National Clothesline

Angie Miller and Lesa Myres, both executives at Cincinnati’s Appearance Plus Cleaners, received STAR Awards for 2004 for their work in promoting and coordinating a donation program with Assistance League.

Appearance Plus and its 10,000 customers joined Miller and Myres in providing personal care products for use in Assistance League’s assault survivor and domestic violence project. Over two months, Appearance Plus collected several thousand toiletry items for kits prepared and distributed by Assistance League to Greater Cincinnati hospitals and shelters dealing with victims of assault and rape.

“Our customers can be proud that they have played a key role in helping and making a difference in the lives of their fellow Cincinnatians and of the efforts made by Angie and Lisa,” Appearance Plus COO Jon Lindy said. “Appearance Plus strives to be involved in our communities and assist others when they need it — from collecting coats and blankets to recycling poly bags. We encourage nonprofit organizations to contact us with fund-raising ideas.”

“Their generosity, philanthropic spirit and vision of how they wanted to help others make Angie Miller and Lesa Myres ideal candidates for the STAR 2004 Award,” said Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati President Audrey Stehle. “The fact that Angie and Lesa wanted to incorporate Appearance Plus Cleaners customers in the program is amazing and really made the effort successful.”

This is the second year the STAR Awards have been presented by Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati. Miller and Myres are two of the six 2004 recipients selected by the Assistance League of Greater Cincinnati Board. Other employees of Appearance Plus who volunteered for this project were Teresa Lucas, Shauna Mearkle, Laura Condo and John Curso.

John Mertes, the general manager at Ziker Cleaners, has been named Tailwind Systems’ Manager of the Year.

Don Desrosiers of Tailwind Systems presents the honor to a manager who best personifies excellence in the administration and management of the Tailwind System.

“This is never an easy choice,” Desrosiers said. “I meet all sorts of managers in my travels. Many of them rise to the occasion when they have Tailwind procedures presented to them. Some shine when in the past they hadn’t.”

Mertes started working with Ziker Cleaners in December 1988. After a stint in the Air Force and a brief career in insurance sales, he was hired to open and manage a new package plant. After several years in that position, he was transferred to the position of drycleaning manager at Ziker’s large central plant, which serviced 12 dry stores and was a back-up for two package plants. Production ceased at those two plants and was brought back into the main plant.

“John was able to grow in both knowledge of management in our industry and soon took over general management of both our drycleaning and laundry production,” said Dave Fischgrund, owner of Ziker Cleaners.

Currently he manages a staff of about 36 people who process and assemble clothes for 11 dry stores and four residential routes.

Mertes’s accomplishments in the past year are especially notable. In the fall of 2003 he, Fischgrund and David Ziker set out to remodel and retool the large central plant almost totally without disruption of production. The first order of business was to install four new Ajax rotary double bucks tied in with the Tailwind System for shirt assembly. These four rotary units replaced seven Ajax single-buck Classics. Prior to the Tailwind Shirt System going live, all assembly for shirts and drycleaning was done in the stores by the store staff. In early January 2004 Tailwind for shirts went online.

Soon a new Leonard steam tunnel was installed where eight pant units had been and five new Sankosha legger-topper pant units were installed nearby. A new White drop conveyor was installed to move clothes from the tunnel to the pressers and out to final inspection.

By mid-March with these moves in place and seeing the success of the Tailwind Shirt System, Ziker Cleaners decided to finish all off the plant conversion with installation of Tailwind for Dry Cleaning.

Desrosiers was contacted in mid-September 2004 and now all assembly is being done in the plant for 15 locations.

“John was part of the decision process and saw the big picture all along,” Fischgrund said. “Instead of resisting these changes, he embraced and drove them. With Tailwind for shirts and drycleaning, along with the other equipment and workflow changes in place, we now have a plant in which all work flows forward in small manageable batches. Costs are more in line and production is much more efficient. One other positive by-product of these changes was a more team-oriented work environment in a plant that is represented by a union.”

“Ziker Cleaners is almost unrecognizable compared to what it looked like when I first visited on October 2003,” Desrosiers said. “John’s world has been turned upside down, but he never fussed, resisted or looked back. He accepted the challenge and now feels the exhilaration of victory.”

