Content about vice president

ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — Worldwide Laundry Inc., Miami, was recently recognized with the On-Premises Laundry (OPL) Excellence Award during the Maytag® Commercial Laundry 54th Annual Meeting in Marco Island, Fla.

The honor acknowledges the distributor’s effective and efficient service to its OPL customers.

“Worldwide Laundry consistently delivers exceptional results by responding to customers’ inquiries in less than 24 hours, through its strategic direct-marketing efforts and by fostering relationships within the OPL market,” says Bob English, general manager of global commercial laundry at Whirlpool Corp.

“Our reputation as an efficient and dependable distributor is a top priority for us,” says Marco Giancola, vice president at Worldwide Laundry. “Maytag® Commercial Laundry manufactures top-of-the-line products with industry-leading warranties, which help meet and exceed customer expectations daily.”

Worldwide Laundry is a full-service laundry equipment, parts and supplies company with 40 years of combined experience in the distribution of on-premise, coin laundry, and drycleaning equipment at competitive prices worldwide.

Marco and Chuck Giancola and Robert Gonzalez were on hand to receive the award for Worldwide Laundry. Also present at the awards dinner was Fritz Maytag, great-grandson of founder Fred Maytag.

Textiles: Tom Langdon, Encompass Group

I am vice president of sourcing and purchasing for Encompass Group. I have spent the past 30 years in a variety of roles and responsibilities in the textile industry.

For the last 20-plus, I have traveled the globe, extensively developing and sourcing all types of textile products. My product experience spans from retail home fashions, to protective and military apparel, and into the medical textile products area. I am experienced in woven, non-woven, and knit manufacturing techniques along with all aspects of printing, dyeing and finishing.

My educational credentials include a Bachelor of Science degree from the Stetson School of Business at Mercer University, along with various continuing education certificates in customs, compliance, CTPAT, supply chain management, and ISO 9000 registration. I sit on the Techtextil North America 2012 Symposium Advisory Council and chair the Medical Educational Section. I see my role on the panel as giving readers the layman’s perspective on each monthly topic and how obtaining the actual textile items is affected.

Two of our biggest challenges in 2011 were the unprecedented run-up in raw-material costs and mitigating the impact to our customers. We also were faced with some historic geopolitical changes in the world, of which the unrest in Egypt created some specific obstacles to our industry.

I was already scheduled to visit Egypt at the end of January 2011, the week before the Mubarak regime fell. I remember spending the first half of the Super Bowl on the phone with my travel agent rearranging my itinerary to cancel the Egypt portion of my trip. Later, I found out that the head of the largest government-owned textile mill in Egypt was removed from his post and arrested.

Probably our greatest accomplishment realized was in educating our customers and others in the industry on market conditions. This entailed explaining how contributing factors such as the price of cotton, energy, and currency exchange rates affect the price, quality, and availability of laundry textile products.

Encompass benefited from an intercompany market update I published monthly, which helped our sales force reach out to all of our customers as well. The price of cotton became such a hot topic at one point that it even made it on to NBC’s The Today Show.

Let’s all hope we have a much calmer and more stable 2012. I look forward to participating on this panel and appreciate being selected.

Linen Supply: Stephen Marcq, General Linen Service

I’m the director of business development for General Linen, with corporate offices and the processing plant located in Somersworth N.H. I’ve been with the company for approximately 22 years, starting as a production manager. I worked as a production and depot manager for several other companies before returning in 1992.

While most of my time with General has been on the service side of the business, I’ve done everything from load diapers (remember those?) to running the service department and then the sales department, which has given me a well-rounded background that has served me well.

Today, I work extensively with the sales and service teams to manage, retain and expand our business presence with large corporate accounts, and especially with a variety of multi-site operations, both healthcare and hospitality. Setting up various customized programs designed to appeal to the particular needs of off-site management or ownership is an accomplishment I am particularly proud of.

We have 3,800 customers in four states, serviced from our main plant and two additional service centers in New Hampshire and Maine. Our plant mix consists mostly of hospitality and healthcare business, with lesser amounts of industrial and dust control.

With both of those areas affected by the economic downturn over the last few years, and healthcare especially hit hard in the last 6-12 months, a major challenge right now is in maintaining margins and sales increases while retaining customers in an increasingly competitive, cost-conscious environment.

We have implemented route optimization software to reduce distribution and delivery expense, installed a stack economizer to reclaim waste heat, increased our sales team, set up a key/multi-site customer and corporate visit program, and have many other projects in progress or in the works.

Our mixed-plant status can be, at times, both an asset and a liability. When one segment is down, we have historically grown in another and been able to protect jobs and revenue. But gaining maximum production and delivery efficiencies can be harder for a mixed plant as well, something that we are doing our best to address.

I am honored to have been selected to serve on the panel, and I am looking forward to contributing during 2012.

Hotel/Motel/Resort Laundry: JR Norris, Delta Linen

I’m the operations manager for Delta Uniform and Linen, the largest family-owned and operated commercial laundry in Albuquerque. I am honored to have been chosen for this panel.

