Newsmakers

Joel Franklin Joins AMA

AMA Group S.p.A. has appointed Joel Franklin (seated in photo) as executive vice president of the AMA United States subsidiary. Franklin brings to AMA Group more than 20 years experience, covering key positions in various companies in the

drycleaning industry, said Lino Carrer, CEO of AMA Group S.p.A. (pictured standing next to Franklin). Most recently he served as national sales manager for Realstar USA.

In addition to his role as executive vice president, he will be the worldwide product manager for marketing and distribution of drycleaning machines especially designed for use with PureDry high flash point drycleaning solvent.

AMA Group, headquartered in Bologna, Italy, manufactures drycleaning machines consisting of brands such as AMA Universal and Suprema. Both brands feature a range of machines compatible with perc, hydrocarbon and silicone based solvents.

“AMA Group has the experience and resources to build the perfect drycleaning machine,” Franklin said. “Today, the company has invested in the marketing and administrative personnel to brand their trademarks, build their distribution channels and grow their business. AMA recognizes the potential of the drycleaning industry and the importance of investing in new technology and strategic partnerships.”

PureDry, a patent-pending, environmentally-friendly, biodegradable, quick-drying, high flash point, enhanced hydrocarbon solvent, was developed by Niran Technologies and PureDry Systems, Inc. utilizing 3M technology. The 3M additives elevate the drycleaning ability of the solvent, accelerate the drying, raise the flash point, and increase the environmental and safety levels of the solvent. PureDry is commercially available with PureDry drycleaning machines built by AMA Universal.

Medlin to head Realstar’s US sales

Tom Medlin has been named national sales manager for Realstar Inc. as part of that company’s reorganization. Medlin has over 20 years of industry experience in drycleaning machine sales, most recently serving as national sales manager for Multimatic. In his new position, Medlin will be responsible for all Realstar product sales and marketing in North America, including distributor network development and sales promotion. He will operate out of his Connecticut-based office and can be reached at (888) 822-7827. Realstar is a worldwide manufacturer of drycleaning equipment for perc, hydrocarbon and other alternative solvent applications.The company’s web site is www.realstar.it

Quarles to lead LSG North America

Fred C. Quarles has been appointed senior vice president of distributor sales for

North America for LSG North America. He will be responsible for distributor sales of IPSO USA, Cissell Manufacturing and Jensen USA products to the on-premise laundry, industry, textile rental and institutional laundry markets.

With the addition of IPSO washer-extractors and Cissell dryers to its line of Jensen products and systems, LSG North America offers a complete range of laundry equipment from the smallest washers to the largest tunnel washers and textile handing and finishing equipment.

Quarles will work with distributor Dan Halpin in the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states; Mike Fullerton in the Southeast; Dave Diemont in the West; and Scott Voldbeck in the Midwest. Koen Vancampenhoudt handles export sales to Mexico, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. Sales to the coin laundry industry remain the responsibility of Bob Eisenberg, senior vice president of North American coin sales. He will be assisted by regional managers Fred Sunman and John Dulapa.

The company may be reached by phone at (803) 548-8127 or (800) 872-4776, or fax, (803) 548-8129.

New board members for CLA

Three new Coin Laundry Association board members began their three-year terms on Jan. 1

Bill Gilbert, a distributor member from South Carolina, has served in various capacities in the industry over the past 20 years. He currently is co-owner and president of Service Laundry Machinery Corp., in Belton, SC. Prior to entering the laundry industry, he was a detective in the homicide and armed robbery division of the Richland County sheriff’s Department in South Carolina.

Tom Given, president of Given Enterprises and a partner in a laundry chain in Dallas and El Paso, TX, was elected to the board in the store owner category. Before entering the coin laundry industry, he owned an office products company. At one time was an auditor for Ernst & Young.

The new member representing the manufacturer category is Jay McDonald, national sales manager to the Speed Queen Division of Alliance Laundry Systems in Ripon, WI. He has held a variety of positions with Speed Queen since 1979 and has been the national sales manager for the past five years.

Outgoing board members include Jeff Deal, Sumner Greenberg and Lamar Thomas.

Deal, president of Hamilton Engineering, served on the board as a manufacturer member for nine years. Greenberg, an owner/operator from the Boston area, has been a CLA member for over 40 years and received the association’s Founder’s Award in 1995. Thomas, president of T&L Equipment of North Carolina, has been a CLA member since 1977 and received the association’s Leadership Award in 1985 and 1987, and the Service Award in 1993. He will continue to serve the industry in the capacity of vice president of the North Carolina Coin Laundry Association.

