National Clothesline

Jackie Mayes, the drycleaning plant manager at Porter’s Cleaners in Bossier City, LA, is this year Tailwind Systems Manager of the Year. She has run the drycleaning side of this high-volume, high-profile fixture in Northwest Louisiana for more than two years.

“Selecting her as the 2009 Manager of the Year almost didn’t happen because her style is so subtle and unimposing,” said Tailwind’s Don Desrosiers. “Jackie has a quite ‘tortoise wins the race’ mannerism. I have worked with her on many occasions over time and whenever I would give her any direction or advice she never argued or challenged anything.

Sometimes, he said, she would warn, “I’m not going to say it will be easy.”

That, he said is the reason that she is this year’s selection.

“Managers want easy fixes and they want easy answers,” Desrosiers said. Nothing on her plate was ever going to be easy at Porter’s because it is such a highly developed company. There are manager meetings, chain-of-command, layers of management and a lot of volume.

The shirt plant, formerly run by Gene Barry, who is now the general manager, has long run efficiently with high productivity numbers — 27 or 28 shirts per labor hour since the implementation of the Tailwind System.

The drycleaning plant, however, was another story. It has four drycleaning machines and 16 press stations. The Tailwind System has trimmed a lot of labor since Desrosiers first implemented it in October 2001, but still there was room for improvement.

“Employee turnover, absenteeism and many people working under the roof of this extremely modern facility had made it difficult for Jackie’s predecessors to carve out impressive PPLH (pieces per labor hour),” Desrosiers said. “Jackie has patiently worked at it, day in and day out for quite some time now and shows no signs at all of stopping with a ‘mission accomplished’ feeling.”

In a plant in which no other manager was able to hit 12 PPLH, Mayes consistently attains over 15. Many Tailwind clients achieve numbers 20 to 30 percent higher than that, but not with the garments brought to Porter’s. Most of those are plants that also do restoration work. Porter’s does not. They are a high end, high-profile cleaner very well connected and interwoven into the Shreveport/Bossier community.

“Jackie Mayes walked into my office one day out of the blue,” Barry recalled. “She said she was moving here from a town an hour away and had a lot of years in drycleaning. After talking to her briefly I hired her on the spot. She didn’t accept until she was driving back to her home town. The rest is history.”

From the start she took control of the drycleaning department, working with all employees to improve quality and overall attitude of the workplace.

“No matter what is thrown at her, she figures out a way to get the job done; not only done but done with the quality we expect,”Barry added. “In fact if you ask her what her title is she will say ‘I’m the qualitycontrol manager’.

“We are really proud of Jackie winning the Tailwind Manager of the Year Award,“ he said. She is well deserving and has earned that level of achievement.”

Mayes was awarded a custom-made desk clock and a framed certificate of achievement. She can be reached at jackiew@porters-cleaners.com

Ten new members became affiliates of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists in 2008.

New members met with Ken Grippi, the association’s national training director, and Sally Conant, executive director, for a two-day orientation at Dependable Cleaners in Boston, MA.

Attending the most recent session were Marty Peletz and Jarred Peletz of Bellingham Cleaners and Tailors in Montreal, Quebec; Sue Vellano of Best Cleaners in Albany, NY; David Whitehurst and Ric Pevey of Champion Cleaners in Birmingham, AL; Carl Bear of Kite’s Cleaners in Fort Worth, TX; Mike Erstad of National Drycleaners in Seattle, WA; and Lesa Diehl of Tuesdays Cleaners in Vancouver, BC.

Attending a training session earlier this year were Claude Foreman of One Cleaners in New Orleans, LA; Elizabeth Petersen of Specialty Cleaners in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico; and Sally King of Midtown Drycleaning in Norwalk, OH.

Other new members are Polly and Dave Nemec of St. Croix Cleaners in Stillwater, MN; and Dave Troemel of Boston Cleaners in Riverside, CA.

ALL AWGS members are certified wedding gown specialists who benefit from trademarked logos, promotions, and marketing partnerships with wedding venues such as The Wedding Podcast Network and wedding websites such as Brides.com and WeddingWire.com (affiliated with MarthaStewart.com).

“More than 70 designers and manufacturers sew the association’s care labels into their gowns,” said Marty Wade, president of the association, “and every day hundreds of brides visit our website. The more widely we are represented, the better the service we can offer.

The association’s ads appear in magazines such as Martha Stewart Weddings and Quince Girl. Members were recently featured in Honeymoons and Weddings with advice for brides planning a destination wedding. A similar feature in the February, 2009 issue of Brides Magazine will showcase members with tips for gown care.”

The association serves as a marketing cooperative and a buying cooperative that can provide supplies such as archival-quality wedding chests at special pricing.

For more information, call the association office at (800) 501-5005 or e-mail info@WeddingGownSpecialists.com.

Leonard Automatics, Inc. was name Industry of the Year in Lincoln County, NC, by the Lincoln Economic Development Association (LEDA). The annual award highlights the contributions and corporate citizenship of local industries.

