National Clothesline
Cleaners Roundtable holds 72nd annual meeting
The 72nd annual meeting of the The Round Table of Launderers and Dry Cleaners
was held in Key Biscayne, FL, this May.
The Round Table is an informal group of top executives from laundry, linen,
industrial and drycleaning companies, each of whom was invited to join the
organization because their company has demonstrated best practices in the
industry.
Each participant’s “price of admission” is to play an active part in the presentation of at least one topic at the
conference. Since no two operations represented at the conference are
competitors, exchanging highly confidential information it has become an
accepted practice.
Participants agree that confidences remain inviolate, creating an atmosphere
that allows for an open exchange of ideas. Attendees are also encouraged to
visit each others operations to further the learning process.
One of the highlights of the meeting was the opportunity for all past president’s of the Round Table to gather for the conference.
M&B logs five accident-free years
M&B Hangers’ Leeds, AL, location marked five years without a lost time accident on April 21.
For a celebration at the company’s production facility, Darlene Yarborough, the human resources manager, cooked
more than 100 rib eye steaks for workers on each of the company’s three shifts.
Yarborough and Dallas White, the operations manager, have have set a safety
standard that not only works, but also encourages and protects each member of
the M&B Hangers’ team.
M&B believes that safety is good business practice because it protects its
associates from injury, saves money and builds morale. When someone is hurt on
the job, every associate is affected, and M&B Hangers strives to protect the physical and emotional well-being of all of its
team members.
“We are fortunate to employ some of the finest people in the Leeds, Alabama area,
and we are very thankful they take safety as seriously as we do,” said company president Milton Magnus.
Education and communication are the keys to M&B’s’ safety program. During the orientation period, safety is the first thing
stressed to each new associate. Long after the initial training, M&B continues to teach and stress safety. M&B has developed programs to encourage peer support of safe work habits and
practices.
Since 2007, M&B Hangers has received numerous recognitions from the state of Alabama for its
commitment to safety. The State of Alabama Department of Industrial Relations
gave M&B the Workplace Safety Award of Excellence in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. M&B Hangers also earned the First Place award in the Manufacture Alabama Safety
Achievement Program in 2007 and 2010.
Blaire Conner wins TCATA scholarship
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While taking honors and advanced placement courses, Conner held a 4.57 GPA. She
has been involved in eight Honor Societies, including Beta Club, Mu Alpha Theta
and the National Science Honor Society.
She also participated in Link Crew, an underclassmen mentoring program, as well
as volunteering with the Red Cross, Give to the Troops, Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation Walk and at the Cypress Glen Nursing Home.
Conner served as student body president as well as National English Honor
Society vice president and was elected class vice president last year.
Her mother, Jennifer, is employed at UNX Inc. of Greenville, NC. Employees and
the children of employees of companies who are members of TCATA are eligible
for this scholarship.
Rynex in joint venture in Europe
Rynex Technologies, LLC, and Christeyns NV have created a joint venture for marketing, distribution,
sales and support Rynex-3E drycleaning solvent and Christeyns’ Gentle Care Detergents line in the European market.
Rynex Technologies, based in Albany, GA, has been working with Christeyns since
October 2010. The partnership is developing a product line for Rynex-3E and
expanding Christeyns’ Gentle Care drycleaning portfolio.
New solutions include a pre-brushing agent, specialty spotting products, a water
repellent, an anti-mite treatment and an additive to enhance the finish of
textiles cleaned in Rynex-3E. This expands Christeyns' line of soaps,
detergents, bleaches and additives that are manufactured in Europe and exported
worldwide.
“The joint venture will combine the power of Christeyns’ expertise in developing premium laundry solutions, its large European presence
with over 250 field technicians in more than 20 countries, and its extensive
distribution network with Rynex’s fully approved efficient, ecological and economical solvent and products,” said Christeyns’ CEO Alain Bostoen.
“We will also incorporate our Christeyns Academy training program in order to
instill proper knowledge and implementation of the Rynex solvent and Gentle
Care Detergents, and we only work with 100 percent dedicated specialists, who
fully understand modern drycleaning procedures,” he added.
Said Rynex CEO Mark R. Grimaldi, “The cooperation between both companies has already proven to be successful.
Rynex-3E and the Gentle Care Detergents line were submitted for blind field
testing in several locations in Europe with excellent results.”
Fulton hosts open house in new facility
Fulton Companies hosted an open house and tour for members of the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) to preview its nearly
completed facility expansion project.
Members of the Central New York Chapter of ASHRAE donned hardhats and safety
glasses to tour the interior of the 112,000-sq.-ft. facility, paying specific
attention to Fulton’s state-of-the-art heating and cooling strategies for the building. The
expansion, adjacent to the company’s Pulaski, NY-based headquarters, brings the total size of the facility to
approximately 162,000 square feet.
“This is not your traditional factory,” said Rae Butler, president of the Central New York Chapter of ASHRAE and owner
of Building Energy Solutions, LLC, in Syracuse, NY. “Using and showcasing technology like this is commendable. It’s great for this region, and also great to see how highly specialized technical
equipment can be applied in a commercial and manufacturing setting.”
“With so many HVAC engineers on staff, the Fulton Companies could not pass up an
opportunity to design its new facility using the most cutting-edge technology
in the industry,” said Mark Hilton, Fulton’s vice president of manufacturing.
“The $10.5 million facility expansion will allow for increased production to
respond to customer demands, as well as the opportunity to expand product lines
and ramp up research and development,” added Hilton.
The facility responds to the broad heating and cooling challenges at the Upstate
New York location where temperatures range from below zero with heavy snow in
the winter to high heat with humidity in the summer.
Some of the facility’s innovative heating and cooling strategies include:
• Twelve unique radiant flooring heating zones with multiple energy sources.
• Forty-three unique cooling zones, each with an integrated humidity management
system that utilizes chilled beams, ductwork that is much smaller than is
typically installed in a commercial facility, and overall attention to cost
savings measures.
• One-hundred percent building fresh air makeup with energy recovery units.
• A fully customized Synex Controls energy management platform.
• Two cooling towers for energy management.
• A specialized, internally pitched roofing system feeding onsite retention ponds
to maximize water for recycling.
• External snow melt system for loading docks and sidewalks.
• Ten thousand square feet of new research and development space.
• Two-million dollars in new, specialized equipment, such as cranes, with a total
capacity of 70 tons.
• Assembly line efficiencies, including pits for the fabrication of Fulton’s horizontal firetube boilers. Because of their massive size, lowering the units
into a pit allows for easy top access for fabricators.
The facility also offers employee amenities. Open spaces are the norm for work
areas and an exercise center, which complements the Fulton-owned gym nearby, is
also included.
