Sanitary Maintenance magazine’s inception in 1943 coincided with the birth of the sanitary supply industry itself. The economy was growing and jan/san manufacturers were attempting to ride the wave of post-World War II optimism. Many of those manufacturers were advertisers in SM’s first issues. But looking back over the past 60 years, it’s apparent that more than a few have long-since vanished.

In fact, only a handful of those original advertisers are still around today, such as Bobrick Washroom Equipment, North Hollywood, Calif.; Empire Brushes Inc., Greenville, N.C.; Frank Miller & Sons, Chicago; Geerpres., Muskegon, Mich.; Tuway American Group, Rockford, Ohio; and White Mop Wringer Co., Tampa, Fla.

All of these early advertisers have changed in one way or another. Bobrick, for example, started out as a manufacturer of not only washroom dispensers, but aerospace equipment as well. “When the country was coming out of the war, Bobrick was a manufacturer of jet engine valves and cable tensioners for fighter aircraft, in addition to making restroom solutions,” says Allen Gettleman, marketing manager for Bobrick. “A lot of manufacturers had to contribute to the war effort during that time, and they had to be flexible in their operations.”

Not every manufacturer proved to be flexible. Many of SM’s early advertisers were bought by larger companies, or merged and changed their product direction. “A company’s long-range, strategic planning has to be guarded very carefully, or it can easily be taken off course and lose its competitive edge,” says Gettleman.

Even some of the enviable market leaders of 1940s jan/san manufacturing have completely disappeared from the industry and faded from the memories of sanitary supply executives.

For example, numerous industry veterans contacted for this article had no information about Chemical Mfg. Co. (an Easton, Pa.-based manufacturer of cleaning compounds, disinfectants, detergents, insecticides and other chemical products); Frank C. Cook Co., a Denver-based manufacturer that specialized in making wax protectant for dance floors, or U.S. Sponge Co., a Chicago-based manufacturer.

The following is an alphabetical listing of the advertisers of SM’s youth, with an explanation of where they went.

American Standard Mfg., Co., Chicago, a manufacturer of wet mops, dust mops and wax applicators, was founded in 1908. The company was acquired by Tuway Products Co. (another early SM advertiser). The Tuway American Group — still based in Rockford, Ohio — is under different ownership than the original company, but it is one of the few sanitary supply manufacturers with the same name and location that its founding company had more than 80 years ago.

“Tuway Products Co., a manufacturer of mops, was started in 1923, and was one of the founding members of the National Sanitary Supply Association (NSSA),” says Trudy Koester, the company’s current owner. “My husband and I bought the company in 1983, and then we acquired American Standard in 1985 and American Textile, Baltimore, in 1987, making us the Tuway Products Group.

Tuway is headquartered in Rockford, Ohio, a small town of only one stoplight for reasons that date back to the early days, and to the company’s founding owner. “The company was actually started in Detroit, and the gentleman who owned it had it there until World War II began,” explains Koester. “But when the war ended, he was afraid that Detroit might be bombed in any future conflict, because of all the auto manufacturers in that city. So he moved his little company to Rockford.”

Since its beginning, Tuway has overcome numerous obstacles to stay competitive, but probably none was greater than when Koester’s husband died, and she was faced with a daunting choice: sell the company or assume leadership. “That was the hardest part,” says Koester. “And when we decided to keep the company, we were constantly having to get past the rumor mill and convince people in the industry that it was not for sale. We’ve tried to keep it in the family.”

Koester has never been a spectator when it comes to leading Tuway. New machinery was purchased and operations were streamlined in a major overhaul five years ago. This year there are plans for Tuway to enlarge its current building with a 10,000-square-foot addition.

Baird & McGuire Inc., St. Louis, produced a full line of cleaners, disinfectants and insecticides in 1943. In one of SM’s earliest issues, the company advertised its B-M Special Cleaner with the headline: “A new cleaner with everything! That will clean anything!” The company touted a revolutionary cleaning chemical that had “a spicy, light fragrance never before achieved with commercial floor cleaning compounds.” Baird & McGuire was acquired by James Varley & Sons Inc., which was acquired by Candy, Pecks & Varley. Eventually, that company was acquired in 1980 by J.F. Daley International Ltd.

