientele aren't the only ones taking notice of the new software and improvements at the laundry service. In November, Coryell will be competing at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) in Chicago, where he will present the Husky Express model against 30 other college students' ideas.
Students can find Husky Express at http://www.huskyexpress.com/
- Staff writer Michael Napolitano contributed to this report.
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