NewsWorthy

U.S. Military: A Valuable Sanitary Supply Market

Savvy distributors profit from increased numbers at facilities

Military bases and reservist stations have been stockpiling supplies and increasing staff numbers ever since President Bush announced that the United States had launched a war on terrorism. Now, as Bush continues to lobby for support of a war against Iraq, military personnel, and the buildings they train in, are on high alert.

Distributors who supply these buildings have noticed a jump in purchasing orders from military buildings throughout the past year. Tony Maida, general manager of National Paper & Sanitary Supply in Omaha, Neb., doesn’t supply Offult Air Force Base directly, but he does supply its cleaning contractor, Goodwill Industries. “Since the war on Afghanistan began, they’ve had to increase their ordering of dining hall supplies — paper napkins, towels and cups,” says Maida.

Any time there is potential for military action, many government buildings must increase staff and that means the need for more cleaning supplies, says Ken Burke, small business specialist for Robbins Air Force Base, Georgia, headquarters for the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command.

“There are just a lot more people than usual being housed on the base,” says Burke. “More people means the need for more cleaning supplies. A lot of those supplies are bought locally from distributors.”

As a small business specialist, one aspect of Burke’s job is to see that Robbins develops partnerships with distributors in the private sector. Most commodities are purchased through the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), which procures large amounts of disposable items for numerous military bases — sometimes from large distributors or directly from a manufacturer. Other cleaning items are unique to each building. For example, floor buffers and carpet scrubbers vary depending on the makeup of individual floors.

“Every branch of the military is a little different, and so is every military building, but usually a larger item — like a burnisher — would be considered support equipment,” says Burke. “Usually, building maintenance managers have an Impact Card with which they can make purchases up to $25,000 for the needs of their facility.”

Since the military has gone to using Impact Cards, which are really credit cards, Maida has seen military personnel purchasing items with greater freedom. “It really is quite complicated,” he says. “There are just so many channels for the military to buy cleaning supplies from, and now the cards make it easier for them to do business without making out purchasing orders.”

As the federal government has given more muscle to its military arm, facility managers for the armed forces have been scrambling to fill orders. Savvy distributors are making the most of those opportunities. Waxie Sanitary Supply, for example, has found success in selling to Naval Station San Diego. Bigger than many small towns, the Naval Station has developed a strong partnership with Waxie and has recently increased orders for cleaning supplies and paper products.

Other distributors have seen less of an increase in product sales since the war on terrorism began. “We sell large amounts of cleaning chemicals to military facilities, but most of it is used on the tanks or aircraft rather than the buildings,” says Donald Beck, government sales manager for Ecolink, a manufacturer and distributor of degreasers and cleaning chemicals. “Even though the U.S. Armed Forces are experiencing an increase in personnel, that doesn’t mean that they are purchasing more heavy artillery, and that is primarily what a lot of our degreasers are used for. If they have increased in those kinds of purchases, we haven’t noticed it.”

But as foot traffic increases, the need for cleaning materials will always be impacted, says Burke. “We’re seeing more troops at Robbins, and that means that there is more dirt, more waste and more of a need to clean. We’re ordering a lot of common items through the DLA, but we’re also needing more support equipment that we can get locally from distributors.”

3M Partners with University of Minnesota for Cleaning Tests

IICRC Reports Correlation With Moving Industry

The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) recently conducted a national consumer study in which 20 percent of all participants claim that they hired a cleaning professional either immediately before or after they relocated.

Contract cleaners and other cleaning professionals will always be part of the moving process, says Maryscott Tuck, director of training for the American Moving and Storage Association (AMSA). Even the cleanest areas will become soiled as part of moving, with dust stirring as furniture is moved, she adds. Some movers have standing contracts with cleaning companies.

Wine-based Disinfectant Tested at OSU

Wine has long been known as a drink with excellent properties. Louis Pasteur said, “Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages.” A professor at Oregon State University (OSU), Corvalis, Ore., recently decided to put the hygienic prowess of Merlot and Chardonnay to good use: as a disinfectant cleaner.