Another of SM’s original advertisers, Candy & Co., of Chicago, was also acquired by J.F. Daley in 1980. Candy & Co., a cleaning chemical manufacturer, was founded in 1891 and had a strong partnership with Sanitary Maintenance for decades. One 1966 Candy & Co. advertisement showed a giant hand holding a card with the ace of hearts. The headline read that Candy’s & Co.’s Candi-Wax LX-100 Light Wax was the “top trump of the wax game.” J.F. Daley continues to use the Candy & Co. name for specific product lines.

Continental Car-Na-Var Corp., Brazil, Ind., was a manufacturer of floor machines and floor treatments. In fact, the firm called itself the “World’s largest makers of floor treatments and equipment for large floor areas.” In 1943, the company was advertising its line of Rex electric floor machines, Rexglo floor treatments (a “brand new floor treatment that combines waxes and plastics”) and Rexglo-X (a “hard-to-mar,” non-slippery, self-polishing floor finish that dried in just 15 minutes). The company was believed to be the first manufacturer to use carnauba wax.

Davies-Young Soap Co., Dayton, Ohio, was a leading producer of disinfectants, soaps, waxes and other specialty chemicals. The company was founded in 1844 as the J.P. Davies Co., and was incorporated as the Davies-Young Soap Co. in 1914.

“I knew Davies-Young because I used to work in Dayton from 1954 to 1965,” says Jack Ramaley, former executive director of the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA). “They were one of the early private-branding companies, and they were one of the landmark companies in the early days. As the years went by, private labeling became more and more popular, but they were kind of one of the innovators.”

In 1972, the company was sold to Frontier Chemical Co., and it relocated to Maryland Heights, Mo. However, it retained the Davies-Young name. In 1990, the firm changed its name to Buckeye International Inc. because Buckeye was the company’s most popular brand name at the time.

Economy Mop Wringer Co., Chicago, was a manufacturer of all-wood, pull-type roller mop wringers. In 1943, the company was advertising its Economy Model V-4, which was approved by the U.S. War Production Board, because it was designed to conserve critical materials, such as steel. According to a 1943 ad in Sanitary Maintenance, the wringer was “built strong and sturdy to give long life and better service.” When galvanized buckets came out, Economy’s product line became outdated. In the late 1970s, the company was sold to Fulton Industries, Fulton, Ill.

Finnell Systems Inc., Elkhart, Ind., was a leading manufacturer that billed itself as “pioneers and specialists in floor maintenance equipment and supplies.” In 1943, the company was advertising its 600 Series floor machines, equipped with the “new feather-touch safety switch.” The 40-year-old company was also promoting itself as “a single source of supply for floor cleansers, sealers and waxes,” featuring products such as Finola scouring powder and cleanser. In 1962, Finnell merged with Kent Co., Rome, N.Y., which eventually moved its operations to Indiana. Kent later became part of Electrolux AB of Sweden, and in 1998, Electrolux was bought by NKT Holding of Denmark, which returned the Kent name to prominence and combined it with its Euroclean line of floor care equipment, forming Kent/Euroclean.

Fuld Brothers Inc., Baltimore, was a major manufacturer of soaps, cleaners, polishes and other private label chemical specialties. The company was founded in 1925 by Melvin Fuld, who was later joined by his brother, Joseph. In 1967, Fuld Brothers became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alcolac Inc., another Baltimore-based chemical manufacturer. In 1972, the company moved to a new, expanded facility in Havre de Grace, Md., and became Fuld-Stalfort Inc. In 1978, the firm was acquired by Cello Corp. (also in Havre de Grace), a manufacturer of maintenance chemicals since 1946.

“Cello really bought Fuld Brothers for their property and top-notch facility in Havre de Grace more than for their product lines,” says David Haysman, regional sales manager and 43-year veteran of Cello. “We had our own great product lines (Pantaloon was the non-wax floor paste that really put us on the map), but the Fuld location and facility were huge assets to Cello.”