CLA’s 21-member board includes store owners, distributors and manufacturers who serve in a voluntary capacity as the policy-making arm of the association. CLA’s headquarters are in Downers Grove, IL. The association can be contacted by phone at (630) 963-5547 or on the web at www.coinlaundry.org.

Fitzpatrick joins Kreussler

Richard Fitzpatrick has joined the technical sales team of Kreussler Inc. and will cover the New England, New York, Delaware and New Jersey territory.

Fitzpatrick, who lives in Keene, NH, is a second-generation drycleaner. He ran the family perc and hydrocarbon plant from 1988 until the summer of 1999. He previously sold Kreussler products in the United States for a year and a half before joining Miele as territory manager for wetcleaning and special applications.

Union adds DC distributor

District Equipment Supply of Washington, DC, has been a distributor for Union Drycleaning Products USA. Pictured from left are Frank Emanuele of District Equipment, Carol Williams of Williams Engineering, Jim Carroll, Union’s national sales manager, and Larry Langton of District Equipment Supply. District Equipment can be reached by phone at (202) 723-7616 or fax at (202) 723-7639.

IFI extends office hours

In an effort to be more accessible to members, the International Fabricare Institute has expanded its weekday office hours by one hour per day.

Previously, the office hours were 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Now the association will be open a half hour earlier and a half hour later — from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

IFI believes that the extended business hours will give members, particularly those who are not on Eastern Time, a better opportunity to contact IFI personnel for information.

The IFI phone number is (800) 638-2627.

Ecolab restructures laundry division

Ecolab announced that it has restructured its laundry business to better align its sales organization with the needs of customers.

“Ecolab has had two separate sales organizations serving the laundry industry since 1987 when Ecolab acquired several companies to form the Textile Care Division,” says Doug Baker, senior vice president, Institutional Division. “Laundry size was a key factor in determining which sales organization serviced a customer. But with so many technological advances in the industry and a higher demand for specialized service, we saw a need for our sales organization to be segmented by laundry market rather than laundry size.”

The Textile Care Division will now focus its sales and R&D resources exclusively on the needs of “for-profit” laundries: commercial laundries and shirt laundries. Leading the division is recently appointed vice president and general manager Jim Franklin. A 24-year Ecolab veteran, Franklin has served in many management capacities, most recently as vice president of Ecolab’s Latin America business.

Textile Care’s Commercial Laundry Specialists (CLS) are trained specifically for the challenges of commercial laundries, such as extreme soil removal and energy-saving wash formulas with increased efficiency. Product development will have a similar focus. In the past months, for instance, the Textile Care Division has introduced a new category of laundry chemical for commercial laundries, TurboFleXtraTM Visco-conditioner. This product captures the key benefits of both a powder and liquid conditioner, resulting in a 15% improvement in cleaning and whiteness performance.

Textile Care Shirt Laundry Specialists will provide service to shirt laundries that buy Ecolab product through distributors. Ecolab’s EXEC 120º line of low-temperature products was developed specially for this market to minimize fabric damage and reduce energy costs.

The Institutional Division will service all on-premise hospitality, healthcare and institutional customers.

“Since the Institutional Division was primarily serving on-premise laundries, product development was approached differently than for commercial laundries,” says Baker. “Our solids technology and compact liquid systems were introduced for space savings and employee ease of handling. While these offerings have been very successful, Institutional Territory Managers can now offer larger hospitality and healthcare laundries a broader line of products, including technology developed by the Textile Care Division.”

The changes will be transparent for most customers, Baker said, adding that “both divisions will draw on Ecolab’s corporate technology and talent to maintain and build their respective leadership positions in the market.”

Ecolab is a global developer and marketer of premium cleaning, sanitizing, pest elimination, maintenance and repair products and services for the hospitality, institutional, food and beverage, and industrial markets. The company’s web site is www.ecolab.com and the phone number is (800) FACT-ECL.

TRSA takes new offices

The Textile Rental Services Association of America has consolidated its Florida and Washington, DC, offices into a single location near Reagan National Airport in Alexandria, VA. The new contact information for TRSA is: 1800 Diagonal Rd., Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314; phone (703) 519-0029; fax (703) 519-0026.

New name for ASTM

ASTM, a voluntary standards development organization, has changed its name to ASTM International to reflect the global application and use of ASTM standards. The organization has headquarters in West Conshohocken, PA. Its web address is www.astm.org.