PICTURE WITH CAPTION: Pictured from left are Jerry Kotacka, general manager; Don DeLavergne, drycleaning sales engineer; Christine Davis, sales and purchasing coordinator; Jack Wilson, Georgia sales engineer; Kim Griggs, office manager; Matt Stephenson, president and CEO; Jeannette Stephenson, Matt’s wife; Karen Mosely-Duffett, used equipment broker and Chris Duffett’s wife; Chris Duffett, vice president of sales.

Tri-State Technical Services has replaced Wink Davis as the official exclusive full-line distributor for Milnor, Chicago and American Dryer for the states of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Southern Virginia.

When founded in 1995 by Matt Stephenson, president and CEO, the distributorship covered Georgia and Florida. Chris Duffett, vice president of corporate sales, joined Tri-State in 1998 and will continue to manage all four states for the laundry and drycleaning divisions. Christine Davis continues as sales coordinator and purchasing manager for the corporate office.

In addition to the corporate office facility in Waycross, GA Tri-State has added facilities Atlanta, GA, and Charlotte, NC. Many former Wink Davis Co. employees have joined Tri-State, including seven service technicians, for a full complement of fifteen full-time factory trained technicians.

Several parts specialists have joined Tri-State, including Diana Anthony of the Charlotte location and Vince Morgan at the Atlanta location, both formerly of Wink Davis Equipment. Another parts specialist, Chester Rick, has been added to the Waycross facility, along with Darren Roberts and Tim Sears.

In Charlotte two former Wink Davis sales engineers, Prescott Spigner of the Virginia and North Carolina territory, and Barry Spiezman, covering South Carolina, are on board. In addition, Janet Huneycutt will offer expertise in sales support. A new sales engineer will covers the Southern Virginia territory as of Jan. 1.

In sales and support, Charlie Morris and Janice Ayers will join forces with Georgia sales representative Jack Wilson. Morris will join Wilson in sales engineering for Georgia, and Ayers will support the sales/service and parts portion of business as vice president of business development.

AUTOCAD design and drawing services will continue to operate out of the corporate Waycross facility.

Many in the industry may recognize the company name as either Tri State Technical Services or Unitec, but the company has chosen to operate as Tri State Technical Services in Georgia, and operate under the trade name of TLC (Tri-State Laundry Companies) in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia

Drycleaners representing eight regions of Canada from Montreal to Calgary completed a week-long training session in Michigan and launched their textile restoration businesses as part of the Certified Restoration Drycleaning Network (CRDN).

CRDN is an international organization of textile restoration specialists that works with insurance adjusters, contractors and contents cleaning companies to help homeowners recover from accidents and disasters.

“After three years of growth in the U.S., followed by similar success in the United Kingdom, we were able to further expand our brand and establish a significant presence covering half of Canada,” said Wayne Wudyka, CRDN’s CEO.

Successful completion of the training program, encompassing classroom presentations and hands-on experience in the field, is mandatory before a drycleaner can begin working as a CRDN representative. Members of the CRDN home office team representing operations, IT, sales and marketing, covered all aspects of the CRDN system and provided a solid basis for the new operators.

“Each person in the training class spent a significant amount of time gaining a real working knowledge of how the process works on a loss site,” said Nancy Grott, CRDN’s Director of Training. “As a result, they are able to return to their business and train their staff accordingly.

“To supplement the hands-on experience, we provided materials that were customized for each Canadian province, taking into consideration details such as bi-lingual requirements, government regulations and workers comp issues,” said Grott.

“While our business involves restoring clothing and other fabric items affected by fire, smoke, water or mold, we also have an opportunity to help insurance companies save time and control severity,” Wudyka said. “Beyond that, we have an incredible responsibility to homeowners who are dealing with difficult circumstances.”

CRDN is an international organization of drycleaners who specialize in insurance restoration laundry and drycleaning services for all types of loss.

CRDN operates in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. The organization’s Web site is www.CRDN.com, and claims assignment can be made across the U.S. by calling (888) DryClean. In Canada, the web address is www.CRDN.ca; the toll-free call center is, (866) 897-CRDN.