James Good Co., Philadelphia, was a small company that made insecticides and weed killers. The manufacturer had a corner on the insecticide market in the 1940s and 1950s, but later had difficulty overcoming government regulations that prohibited an arsenic weed killer it produced. With the product’s primary active ingredients now being restricted, James Good Co. began having financial difficulty. The company couldn’t find a suitable replacement for arsenic, and when its president, James England, died in 1963, sales declined even more. James Good Co. soon went out of business.

Haag Laboratories Inc., was a Chicago-based producer of liquid soaps, started by V.W. Haag in 1923. After reorganizing during the 1950s and 1960s, it was sold to Onyx Chemical in 1973. In 1984, Bill Haag, grandson of the original founder, and Bullen Midwest bought the company from Onyx. Haag Laboratories is now a part of Bullen Midwest, Chicago.

Illinois Duster & Brush Co., Chicago, was a manufacturer of brushes, dust mops and dusters. Zimmerman Brush Co., Chicago, bought Illinois Duster from its founder, J.F. Hohenadel, in 1965. He was ready to retire and had no children, so Hohenadel accepted the offer from Zimmerman Brush. He was given permission to stay on and watch his company progress, and he was promised that no employees would be laid off as a result of the company being acquired.

S.C. Lawlor Co., Chicago, was a leading producer of large mopping tanks during the 1940s. Its product line included 30-, 60- and 66-gallon capacity tanks “designed for maintenance of large floor areas with low ceilings.” The company went out of business in the late 1950s, due to increased floor care competition.

F.H. Lawson Co., Cincinnati, produced metal trash cans and garbage pails. The company was founded in 1816 and had a successful run for several decades. However, it became burdened by financial difficulties that were precipitated by a leveraged buyout in the 1970s, and F.H. Lawson Co. finally ceased operations in early 1988. The Witt Co., Cincinnati, whose founding family had known the Lawson family for many years, purchased the remaining assets of the business later that year.

“When it came to metal receptacles, the F.H. Lawson company was the biggest,” says Ramaley. “When plastic receptacles were first introduced by Rubbermaid and Continental, that made business very tough for F.H. Lawson. It used to be that the good garbage cans were all galvanized steel, and that was their specialty.”

Steiner Sales Co., Chicago, was a manufacturer of washroom deodorizers. Founded in 1916 by the Steiner family, the company is now under the direction of a fourth-generation of the Steiner family. However, the company changed its name to Steiner Co. when it incorporated in 1982, and as a publicly held company, it has very different leadership than the original family business. Its sales were once solely made up of cloth towel cabinets for hand drying, but the company has now expanded into soap and soap dispensers, air fresheners and toilet tissue dispensers.

T.F. Washburn Co., Chicago, manufactured a wide variety of floor sealers, finishes and waxes. During the 1940s, its president was Marshall (Mac) Magee, who served as president of the ISSA, then NSSA, the year Sanitary Maintenance’s first issue was published and later founded Magee Chemical Co. in the mid-1950s. T.F. Washburn was acquired by Purex Industrial in the 1970s. When the company was bought, part of it was sold and other portions were absorbed into various divisions within Purex.

The Williams Co. (Sun Ray Steel Wool), London, Ohio, was a leading manufacturer of steel wool products. The company was acquired by Brillo Mfg. in the early 1960s. However, later in the decade, Brillo was forced to divest from the company because of Federal Trade Commission regulations. Brillo sold the customer list and accounts to James H. Rhodes & Co., which subsequently was acquired by Beatrice Foods in 1967. Brillo itself was eventually acquired by Purex Industrial in a leveraged buyout. Of course, the Brillo name continues to be used to identify Purex’s line of steel wool products.