The Randall family established Delta Linen in 1948 as a small drycleaning business. The decision was made to take the business into industrial linen rental, and Delta Linen has since flourished. It now services more than 300 restaurants, casinos and fine hotels, and is growing daily. Delivering clean and wrinkle-free linen and hospitality wear with 24-hour-a-day customer service has contributing greatly to our success.

I worked as a general manager in the restaurant business for almost 20 years, sitting on the other side of the table in dealings with linen companies. This experience has helped me greatly with my transition from restaurants to linen service and having the ability to under a restaurant’s needs. It encourages me daily that Delta Linen has had the same beliefs and integrity for more than 60 years!

I have faced several challenges after diving headfirst into the linen business, but that’s been the fun part. The biggest has been working with and understanding the quality and maintenance aspects of hotel linens.

I have seen sub-par cotton quality coming from many manufacturers over the past 18 months. We have had to change several processes, including how we order and wash, to ensure the longevity of the textiles. Because of this, production has almost been more challenging than the cleaning of the products themselves.

We were blessed with continued growth this past year despite the hard economic times the country faced. We have taken on several new, large accounts, along with a new contract with a resort. And we recently renewed our contract with the largest casino in New Mexico.

We continue to strive for the best every day, with the mind-set and commitment that our service is our contract and it is as good, if not better, than a golden handshake. I intend to see that Delta Linen maintains this philosophy for many years to come.

Tomorrow: Introductions to representatives from the equipment manufacturing and chemical suppy sectors, plus a member at large...
Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.

RICHMOND, Ky. — The Association for Linen Management (ALM) named Cindy Molko senior vice president, filling the position vacated by Tom Mantey in July. Molko moves into the role after serving as vice president for the organization.

Richard Griffin, manager of Keystone Laundry in Colorado, will fill Molko’s vacated position as vice president.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to serve ALM at the national level and believe my experience in hospitality laundry services will provide a valuable addition to ALM’s outstanding educational programs,” says Griffin.

Meanwhile, Sarah James has resigned from her board position as administrative secretary. Her resignation is in compliance with ALM’s bylaws, which hold that only regular members—those serving in laundry operations/distribution role—are eligible to serve on the board of directors. James held her post on the board while serving as the director of medical laundry at TriCities in Bristol, Tenn., but has accepted the position of senior project manager with IPA in Duluth, Ga.

“Even though I will not be serving ALM from a position on the board of directors, I will continue to support the organization and our mission,” says James.

Judy Murphy, director of laundry services at North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo, Miss., will replace James as administrative secretary. Murphy began at North Mississippi as a staff nurse, transitioning to the clinical liaison for materiel management, where she provided clinical consulting services to the laundry.

LAUREL, Md. — The board of directors of the Drycleaning & Laundry Institute (DLI) announced Monday that Chief Executive Officer William (Bill) Fisher is leaving his position at the association. Senior Vice President Mary Scalco will become acting CEO to ensure a seamless transition, DLI says.

“We would like to thank Bill for his years of service and dedication to the industry and our institute,” says DLI President Rick Kasperbauer. “His contributions have been enormous over the last four decades.”

CHICAGO — Gary Dolan, CHESP, director of environmental services at The Village at Penn State, State College, Pa., was recently elected president of the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE), formerly known as ASHES, for 2011.

Dolan is AHE vice president and will begin his yearlong term as president on Jan. 1. He has been an AHE member since 1995 and has 19 years of environmental services experience. Dolan has served on the AHE Board of Directors since 2009, and has served on the AHE Conference Planning Committee and Board Advisory Council.

FRANKFORT, Ill. — The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) announced its Board of Directors for 2011 during its board meeting earlier this month.

Officers include Chairwoman Nancy Bjerke, BSN, RN, MPH, CIC, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) representative; Vice Chairman Rocco Romeo, CEO, HLS Linen Services; and Secretary/Treasurer Rob Potack, vice president, Unitex Textile Rental Services.

Other board members will be:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement to take steps to improve the safe handling of nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) that stop short of banning its use in industrial laundry detergents signals the agency’s confidence in a voluntary phaseout of the detergent ingredient, the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) says.

“To ensure that the laundry I manage is achieving top production on an ongoing basis, what records should I be keeping and why? Do you track anything out of the norm?”

Healthcare Laundry: Dianna Aracich, Wheeling Hospital, Wheeling, W.Va.

This year’s contributors introduce themselves, describe their operations, identify challenges and list their accomplishments for 2009.

Long-Term-Care Laundry: Gary Clifford, Pines of Sarasota, Sarasota, Fla.

CHICAGO — The American Society for Healthcare Environmental Services (ASHES) board of directors has elected Fiona Nemetz, CHESP, society president for 2010. Nemetz is serving as vice president, and her year-long term as president begins Jan. 1.

Nemetz is director of environmental services, patient transportation, safety, and parking at Saint Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta. She has been an ASHES member since 1993 and has 25 years of environmental services experience. She began her career in 1982 in hospitality and transitioned to healthcare in 1993.

RIPON, Wis. — UniMac has taken “green” thinking in a fun, new direction by launching a website to promote what it calls the “Tumbler Re-Use Project.”

CHICAGO — Celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show at McCormick Place provided a high-energy forum where tens of thousands restaurant and hospitality operators from around the world connected with exhibiting companies to boost business.