Abstract: Disclosed is a process for washing dishes, which comprises carrying a rack with dishes to be washed into a downstream dishwasher by a rack carry-in unit; forwarding the rack after completion of washing in the dishwasher to a lifter unit disposed adjacent to the dishwasher with or without the aid of a rack carry-out mechanism; pulling the rack to a predetermined position in the lift by a rack loading device both disposed in the lifter unit; ascending or descending the lift to be positioned adjacent to a necessary pair of brackets of a wagon set to the outlet side of the lifter unit to carry out the rack loaded on the lift onto the pair of brackets; and ascending the lift after completion of carrying out the rack from the rack carry-out position and allowing the tapers, formed in the lift, facing the wagon so as to push the rack fully to a predetermined position in the wagon; and a system for practicing the process; wherein the arrangement of the respective units may be L-shaped or I-shaped, and the rack carry-

Abstract: In a dishwashing system, a dishwashing machine (10) is provided to wash a rack holding thereon tableware in a washing chamber, a wagon (W) is provided to have therein plural stages of horizontal storage shelves in an up-and-down direction, and an elevator (E) is disposed between the wagon and the dishwashing machine. On the elevator (E), a drive control device is provided to move a ramp (56) of the elevator by a driving mechanism (60) toward a position facing to one of shelves of the wagon after the rack has been placed at a reference position of the ramp (56) by way of timing belts (57i) (57l), to drive the timing belts by a timing belt mechanism (57) so as to store the rack onto the shelf, to stop the timing belt mechanism upon completing storage of the rack and to drive the driving mechanism till the ramp reaches the reference position. These operations are repeated by the drive control device.