The fates of the original Sanitary Maintenance advertisers reflect consolidation trends that have been present in the industry as a whole. As product lines have changed and become more advanced, some manufacturers have been slow to change and have experienced decreased profits as a result. Other manufacturers have jumped too far ahead of the curve, investing in cleaning solutions that were more style than substance. Still others were incited to sell because of an unexpected market change. Each of SM’s original advertisers have a story, and some are continuing to tell it 60 years later.

The Business of Family

The sanitary supply industry has traditionally been characterized by a large number of family-owned businesses, and Sanitary Maintenance has covered those companies since 1943. Many of the same issues that were tantamount to running a successful business 60 years ago are still the issues that are critical to success today.

“The industry has changed a lot in some ways — technology, buying groups and product sophistication — but it’s a lot the same,” says Charles Wax, Waxie Sanitary Supply’s president, and third owner in the family line. “Customer service is still as important as ever, and that’s something that family businesses really can stake their claim to.”

The San Diego jan/san distributor was founded by Wax’s uncle and then bought by his father. Decades later, Charles and his brother, David, took over the company. In the past 30 years, the current ownership has led Waxie to significant growth — it’s now 50 times larger than the original company founded in 1945.

“We now have 14 locations, but we still try to hang on to that original philosophy started by my uncle,” says Wax.

Successfully passing on a family business to the next generation is delicate matter for many distributor owners. “My children really didn’t have a keen interest in continuing with the company,” says Jack Bockstanz, former president and third-generation owner of Bockstanz Brothers Co., Detroit (the company was purchased by Kellermeyer Co. in 2002). “My son, for example, was interested, but he didn’t really have that burning desire to make the company work. And that’s fine; parents — business owners included — should want their children to pursue their own dreams and aspirations, not the dreams that they have.”

Wax isn’t certain if his children have that desire to continue the family business. “It would be nice for that to happen,” he says. “My brother’s kids are in high school, so they’re still too young, and my son-in-law works for the company, but we’re still not sure about what’s going to happen.”

Succession planning was at one time a major topic among jan/san distributors, but it might be an issue that is decreasing in importance as family businesses are decreasing in number. “Certainly, you’re seeing fewer and fewer family-owned businesses,” says Bockstanz. “The challenges are great, but then again, so are the rewards.”

Distributor Consolidation

Manufacturers aren’t the only ones to have experienced cycles of consolidation. Distributors have experienced them as well. In fact, large distributors have been acquiring smaller distributors at an accelerated rate since the 1980s. There are several reasons for the increase in distributor mergers and acquisitions, says Jeff Earnhart, executive vice president of Bunzl, St. Louis.

“A couple of things have led to consolidation,” he says. “First, it takes capital to grow a business — to increase your company’s influence, or to even move a facility. If you want to move a warehouse from Baltimore to Detroit, or just open up a new one in Cleveland, that takes capital. Second, it also takes capital to invest in the new information technology that makes business more efficient for customers, as well as increasing efficiencies for the distributors themselves. It’s very difficult for those smaller, family-owned distributors to stay competitive, so many of them are choosing to merge with larger companies that can compete.”

The need to gain those competitive resources was exactly the reason that Bockstanz Co., a 96-year-old distributor in Detroit,eventually was sold to Kellermeyer Co., Toledo, Ohio.

“When the big guys start to consolidate, then they drive the pricing down,” says Jack Bockstanz, the third generation of the once family-owned business and the current vice president of Kellermeyer’s Detroit-based business (the old Bockstanz territory). “When prices go down, you have to get leaner in order to survive, and sometimes the only way to do that is to team up with someone else. We have a very mature industry, so getting new business usually means taking it from another distributor.”

Bigger, stronger distributors are able to land large accounts with manufacturers that want to sell nationally through headquarters at one central location. However, there is still a significant place for the independent, smaller distributors in the sanitary supply industry, says Earnhart.

“Those smaller distributors are still the backbone of the U.S. economy,” he says. “They provide personal customer service that bigger distributors really have a difficult time duplicating. But I think that you have to be small, and have a niche, or you have to be big; the medium-sized distributors are actually the ones having the most trouble, in my opinion.”




POSTED ON: 5/1/2003