National Clothesline

Biz Builder Services held a management training seminar, “Developing Management Skills,” for customer service and production managers at the Chateau Elan Resort in Sebring, FL, Jan 18.

Alan Robson, Biz Builder principal and National Clothesline columnist, conducted the full-day seminar that dealt with day-to-day employee issues, including improving service through better communication between departments; reducing costs by installing improved systems and standards; and administering company rules and regulations. Also, each attendee set goals for improving the overall performance of their employer companies.

Biz Builder has developed management training seminars for both owners and employees in 2003. Anyone interested in attending, or having employees attend, a Biz Builder management training seminar can call Robson, (941) 408-8819 or send e-mail to seminars@bizbuilderonline.com.

NIE’s Advisory Committee has voted that 100 percent of its 2002 profits will be returned to policyholders. Most policyholders will receive 15 percent of their premium plus a credit to their subscriber savings account (SSA).

The firm’s profit calculation won't be final until some time this month, but for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2002, that profit was more than $1 million. Dividend checks and SSA credits will be issued in March.

All policyholder with coverage in force on Dec. 31, 2002, will receive a dividend. The dividend percentages are applied to premium earned. For example, a policyholder of two or more years with a 2002 earned premium of $2,000 will receive a dividend in March of $300. Policyholders with fewer than two years of continuous coverage will receive smaller percentages.

All 2002 profit remaining after the dividend will be returned to policyholders as credits to their individual SSAs. The SSA bears interests but is not paid until after the subscriber leaves NIE. At that point, the SSA payments must be approved by insurance regulators.

This is the second consecutive year that the committee has voted to return 100 percent of NIE’s profit.

More information is available by contacting the company by phone at (800) 325 9522; fax (314) 832-6775; e-mail info@nie.biz or on the web at www.nie.biz.

NIE — aka National Fire & Indemnity Exchange — was formed by fabric care businesses in 1915 and is owned entirely by policyholders, who are all fabric care business owner,s and is governed by an elected committee of seven of those owners.

Jim DeSanto is the new national sales manager for Marvel Petrol Dry.

He currently resides in St. Augustine, FL, and will now be responsible for the sales and marketing of Marvel Petrol Dry products in the United States, Canada, and the Islands.

He joined Marvel Manufacturing Co. of San Antonio, TX, in 1994 as east coast sales and marketing manager and was responsible for sales of Marvel products in the eastern United States and Canada.

The son of a Chicago drycleaner, he was raised in a family drycleaning business and attended the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation. He later became an owner and operator of a drycleaning business in Chicago which he sold in 1975.

After that, he spent the five years with a chemical company selling laundry and drycleaning chemicals in the Chicago and northern Illinois markets. During the 1980s and early ’90s, he worked as a sales manager for a manufacturer of cartridge filtration, chemical vapor recovery systems and air purification systems.

Westgate Software of Draper, UT, has arranged to give Zoots Cleaners, based in Newton, MA, restricted license of it SPOT2000 source code, allowing Zoots to use and modify the code for its own internal use.

The source code consists of programming statements created by a programmer with a text editor or visual programming tool and then saved in a file. The files are complied into object code which is usually the form the software takes when purchased by an end user.

Under the license, Zoots is restricted to changing the source code for its internal use only and will not distribute any software outside the company.

Westgate remains unrestricted in the use and distribution of SPOT2000.

“We are a software company and Zoots is a drycleaning company,” said Michael Wilde, president of Westgate. “That’s what each of us does best and this is the best approach for both is us.”

Wilde said that Westgate has been consulting with Zoots for several years, but that Zoots wanted some features and options in the software that the rest of the industry may not need, thus the source code was licensed so Zoots could add the proprietary functions it wanted.

“We feel this arrangement is mutually beneficial to both companies,” said Todd Krasnow, CEO of Zoots. “Zoots now has the resources to be able to create exactly what we need for our company and Westgate can continue to focus their efforts on SPOT2000 for the greater drycleaning industry.”

The Zoots web site is www.zoots.com. Westgate is at www.westgatesoftware.com.

Zoots, based in Newton, MA, was founded in 1998 by Krasnow and Tom Stemberg, featuring door-to-door delivery and convenient store locations. Westgate Software, headquartered in Draper, UT, has been providing software and systems innovations to the drycleaning industry for more than 13 years. The company now has over 3,000 customers in more than 10 counties.

A sales and marketing agreement for the United States has been reached by Massimo Sanvito, export manager of Pony SpA of Italy and Paul Gerling, president and CEO of Hoffman/New Yorker Inc. of Bloomfield, NJ.

Under the agreement, Hoffman/New Yorker is the primary importer and distribution link for the Pony range of finishing systems for the drycleaning and laundry industry.

In making the announcement, Gerling said that “both our companies are world-class producers of non-conflicting products. Combining our resources will give us the opportunity to offer the finest, most technically advanced products to the industry.”

Said Sanvito, “Hoffman, who invented the press, is one of the world’s largest producers of presses and shirt finishing machines whereas Pony is one of Europe’s largest producers of tensioning systems vacuum tables and other related products. We are pleased to have this association as the product line complement each other. Hoffman/New Yorker offers excellent marketing and distribution.”

Hoffman/New Yorker maintains an inventory of machines and spare parts at its Dushore, PA, manufacturing facility. Pony maintains a factory office in Roswell, GA, that will offer support to Hoffman/New Yorker and its customers.

Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems, a manufacturer of tagging and invoicing systems for the laundry and drycleaning trade, announced last month that it has acquired 100 percent of the assets of Advantage Printing Systems located in Central Islip, NY.

The operations of Advantage Printing Systems will be moved into the new Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems facility effective immediately

“This acquisition will not only increase our volume and improve plant efficiencies, but it will allow us the opportunity to forge a stronger partnership with our customers,” said Mike Graham, Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems president. He added that “the customer transition should be seamless as we are dealing with the same customers and the same products.”

Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems and its national sales force markets its own manufactured products through its network of laundry and drycleaning distributors across the United States and Canada. The company specializes in both pre-marked and computer tagging systems for laundry and drycleaners.

The company also makes stock and custom invoicing systems, including snap-sets, continuous, and thermal forms and rolls. It recently introduced a full-line of proprietary stock thermal roll products designed specifically for the laundry and drycleaner. This production line is also capable of low minimum runs and completely custom products.

Previously, Liberty-Pittsburgh Systems announced the acquisition of Business Forms, Inc. of Monongahela, PA.

The acquisitions, Graham remarked, “continue to demonstrate our commitment to the industry and at the same time further extend our production capabilities.”

Washburn Machinery Inc. has relocated to new quarters. The company’s new address is 175 Gaylord St., Elk Grove, IL 60007. Phone numbers are (800) 245-8425 toll-free and (847) 364-9274; the fax number is (847) 364-8105. Washburn also has a satellite office in Iowa located at 5005 Blairs Forest Lane NE, Suite F Cedar Rapids, IA 52402; phone (319) 294-0044; fax (319) 294-5495.