National Clothesline

Bob Eisenberg has been appointed executive vice president, sales and marketing, of Advanced Laundry Systems and will be responsible for all sales, marketing and sales

administration for the company’s lines of coin-operated and commercial laundry equipment.

Eisenberg has more than 25 years of industry experience. For the past 12 years he was a senior vice president, sales and marketing, with a major manufacturer of commercial laundry equipment. Prior to that, he founded and headed a company that provided financing to the laundry and drycleaning industry. He had also held senior sales management positions with major companies supplying laundry and drycleaning equipment.

He also serves on the board of directors of the Coin Laundry Association where he holds the position of vice chairman.

Under the IPSO of NY/LaunderCenter name, Advanced Laundry Systems has been a distributor of commercial laundry equipment in the New York metropolitan area. The company’s territory was recently expanded to include New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.

Recently, Advanced Laundry Systems was named exclusive distributor in the expanded territory for the complete line of IPSO washer-extractors as well as for Jensen ironers, feeders and folders and the Jensen lines of heavy duty laundry products. Dennis Gonzalez is president of the company.

Advanced Laundry Systems has offices in New York and New Jersey. Eisenberg will also maintain an office in Philadelphia, PA.

Colmac Industries, Inc. of Colville, WA, has acquired all the assets and continuing operations of Count On Us Corp. of Kansas City, MO.

Colmac manufactures laundry and drycleaning finishing equipment, including tunnel finishers capable of processing thousands of garments per hour, automated garment presses, hangering and conveyor systems, and heat pump water heaters for the concurrent production of cool dehumidified air and hot water.

Count On Us Corp. manufactures the Accucounter® vacuum soil-counting systems and light-frame counters. In addition, its multi-frame bulk-counting system allows for substantial efficiency gains in hospital and hotel laundry operations.

Colmac president Scott McMillan plans to retain all employees and integrate the company into his organization, bringing enhanced customer support for Count-On-Us products and the integration of new technologies across several product lines.

Colmac Industries web site is www.colmacind.com and Count On Us Corp. is at www.coucorp.com.

Cynthia Schillig, national training director for the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists (AWGS), held the first training seminar for 16 members of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists at her all-new facility in Gahanna, OH.

The class devoted two days to learning about gown care, including a review of gown cleaning procedures, identification of problem gowns, and special treatment for vintage gowns. Segments on marketing stressed communicating effectively with brides and featured strategies for developing comprehensive advertising programs.

Schillig said the program is designed to meet the special needs of new AWGS members, but long-standing members may also send managers and staff to the sessions.

“Members of our association meet in February in a different city each year, but this new program gives our new members and staff immediate access to hands-on training in both operations and marketing,” said Schillig. “This first session was a learning experience for everyone, and we’ll be adding even more specialized segments to the course based on comments from this first class.”

Those attending included Pete Rountree and Robin Hall of Southern Laundry and Dry Cleaners in Swainsboro, GA; Randall Bishop and Mohomad Khabrane of Bibbentuckers in Dallas, TX; Alan Peatross and Dennis Remavich of Shores Fine Dry Cleaning in Greensboro, NC; and Ken Grippi of Dependable Cleaners in Quincy, MA.

Also attending were Diana Meades and Julie Moynihan of Barth’s Cleaning Centre in Orangeville, Ontario; Kori Krolikowski and Debbie Guyer of Clothes Call Restoration in Crofton, MD; Michael Johnson of Fashion Care in Atlanta, GA; Alex Kim of Swiss Cleaners in Riverside, CA; Bruce Baldwin of Time Capsule Heirloomers in Austin, TX; Bailey and Dan Dempsey of Twin City Cleaners in Winston-Salem, NC; and Dan Brodman of The Kimmel Corporation in Upper Sandusky, OH.

Schillig conducts the sessions at her own state-of-the-art facility, Clothing Care, where she processes hundreds of gowns each year. She served as president of the AWGS from 1992-1995 and is currently a member of the board of directors.

She also served on the board of directors of the Ohio Cleaners Association from 1997-2001 and is a past president of the Columbus Drycleaners Association. Schillig is also a member of Rotary International and a past governor of Toastmasters.

AWGS is a not-for-profit trade association with members located across the United States and Canada and in Australia. Each member honors the guarantee of every other member, which includes taking the gown out of the container and pressing it at no charge when the gown is to be worn again.

For brides outside of market areas with local service, the association offers AWGS Courier Service, which makes the association’s trademarked MuseumCare gown preservations available via both telephone and the Internet.

More than 70 specialty gown manufacturers currently recommend MuseumCare preservations, which are also endorsed by the Association of Bridal Consultants and by National Bridal Service.

For more information, call the association, (800) 501 5005.

Frank Rowe has joined R&B Wire Products as vice president of sales and marketing. With experience in sales and marketing in the health care industry, Rowe will join a management team including Christine Arakaki, vice president of finance and administration and Steve Venti, vice president of operations & manufacturing.

R&B Wire Products is a manufacturer of wire, tubular and steel related products for the coin, commercial and private laundry sectors. R&B also has a line of products that cater to the hospitality, health care and material-handling sectors, including linen carts, utility carts, resident item carts, garment racks, UPS/FedEx-able bushel trucks, poly trucks and a diversified line of quality hamper products. The company’s web site is at www.rbwire.com.