Mark Daeschel, a professor of food science and technology at OSU, has done extensive research on the unique ability wine has to destroy certain forms of bacteria. He has found that white wine is particularly effective in killing E. coli, Salmonella and other potentially deadly bacteria.

“From there, we came up with the idea of a wine-based disinfectant,” says Daeschel. “There’s a lot of wine out there in the world that doesn’t have a home for one reason or another.”

White wine has high levels of malic and tartaric acids. These acids, in addition to the alcohol content, kill germs, Daeschel explains.

Although red wine may have the same anti-bacterial properties, only white wine is being considered as a possible cleaner. “You don’t use red wine, obviously, unless you want to stain surfaces,” he says.

Sweet wines aren’t suitable because they leave a sticky residue, he adds. However, dry white wines work well. “A nice Sauvignon blanc or Chardonnay are best for a formulation like this,” he says.

Should they continue to prove effective, one drawback to selling wine-based disinfectants is that it is illegal to pour an alcoholic beverage in a spray bottle and sell it as a cleaning chemical to minors. This would go against laws enforced by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

In order to be sold, the product would have to altered by the addition of enough salt to make it undrinkable, similar to how cooking wine is made and sold to the commercial market. Cleaning professionals, however, wonder how added salt would change the effectiveness of the cleaner.

For now, Daeschel and OSU research assistants, continue to look for ways to assess the cleaning benefits of wine. Research has already been completed that shows that drinking wine prevents food poisoning. “The wine kills the bugs,” says Daeschel.

News Makers

Cascades Tissue Group Inc., Kinsey Falls, Quebec, recently announced its financial earnings for the third quarter of 2002. Net earnings of $34 million ($0.41 per share) compare favorably to 2001’s mark of $28 million ($0.34 per share) for the same quarter.

Royal Appliance Manufacturing Co., Cleveland, has announced that it has settled a patent lawsuit with vacuum manufacturer Hoover, North Canton, Ohio. Due to the settlement, the company stated that it expects shares of Royal to gain 18 cents for the fourth quarter.

Ecolab, St. Paul, Minn., beat out projections by 2 to 3 percent for earning of 56 cents per share for the third quarter, a 12 percent increase from the 2001 third-quarter earnings. The company reported almost $865 million in sales and overall earnings of $72.1 million.

International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA) announced that the total attendance for ISSA/INTERCLEAN®-USA 2002 was 16,551. The total number of firms was 5,340; there were 4,939 distributors; and nearly 4,000 end users (BSCs and in-house managers) were in attendance.

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced that Boston-area janitors and cleaning contractors have reached a tentative contract settlement that will improve janitorial jobs. After months of demonstrating, the SEIU won an agreement that extends employer-paid health insurance and provides some wage increases.

Regulatory News

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has announced that it will increase its workplace inspections by an additional 1,300 sites in 2003. OSHA expects to reach its goal of 36,400 inspections for 2002, an increase of 400 compared to the Agency’s 2001 total. In addition, OSHA will expand its Voluntary Protection Program to cover 8,000 work sites. Presently, the program covers 850 sites around the nation.

The Federal Trade Commission has charged Lentek International Inc., Orlando, Fla., with making false and unsubstantiated claims in advertisements for its electronic mosquito and pest repellers and its air cleaning products. According to the FTC, the company has advertised that its MosquitoContro devices repel mosquitoes and other insects or pests by means of ultrasound and electromagnetic technology. The FTC alleges that the company does not have competent and reliable evidence to support the claims made for these products.

The Canadian Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) announced that, starting January 1, 2003, pesticides sold in Canada must be labeled in both English and French. Currently, either language is acceptable for labeling.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Sysco Corp., a large distributor of foodservice items, recently announced that it has acquired Abbott Foods Inc., Columbus, Ohio, a privately-held foodservice distributor. Details of the acquisition were not released, but Abbott reported sales of close to $200 million in 2001. Sysco had sales of $23.4 billion in 2001.

Signature Marketing, Lenexa, Kan., and Channel Marketing, Kansas City, Mo., recently announced that the two companies — both manufacturers’ representatives for the janitorial, industrial and foodservice industries — have merged. The combined group will continue under the name Signature Marketing and will offer representation in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and southern Illinois.

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