Steven Phillips has been in the drycleaning industry for less than ten years, yet it hasn't taken him long to leave his mark on the Arizona fabricare market.
In that time, Steven has built-up two separate drycleaning operations from scratch and expanded his service to include seven drop stores.
He opened Arizona Custom Drycleaner in 1993, which earned a good reputation quickly, growing to include the accounts of several major resorts in Arizona, including the nationally-recognized Boulders Resort in Carefree.
In 1998, Steven wanted to conquer a new frontier, so he built a separate franchise -- Z Cleaners -- and he became the first drycleaner in the U.S. to incorporate the 24-hour, technologically-advanced Automatic Garment Access Machine (AutoGAM) system.
AutoGAM utilizes a computerized process that sorts garments by a bar code system attached to each piece of drycleaned clothing. The garments are bagged and then placed on a robotic conveyor that stores the clothes until a customer comes and retrieves them using a credit/debit card or Z-Cleaners card.
Not only do customers have the luxury of picking up or dropping off clothing when it is convenient for them, but Z Cleaners is set up so that customers never have to step foot in the store unless they want to.
While other cleaners offer delivery service, Steven feels that the AutoGAM system provides more flexibility for the customer. "This takes the planning out of it for the customer to a large degree. Although there is a market for pick-up and delivery, there is also an element, and probably a very large element, that do not want people coming to the house for pick-up and delivery. They just don't want to be bothered. They would prefer to go to a place that is available to them 24 hours a day. "
Long before Steven wanted to be as technologically-advanced as possible in the drycleaning industry, he was long enthralled with a different kind of machine.
Born in Queens, NY, Steven grew up with a love for fencing and baseball, but he also had higher interests. For Steven, the sky was quite literally the limit.
"I knew, actually, when I was a little kid that I wanted to be a pilot," he recalled.
Steven pursued his boyhood dream by attending the State University of New York - Farmingdale, where he graduated with a two-year degree in Aerospace Technology. While going to school there, he worked for a small airline out of Republic Airport, near Farmingdale.
"I was a lineman," he said. "A lineman fuels and parks aircraft. He provides minimal servicing like fueling and maybe checking the air pressure for the tires and oil for the engines. I loved it."
In his spare time, Steven accrued 80 hours of flying with some private license training. He had wanted to get some "practical" experience to complement his education.
After Farmingdale, Steven sought to earn a B.A. degree, so he surveyed many universities all over the country and opted for Arizona State University. He only needed to step off of the plane to make up his mind. "I arrived in Arizona on a March morning at 9 a.m. and it was absolutely gorgeous. I made my decision before I even went to A.S.U. I really love the heat," he said.
During his studies there, Steven met his future wife, a marketing student named Geralyn. He graduated with an Aeronautical Technology degree in 1982. Right after graduation, Steven joined the Navy out of Phoenix and was sent to a base in Pensacola, FL, where he went through a three-month course at Aviation Officer Candidate School.
After a "tremendous amount of drilling and physical exercise," Steven had the opportunity to fly T-28s. After completing intermediate pilot training, he joined a helicopter squadron and learned how to fly HT-8 helicopters.
"For me, flying is a sense of freedom," explained Steven.
In addition to providing freedom, different aircrafts also provided different challenges. "With a helicopter, you're basically controlling the rotor blades about you that are surrounding the aircraft," he said. "Whereas, when you fly aircraft, you just simply point the aircraft in the right direction and the wings do all of the support. Once you're flying, it likes to keep flying.
"Helicopters are "dynamically unstable." They lose control very easily if they are not flown properly."
Upon graduating an Advanced Helicopter course and flying in a squadron of HT-18s, Steven transferred to Jacksonville, FL, and mastered H-3 helicopters. Then, he served his first tour of duty in Key West.
"I was a search-and-rescue pilot there flying H-3s," recalled Steven. "We would respond to distress signals in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico."
Steven logged approximately 120 missions in two years, earning six life-saving pins for people he had helped rescue. He also spent much of his time in the air helping the U.S. Southern Command look for drug-runners.
Steven described a "typical" rescue mission: "Usually, what we would do is drop a rescue swimmer into the water. We would either lower him down using a cable from about 50 feet or we would actually fly the aircraft about ten feet above the water and he would jump out. Then, we would pull up and hover and wait for him to give us an all-clear signal, and then we would send down a cable to pick him up along with the victim or the survivor."
Next up for Steven was a move to San Diego, CA, to fly SH-60s --the newest anti-submarine warfare aircraft. Shortly after, he started his first squadron and was promoted to lieutenant.
Steven remained on the West Coast for a few more years and left the Navy in 1993 after serving four tours of duty and completing countless training courses. In that time, he also worked as a safety officer and a flight instructor for the Navy. After a while, Steven had spent enough hours at sea and decided that he was ready to change the direction of his life and start his own business.
