National Clothesline

Methods for Management’s “Down Under: Success ‘06 Conference” in Adelaide, Australia, kicked off with an evening reception where everyone got a chance to meet and share “Down Under” travel experiences they had in New Zealand and Australia.

Deborah Rechnitz (foreground in picture), Managing Director of MFM, said the main purpose of of the October conference was to introduce MFM clients to the “plant of the future” and help them take a comprehensive approach to operational designs. Attendees shared suggestions back and forth, discovered new ideas, revisited old concepts and overcame the “language barrier.”

Dave Phillips has been appointed national sales manager for the Cissell brand of Alliance Laundry Systems.

Phillips brings more than 16 years of experience in the commercial laundry and drycleaning equipment business.

For the last 9 1é2 years, Phillips has been with the Alliance family, including serving 6 1é2 years as national sales manager of the Ajax brand of drycleaning equipment and three years as Huebsch national sales manager.

“I see tremendous potential to grow the Cissell brand name in the commercial laundry equipment industry,” Phillips said.

“My goal is to help our distributors become strong players in their markets.”

His sales staff includes Tim Herrell, Pat Havlin and Dave Diemont.

Herrell, who’s been with Cissell for 27 1é2 years, will cover the Northern United States and Eastern Canada. The University of Louisville alumnus started in the machine shop before spending time in engineering and marketing, ultimately settling in sales.

Havlin has 30 years experience in the commercial laundry and drycleaning business, most of which came with the Ajax brand. He’ll serve as regional sales manager for the southern United States.

Another laundry equipment veteran, Diemont has 39 years of experience in the industry, including five years with Cissell. He has worked for a major equipment manufacturer as well as distributors. Diemont has Cissell sales responsibility for the western United States and western Canada.

The Dexter Co. announced the appointment of Andrew Kretz as vice president and general manager of the commercial laundry business. Previously he served as vice president of sales, marketing and customer services for the laundry division.

Jim DeSanto has joined Böwe Textile Cleaning USA as its eastern regional sales director. His industry experience includes more than 13 years with Kleen-Rite and 12 years as sales manager at Marvel Manufacturing.

DeSanto will be responsible for all dealers east of the Mississippi River and will promote Böwe and Veit sales to dealers in the area along with introducing new products to be announced soon by Böwe Textile Cleaning USA.

The son of a Chicago drycleaner, DeSanto was raised in a family drycleaning business. He later owned and operated a drycleaning business in Chicago which he sold in 1975. After that, he spent the next five years with a chemical company selling laundry and drycleaning chemicals in the Chicago and northern Illinois markets before joining Kleen-Rite and, later, Marvel.