PULIRE 2005, held June 7-10 in Verona, Italy, drew a diverse international crowd, and set several attendance and exhibitor records.

With 375 exhibitors, the show posted a 7.5 percent increase over 2003, the last year the show was held. The number of foreign exhibitors increased 11.5 percent over 2003 — there were 52.

Besides Italian attendees, the most represented country was Germany, followed by Spain, Switzerland, France, Austria, Slovenia, Great Britain, Hungary, the Netherlands and Greece. Foreign visitors came from 77 countries and represented 20.55 percent of the total attendance.

Show attendance overall was 18,474, up 20.51 percent compared to 2003.

The 17th installment of PULIRE — the show is held every other year — shared many similarities to the United States’ ISSA/INTERCLEAN® show. Many U.S. companies’ European divisions exhibited at the show, and there were countless product demonstrations and networking opportunities to take in.

In contrast, PULIRE’s exhibitors promoted more industrial machinery than is generally seen at U.S. shows. There were numerous suppliers selling street sweepers and other large-scale cleaning equipment.

Many fixtures, carts and receptacles featured sleek designs in every color of the rainbow.

Similar to U.S. trends, there was an emphasis on “green” solutions. Many companies were promoting their environmentally preferable products, including chemicals and paper.

The show’s Premio Innovazione 2005 (innovation award) went to companies in three areas: machines, equipment and products. Adiatek, Magris and Solution Gloeckner received the awards in those categories, respectively. Eureka was awarded the top winner for its manual sweeper equipped with a specialized suction device.

In the interest of fostering understanding and trade between the United States and Italy, the Italian Trade Commission sponsored a group of delegates from South America and the United States to attend the show. U.S. delegates included Jerry Frain, Frain-Bovasso Associates, Clifton, N.J., Roger Parrott Jr., RoVic Inc., Manchester, Conn., Seiche Sanders, Sanitary Maintenance magazine, and David Holtzman, TEC Products, Cateret, N.J.

“This was my second trip to Verona and to the PULIRE show,” said Parrott. “The newness for me was being an attendee and not an exhibitor. You get a whole different perspective being on the other side of the aisle. As a distributor I made several contacts that will help me grow my business.” Parrott’s previous attendance was as Past President/International Director for ISSA.

“From my perspective, the Italian PULIRE 2005 show represented the cleaning and hygiene industry at a high level,” Parrott added. “It’s a difficult challenge to satisfy the majority of the attendees in a global trade show environment. From my viewpoint, AFIDAMP as the organizer and the individual exhibitors themselves should be very proud of their efforts.”

NEWS MAKERS

NY Schools Go Green
In June, New York legislators gave final approval to a bill requiring schools to use nontoxic cleaning supplies, according to Associated Press reports.

The Assembly passed the measure, which will affect public and private schools in New York state. The bill follows Governor Pataki's recent Executive Order to reduce toxic fumes produced by cleaning supplies in state agencies.

Keyboards: Bacterial Breeding Grounds
New research suggests that computers are making hospitals hazardous to your health, according to a recent article in The Week.
“Computer keyboards fester with colonies of bacteria, which can easily spread from the medical personnel who use them to the patients they treat,” the article says.
Certain types of bacteria can survive on keyboards for 24 hours. Disinfectants — the only method of killing the bacteria — damage computers.
“The onus is on doctors and nurses to wash their hands vigorously and often,” the article says.

Silent And Deadly: The Impact of Hospital-Acquired Infections
According to a recent New York Times op-ed article, infections passed on due to poor hospital hygiene kill as many people each year in the United States as AIDS, breast cancer and auto accidents combined — about 103,000.

According to the article, Scandinavian countries have been more successful than the United States in reducing their rates of deadly infections in hospitals. The reasons appear to be a greater willingness to follow cleanliness protocols, including those requiring hand washing, the careful cleaning of hospital rooms and equipment, and the wearing of gowns and disposable aprons by hospital staff.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

DadePaper, Miami, recently acquired Crown Sanitary Supply Inc., Hollywood, Fla. Crown Sanitary is a 50-year-old full-line janitorial products and equipment distributor. The acquisition will augment DadePaper’s growing janitorial program, according to company representatives. Many members of Crown’s management and staff will remain with the company as operations transition to DadePaper’s Miami facility.

DadePaper was founded in 1939 by current chairman Irving Genet, and is one of the biggest suppliers of paper, plastic and foam disposables, and janitorial/sanitation supplies and equipment in the Southeastern United States.

Bunzl Distribution Inc., St. Louis, has acquired Maintenance Depot Inc., located in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Maintenance Depot supplies and distributes foodservice disposables and janitorial/sanitary maintenance products, including chemicals. Bill Mercur and Phil Seid, former owners of Maintenance Depot, will become general manager and operations manager, respectively. Mike Di Amicis will continue as Sales Manager.

“Maintenance Depot is an outstanding company that has done an excellent job of increasing their jan/san business over the last several years and we are excited about adding this company to the Bunzl family,” said Patrick Larmon, president and CEO of Bunzl.

Last month, SM reported Lagasse Inc.’s acquisition of Hialeah, Fla.-based Sweet Paper. In June, Redistributors of America, a redistributor buying and marketing group, announced that Lagasse has joined the group (Sweet Paper was an RDA member prior to the acquisition).
“The addition of Lagasse to our membership will expand RDA’s distribution centers to 46 nationally, thereby providing our organization with the ability to provide significantly greater service and product availability to our ever-growing distributor customer base,” said J.T. Bailey, RDA’s executive director.

CA Prison Industry To Broaden Jan/san Offering; SCSSA Reacts

ISSA and members of the Southern California Sanitary Supply Association (SCSSA) are teaming up in protest to a recent California Prison Industry Authority (PIA) directive that could cost the janitorial supply industry $20 million in lost revenue over the next two years, according to SCSSA estimates.

According to the association, the PIA — which already produces and sells laundry detergents using inmate labor — plans to expand into other product categories, including glass, restroom and general-purpose cleaners.

California currently mandates that prisons must buy PIA-produced products; other government facilities are encouraged to buy these products, says James Ammons, president of SCSSA. If PIA begins to manufacture more janitorial supplies, private-sector jan/san suppliers will inevitably lose business.

SCSSA representatives have sent numerous letters to California’s governor and the Board of Public Safety citing the lost revenue distributors will experience, as well as their inability to compete with low inmate wages and PIA tax exemptions.

“Right now, we’re looking for support from members,” says Ammons. Smaller companies may feel the greatest sting from lost business, he adds. “All the big players look at the percentage of business they do with prisons, and it’s probably very small. But for the little guys, it might be half their yearly sales.”




POSTED ON: 7/1/2005