Leonard Automatics, Inc. has called Lincoln County home for 39 years. The company has given financial support to the community to benefit organizations such as the Lincoln County Sheriffs Office, North Lincoln High School and the North Lincoln marching band and drama department as well as numerous Lincoln County agencies. Also, Leonard’s employees have given hours of time to community service.

The company has demonstrated strong business performance with an increase in sales year after year and a recent completion of a new facility and equipment expansion in the Balsom Ridge Industrial Park in Denver, NC.

The award is based on four criteria: a positive impact in Lincoln County within the last year; involvement with the Lincoln community through direct financial, time and/or other significant contributions; being a leader in their field with a positive performance during their last fiscal year; and maintaining high standards of conduct in working with the community, government, other business and their own employees.

While welcoming four new members to its board of directors, the Coin Laundry Association (CLA) also recognized the contributions of three leaders who recently retired from the board.

Store owners Beverly Kay Blank, Jeffrey Barman and Jim Whitmore joined manufacturer member Dion Marcionetti of Card Concepts Inc. in beginning three-year terms on the board on Jan 1.

“I have always supported the local affiliates and believe that a strong association makes for a stronger industry,” said Marcionetti. “I have been involved in all aspects of the laundry business for more than 35 years and look forward to joining the CLA’s Board of Directors.”

“Being an active board member provides me the opportunity to connect with and be a resource for our CLA members throughout the country,” Blank said. “Because I truly enjoy the coin laundry culture, I derive great pleasure in sharing my business experience and helping other owners develop and improve their own laundromats.”

“We are grateful for the members that contribute their time and talent to help guide the association,” said Brian Wallace, president and CEO. “Store owners, distributors and manufacturers who serve on the board provide an all-encompassing industry perspective. It’s what drives us to new levels.”

Departing board members Chris Balestracci of Super Wash Laundry, Amy Gitlin of ESD Inc. and Clay Pederson of Business Consultants International have been instrumental in shaping the association. Their diverse experience and skill set has been an asset to members and staff, Wallace said.

The 2,500-member CLA also rung in the new year with a “green” initiative. In 2009, CLA members will have the choice of receiving the industry survey and annual report by Internet download, e-mail or in print.

“The self-service laundry industry has long been a steward of the environment,” said Wallace. “Laundry owners have been quietly pioneering conservation of the world’s resources for decades with energy-efficient, multi-load washers and dryers. This option is just another smaller but very natural step in that ongoing process.”

The Industry Survey is an annual profile of the retail, self-service laundry industry. It gives laundry owners benchmarks for comparing everything from vend prices and gross revenue per square foot to attendant compensation and hours of operation. Statistics are presented in both national and regional averages.

Owners are asked to notify the association of their delivery preference for these items by visiting www.coinlaundry.org/update or calling (800) 570-5629.

Wascomat invited dealers from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico who achieved specific sales goals to New York for a five-day whirlwind vacation that included airfare, accommodations at the posh Garden City Hotel, special dinners, and a first-class cruise aboard the luxurious World Yacht with spectacular views of Manhattan. Also attending were the president of Electrolux Laundry Systems from Sweden along with the company’s dryer product manager and vice president of sales for the Americas.

An opening evening of food, cocktails, and music at the dinner reception kicked off the event. The next morning, dealers attended a meeting to learn about Wascomat’s latest innovations and hear success stories from fellow dealers. On Friday, dealers and their spouses had the day on their own to explore the sights of Long Island and Manhattan.

Many attending the event were long-time Wascomat dealers. For example, Sav-A-Day Laundry Machinery in St. Louis, Missouri and Arrow Machinery in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma are both celebrating 50 years in business and have been Wascomat dealers since 1958.

“The dealers were eager to talk about Wascomat’s superior dealer support services, how Compass Control is changing the way laundry owners do business, the company’s new marketing and advertising efforts, and Wascomat’s forward-thinking management team,” said Neal Milch, CEO of Wascomat. “Our dealers believe in Wascomat and they know we believe in them.”

Since making its first washer in 1902, Wascomat has installed over a million in North America alone. The company offers commercial laundry and wetcleaning equipment as well as financing solutions and business planning support.

Fabric Restoration Service Team (FRSTeam) has signed four new operators to cover territories for the national fabric restoration specialty cleaners fast-growing franchise.

As FRSTeam licensees, the new operators located in Tulsa, OK, Green Bay, WI, Santa Barbara, CA, and central Delaware will provide comprehensive restoration services for fabrics and textiles damaged by smoke, fire, water and mold.

“We are very excited to welcome these businesses to FRSTeam,” said Jim Nicholas, president of FRSTeam. “These operators will service key market areas, enabling us to expand our already significant brand coverage and provide our unique restoration solution platform to insurers and damage mediation contractors across the country.”

With the addition of these operators, FRSTeam now offers fabric restoration services in 33 states. Since signing its first licensed operator in August of 2006, the company has added 25 licensed businesses throughout the country. FRSTeam licensees have experienced an average growth rate of more than 20 percent per year on their restoration work since joining FRSTeam, the company said.

More information is available by calling (510) 723-1008 or visiting www.FRSTeam.com.