September 2003

PLAYERS

AFFLINK Honors Retiring Founder
Robert E. Keith, founder of AFFLINK, one of the nation’s largest jan/san distributor marketing groups, was paid tribute at the group’s recent annual meeting, Summit 2003, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Nearly 1,000 people attended the gala event to recognize Keith, who recently announced his retirement and who founded what was then called Affiliated Paper Cos. in 1977. Some of the industry’s most prominent men and women spoke of Keith’s enduring impact, including: George Hartman, former head of Georgia-Pacific; Pat Hanlov of Practiv Specialty Products; and Stan Mayfield of Mayfield Paper Co.

A leather-bound book, comprised of letters from industry colleagues and friends nationwide, recounted Keith’s accomplishments and offered congratulations. Members from 43 states, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Canada attended AFFLINK Summit 2003, along with representatives of more than 125 suppliers.

National Chemical Laboratories Inc., Philadelphia, has announced the appointment of Larry Daniel to the position of regional sales representative. Larry has more than 30 years experience in janitorial management and distribution. He will be responsible for northern Texas and some surrounding areas.

Tornado Industries, Chicago, recently announced the appointment of James Hlavin to the position of director of sales.

Essential Industries Inc., Merton, Wis., recently announced that Dan Frisch has joined the company as a territory sales manager. He will be responsible for Michigan (excluding the UP), northern Ohio and northern Indiana.

CPAC Inc., Leicester, N.Y., recently announced the appointment of Douglas R. Calvert to president of Cleaning Technologies Group.

Spartan Chemical Co., Inc., Maumee, Ohio, recently announced the promotion of two regional sales managers: Rick Lane is now regional manager of Cincinnati, and Christopher Wagner is now regional manager of New York City.

Technical Concepts, Mundelein, Ill., a manufacturer of touch-free automated washroom systems, recently announced that George Murphy has been promoted to president and CEO of the company.

Bunzl Distribution, St. Louis, recently announced the promotions of Jeff McElroy to general manager of Papercraft Los Angeles; Ty Murphy to regional business development specialist; and Kyle Karnes to general manager for Bunzl/Papercraft San Diego.

Clark National Inc., Elk Grove, Ill., recently announced that Tim Scott has rejoined Clark as regional vice president with responsibility for the Milwaukee division.

American Formula, Atlanta, recently announced that Quentin Cashman has been named national sales manager for the manufacturer of cleaning and maintenance chemicals. Cashman brings 24 years of experience in chemical sales to American Formula.

Georgia-Pacific Receives Grainger Award
Atlanta-based paper manufacturer Georgia-Pacific was recently presented with the Grainger 2003 Customer-Focused Quality 1 (CFQ1) Award at a special ceremony held in July in Chicago. Grainger is a leading paper supplier to commercial facilities throughout North America.

United Group Welcomes Nine New Stockholder Members
The United Group, Monroe, La., recently announced that nine new stockholder members have joined the national marketing and sales organization. Every distributor that joins the group receives an equal share in the corporation, which is member-owned. New members include: A-FAB Packaging (Orange, Calif.); Dallas Packaging Co. (Carollton, Texas); Direct Packaging/Silver Ranch Designs Inc. (Dallas); Diversified Chemical & Supply Inc. (Houston); HMA of Miami Corp. (Hialeah, Fla.); Metro Restaurant & Janitorial Supplies (Richmond, Va.); New System Carpet & Building Care Ltd. (Earth City, Mo.); Royal Chemical & Supply (Dallas); and South-Pak Inc. (Birmingham, Ala.).

Waxie Sanitary Supply, San Diego, a multi-regional distributor of sanitary maintenance supplies, recently moved its San Bernadino division to a spacious 145,000-square-foot facility, located on an 11-acre site in Ontario, Calif. Situated at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Interstate 15, Waxie Ontario is located at 905 N. Winville Ave.
The move solved several logistical challenges for Waxie: first, the company had outgrown the San Bernadino location, and second, the Ontario warehouse will now deliver to Waxie’s Los Angeles customers, relieving the burden from the Santa Ana warehouse.

Dosmatic, Carrollton, Texas, recently announced the expansion of its European operations, with the recent opening of its European head office in Bordeaux, France. Due to the increase in business activity with European markets, the water-driven injector manufacturer needed to have a primary, local warehouse that could offer multi-lingual customer service and sales. Dosmatic’s current facilities in Lint, Belgium, will continue to operate as a satellite warehouse.

Clark National Inc., Elk Grove, Ill., recently announced that it has started construction on 90,000-square-foot facility (below) to accommodate growth in its Indianapolis division. The division distributes paper, packaging and janitorial supplies to institutional foodservice operators, grocery stores and commercial facilities throughout the state of Indiana.

The United Group, Monroe, La., recently announced that John Garfinkel, executive director of the International Sanitary Supply Association (ISSA), will address The United Group’s jan/san committee October 15, 2003, during the association’s trade show in Chicago. The meeting will take place at 5:15 p.m. in room N227 of the McCormick Place North.

NISSCO, Dulles, Va., a national jan/san buying group, was recently chosen to represent the U.S. distribution community at the Pulire 2003 conference held in Verona, Italy. Pulire 2003 is organized by the Italian Trade Commission and brings together hundreds of international ISSA members. In addition, NISSCO recently presented its first annual scholarship award to Eric Cadell of Dutch Hollow Janitorial in Belleville, Ill.

What began as a routine service call for Ron Thomas, a service technician for Tornado, Chicago, ended up as a chance to make a difference.

Thomas got a call from Edwin G. Foreman High School (also in Chicago), saying that they were interested in purchasing spare parts to create a rider scrubber for a physically handicapped cleaning professional.

“I had done some service calls for them in the past,” says Thomas. “The janitor’s name is Mike Dolan and he was a hard worker, but his feet are bent in a way that makes it very difficult to work. I had noticed that he could really only work from 8 a.m. until about noon every day.”

Because Dolan had such a difficult time working long hours on his feet, his supervisor decided to inquire about purchasing a rider scrubber that would allow him to work more comfortably. “They’re a school with a tight budget and it would have been way too expensive for them to purchase a new rider scrubber, or even build one out of spare parts.” Thomas met with Tornado president Mike Schaeffer, along with his supervisor Dianna Vasquez. They all agreed that there were enough spare parts in the manufacturing warehouse for Thomas to build Dolan a Tornado Trike that would work as well as a new model.

“I was able to put it together, and he was so happy when we gave it to him,” says Thomas. “Now he can finish a whole day’s work, and he’s barely tired.”