SADDLE BROOK, N.J. — Laundry product supplier Tingue, Brown & Co. has honored William “Bill” Webb with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Presented at the company’s 2010 National Conference and Sales Meeting in Miami, the award recognizes Webb’s contributions to the organization, its sales team and the laundry industry at large, as well as his tenure as an instructor for the American Laundry and Linen College in Richmond, Ky.
I’ve been seeing a number of cell phone ads recently in which the company brags about the value of its network. One phone is better than another because of the network, one ad claims.
“Network” is a relatively new term, especially for someone like me who was born in 1950. Old-timers didn’t call it a network. They simply said it was “education through association.”
The older I get, the more surprised I am by the major changes happening in the world around me. This year has definitely been one of rapid change.
The demise of National Linen from the leading commercial provider of healthcare textiles to a footnote in history represents a classic case study of management mistakes. I’m hopeful that someone with first-hand knowledge will write the definitive case study on what happened. My fear is that if this isn’t done, then we’ll see other companies make the same mistakes.
One must be ready to use all of one’s senses in trying to head off an equipment breakdown. Many parts that fail are not easily visible while a machine is in operation, so we need to teach ourselves and our employees the skills needed to identify trouble spots and thus avoid major breakdowns.
Many of us are not mechanically inclined and have a hard time changing a flat tire let alone trying to fix a piece of complicate laundry machinery. This should not discourage managers from learning the signs of pending equipment failure.