Steven took some time to figure out what kind of business he wanted to start. At first, he hadn't even considered drycleaning, but he changed his mind after attending several seminars. "The drycleaning and coin laundry industry would keep coming up as industries that were high capital intensive but had the potential to make good money," he said.
He and Geralyn opted to move to Arizona because of the booming economy there and Steven decided to enter the drycleaning industry. He felt that he could make a genuine impact there since the industry was already plagued with a bad reputation.
So, while Geralyn provided a steady income working for Gov. Fife Symington, Steven started Arizona Custom Drycleaner with hopes of achieving better marketing, higher quality and a friendly customer service attitude that couldn't be beat.
"We used the word 'custom' and then we used the word 'drycleaner' as a noun, not only as a verb," Steven said, explaining that he wanted to emphasize to his customers: "We are a drycleaner. This is our profession."
Arizona Custom Cleaner quickly built-up a good reputation for its healthy dose of professionalism. Over the next five years, Steven felt confident that his concept of a drycleaning plant was good, yet he still wanted to aim higher.
"I had a lot of good customers that appreciated us trying to do a good job. But, what I realized, too, is that they did not even know the name of their cleaner. I put all this time and effort into my name and my image, yet, they didn't even know the name."
At the time, he had noticed that the industry standard was to have "cleaners" in shopping center marquee signs and nothing more. Steven thought he should do this, as well, but add something extra that people could latch onto. He opted for a big red "Z."
"Now when people come to my store, they never ask me what to make the check out to. It's Z Cleaners. People instantly recognize the name."
The decision to automate his second plant, Z Cleaners, with the AutoGAM system stemmed from Steve's technology background, combined with the fact that his other plant's main problems involved assembly and racking mistakes, not to mention that, garments were sometimes handed out to the wrong customers.
Steven liked his employees, but they were, after all, only human. "Human beings transpose numbers and get tired. We are a species that does not deal well with quantity and we have thousands of pieces of garments every day."
Steven set forth to tackle that problem with the AutoGAM system at Z Cleaners. Meanwhile, Geralyn took over the reigns of Arizona Custom Cleaner.
"Initially it was rough because we were still learning the system. It was a matter of learning and having our people do the right thing," he said. "Now, it's very smooth. I am so pleased with it. I tell my wife every day that I will never put another store up without automation."
After running for only two years, Z Cleaners already has surpassed Arizona Custom's volume and it even has fewer employees.
Though Steven advocates the use of new technology, he is the first to admit that it doesn't determine success. "After all is said and done, the garments that come over the counter are personal belongings and people attach a lot of feelings to those garments. So, you can be very technologically advanced, but you still have to have that personal touch over the counter. There will always be a very strong market for the neighborhood cleaner that provides the personal touch."
Ann Hargove has been named the executive director of the National Coalition of Petroleum Dry Cleaners (NCPDC).
The coalition was formed in 1997 to serve as an educational and professional association for cleaners who use petroleum solvent. Hargrove, who has been a drycleaner all her life, has been widely known for her work in wetcleaning over the past few years. She will continue to serve as executive director of the Professional Wetcleaners Network.
She was among eight people honored for Meritorious Service to the industry by the International Fabricare Institute last year at the Clean '99 show. Show was recognized for her efforts in educating the industry about wetcleaning. Now she will also be an advocate for petroleum as a viable alternative solvent.
Michael Jones, president of NCPDC and a petroleum drycleaner in Louisville, KY, said "We are very pleased to have someone with Ms. Hargrove's experience in the drycleaning industry helping to run our group."
NCPDC aims to expand its membership to 500 by the next Clean Show and also plans to have a higher profile at trade shows and other industry events.
NCPDC provides a network of industry peers for petroleum drycleaners whose ranks have been growing in recent years. The coalition also represent the concerns of its members to groups within the industry and to government and consumer groups.
Larry Adler, a NCPDC steering committee member and a petroleum drycleaner in Tennessee, said Hargrove "understands what it means to run a drycleaning operation, she understand the importance of alternative solvents to our industry and she has the experience in running an industry group."
Hargrove will operate out of her office in the Chicago area. The address for NCPDC is now P.O. Box 3, Lyons, IL 60534 and the phone number is (708) 447-6430. Hargrove noted that development of a web site for the coalition is among her plans.
Ray Rangwala was named the "Best Dry Cleaner" in the Glendale News Press's annual readers poll.
Rangwala, a member of the California Cleaners Association, owns The Cleaning Store at 1225 N. Pacific Ave. in Glendale, CA.
"We do it right the first time," Rangwala said,. "A happy customer is our best source of new customers and we are proud to be recognized as 'Glendale's Best Dry Cleaner'."
The Cleaning Store makes six promises to its customers: that pure, distilled solvent will be used, that clothing will be odor-free; that the plant is environmentally responsible; that every garment will be prespotted; that clothes will be ready on time; and that broken buttons are never tolerated.
"Apparently, Ray Rangwala has kept his promises," the Glendale News Press wrote in recognizing him as its readers' favorite.
