National Clothesline

Firbimatic inaugurated the new manufacturing plant of The FMB Group in September with more than 170 associates from all continents and more than 100 Italian associates from all regions gathered in Sala Bolognese.

The event started with a visit to the Bassi Winery on Friday afternoon with a dinner following that evening.

Gino Biagi and other shareholders officially welcomed the group on Saturday morning. He was followed by Valerio Gatti, who explained the reason for the new investment and its characteristics, Mirco Mongillo, who talked about the technical side and Vincenzo Minarelli, who spoke about marketing and commercial aspects

At the new FMB new plant, after a short official inauguration ceremony visitors toured the new building and examined the newly installed machines, which included a robot for the metal sheet processing. It is able to cut, drill, thread and bend stainless steel sheets up to a thickness of 25 mm.

This not only improves the structure and reliability of the products, but also reduces production time and allows for changing working processes in real time. It also means faster and more flexible organization of all working processes, which allows quicker the delivery times for the machines.

The metal sheet processing robot will be matched with a completely automated six-floor warehouse. The robot system will allow for moving the necessary sheets from the warehouse directly into the metal sheet working line at the touch of a button, or to program a specific and detailed working schedule automatically. The equipment comes with dedicated software which continuously updates the inventory in real time.

After a brunch, a Firbimatic Expo started where attendees were able to evaluate various equipment in operation, including drycleaning machines from Firbimatic and washing machines/dryers, finishing equipment, bagging machines and conveyors and drycleaning shop software.

A dinner concluded the day’s activities and on Sunday there were tours of the nearby city of Ferrara.

Sanitone, a division of Fabritec International, gave its licensees an opportunity to learn and network at its 2004 Sanitone Seminar. Open to all Sanitone licensees, the seminar included one and a half days of meetings and discussions on “hot” topics at the Embassy Suites in Covington, KY. Sanitone also sponsored several social events, including a golf outing and a dinner cruise on the Ohio River. The next Sanitone Seminar will be September 14-16. For information on licensee opportunities in select areas, call (800) 543-0406.

David Dupuis of Clayton Cleaners in Bay City, MI, was elected President of the Michigan Institute of Laundering & Drycleaning (MILD) for 2004-05.

Also elected as officers were Jeff Fetters of Sanitary Cleaners in St. Joseph as president-elect, David Underdown, Jr. of Douglas Cleaners in Birmingham as secretary/treasurer and Leon Puzevic of L & C Puzevic, Inc. of Paw Paw as past president board representative. Rick Fitzpatrick of Pingatore Cleaners, Inc. of Sault Ste. Marie is the new Chairman. Donnelly K. Eurich, CAE, CMP is the association’s executive director.

The Michigan Institute of Laundering & Drycleaning represents fabricare specialists and suppliers and manufacturers of related equipment and supplies in Michigan.

John Kelleher, president of Kelleher Equipment Supply, Inc., announced the signing of an exclusive agreement for North America between Sud-Chemie Adsorbents and Kelleher Equipment Supply, Inc. for the Tonsil 414FF product for use in the drycleaning industry.

Tonsil® 414FF is an environmentally natural powder that is processed for use with drycleaning fluids.

“We are excited to bring this product to market,” said Kelleher. “Tonsil can eliminate distillation, bacteria odors and other chemicals. We have had cleaners using this product for many years with great success. The cleaning is outstanding and the cost savings are significant and it is environmentally friendly.”

For information, contact Kelleher at (800) 842-0188.

Sam Hernandez has been named sales manager at Marvel Petrol Dry.

Hernandez has been with the company as parts manager for the past 11 years and brings an intimate knowledge of Marvel machines and his customer service experience to his new position.

Hernandez can be reached at (210) 344-8551 or by e-mail at shernandez@marvelpetroldry.com.

Arrow Fabricare Services in Kansas City, MO, celebrated its 90th year in business with the grand opening of a new 6,300-sq.-ft. building addition on September 11.

The newly built area quickly filled with equipment needed for the fur and leather processing. A two-story temperature-controlled fur storage vault offers protection for as many as 1,600 coats.

“Hindsight is 20-20” is a phrase that Bruce Gershon, president of Arrow Fabricare, now knows well.

“If everything had hit the planning target, we wouldn’t have had such a rush at the end,” he said.

The addition included installation of Union HL 860 drycleaning machine designed for using GreenEarth Leather Solutions.

“We wanted to provide an alternative to other cleaning methods,” explained Gershon. “The GreenEarth processing does a wonderful job on leathers.”

Two new rotary double-buck shirt units were installed to increase shirt pressing production times, though Arrow continues to offer hand-finished shirts for many customers.

Ken Endrizal, an industrial engineering consultant, provided on-site planning and design for the many work area moves.

“It was literally mission impossible,” he said. “All we had to do was relocate more than 54 pieces of equipment, install two new Unipress rotary double-buck shirt units, a new rotating rail conveyor, a new extra large spray booth, a new Union leather cleaning machine and two Omega reclaimers, two new Unipress 75-lb. dryers, a new 30HP Hurst boiler, a new 60-ton Kleen Rite cooling tower, a new screw compressor, a Hamilton hot water tank, a Unimac 60-lb. Washer — and get everything done in 45 days. No problem!”

Gershon noted that Windel Burton of Burton Installations likened the equipment move to trying to change a valve cover gasket on a car while the engine was running.”

“The real hero of the entire project, though, was Ron Hutson, Hutson Repair Services,” Gershon said. “He’d done it all before…well maybe not to this extent, but no matter what went wrong, he never got upset, he’d just dig in and get it done. There is no way we could have done it without him.”

The next step for the company is building an employee parking lot on land that adjoins the new building that was acquired through a condemnation proceeding. After moving an uninhabited three-story house, the empty land will be graded and paved, fenced, gated, and finished with nursery plantings and trees.

Now that the turmoil has died down, Gershon says the effort was worth doing.

“This project was the third major renovation of Arrow’s property in 19 years and I’ve been involved in each. Now my only problem is that my hindsight needs eyeglasses!”