Union Drycleaning Products has moved its North American headquarters to new, larger facilities in Hapeville, GA.
The new location triples the space of the Union facility. New staff has been added and the computer system has been upgraded.
Union USA President Walter Fleischman said the company had experienced growth "unprecedented in the industry" during the past ten years. The expansion will allow the company to continue providing the level of quality and service that distributors and customers have come to expect, he said.
Fleischman the founder of Union Drycleaning Products USA, started in the industry in the early 1960s when he opened a number of "cleaning stations" in Germany. After learning the technology of drycleaning, he began making improvements in the design of the equipment. Eventually he began working for manufacturers of the equipment and got involved in sales of drycleaning machinery world wide.
This was the second expansion for the company since Fleischman established it in the Western Hemisphere 10 years ago.
The new 6,000-sq.-ft. warehouse allows in-house stocking of more machines and the proximity to Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, trucking and rail hubs will help expedite shipments, according to Jack Burnett, Union's general manager.
The Union Parts Department, he added, now offers one of the industry's largest factory OEM stock for Union machines and many other makes and models.
Union's technical manager Vic Williams noted that "We now have an expanded Quality Assurance center with new state-of-the-art equipment which allows us to test more machines and components prior to shipping."
The new "Union University" will provide space for Union factory-certified personnel to educate more Union distributors and drycleaning store owners on the latest technical advances of the company's machines. Williams also said that a new 24-hour tech service hotline has been instituted so Union distributors can contact a technical representative at any time.
The new computer system integrates more information from sales, marketing, distributor support, order processing,m technical, accounting, parts and shopping departments, said Sonya Bratcher, administrative assistant.
"You always talk to a real person at Union," she said. "And that person will have access to more accurate information than ever before."
The new headquarters is located at 10 Southwoods Parkway, Suite 100, Hapeville, GA 30354. The phone number is (404) 361-7775 and the fax number is (404) 361-2454. The company's e-mail address is unionusa@mindspring.com .
Pressed4Time is expanding its pick-up and delivery service to include the residential market.
The company began providing drycleaning, shoe repair laundry and alteration services to people at their places of business 13 years ago and now operates franchises in 34 states, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Procedures for the residential market will be similar to those the company uses in office settings. A convenient pick-up and delivery drop spot is arranged with customers and all items are transported in garment bags twice a week.
Kent Issenberg, chief executive officer of Pressed4Time, said the time is right to expand into the residential market.
"The most recent trend in business is versatility and flexibility. Professional are always on the go and are seen less frequently at the office. This creates a need for a more accessible drop spot, such as their home."
Originally established in California in 1987, the company is now based in Sudbury, MA. More information is available by calling (800) 434-8711 or visiting the web site: www.pressed4time.com.
Thomas L. Monaco has been appointed chief operating office of Multimatic Corp. He brings to the position more than 25 years of management experience in manufacturing, sales and service organizations.
He said his chief responsibility will be to build the company back to its position of prominence in the industry
"Multimatic has always been known for the superior products it delivers to drycleaners, and with the joint effort of our distributor organization, we will again be the dominant supplier in the industry," he said.
The company has instituted rigid quality control standards to assure performance of its equipment in the field. Also, internal computerized systems have been upgraded to provide rapid response to customer inquiries.
Multimatic Corp. maintains its world headquarters at 162 Veterans Dr., Northvale, NJ; phone (201) 767-9660 or fax (201) 767-7037.
Seitz Inc. has increased its field technical representation by adding four new representatives.
Ben Bright, who has been owner and operator of Bright Cleaners in Longview, TX, for the past 14 years, will cover eastern Texas and Louisiana.
Phil Johnson, who started with Standard Uniform Co. in Boston, MA, 23 years ago, will cover the New England territory now that he has joined Seitz. He has a strong background in both laundry and drycleaning.
David (DJ) Wollwage, who has been in the industry for 25 years, will cover California. He has worked for Ajax Supply, Caled Chemical and B & G Lieberman.
Jay Kress, who has 19 years of industry experience, will cover Georgia. He ran a cleaning plant in Florida, then worked for R. R. Street & Co,. Inc. in Atlanta before joining Seitz.
Satec has moved its U.S. headquarters to a new location. The company is now at 6 Chestnut St., Port Monmouth, NJ, 07758. The phone number is (732)787-8601 and the fax is (732) 787-8602.
Lang Houston, president-elect of the International Fabricare Institute and owner of Crest Cleaners in Cocoa, FL, received the :Distinguished Service Award" from the Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. The award recognizes an individual who represents the community in the "highest tradition possible and who is a significant contributor to the community and the cocoa Beach Chamber in time, treasure and talent".
His community involvement includes the Hacienda Girls Ranch Cocoa Youth football, Tiger Touchdown Club, Babe Ruth Baseball, Brotherhood of the Paternal Order of Elks, First United Methodist Church and the City of Cocoa. He served as president of the chamber in 1978.
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