USA

The International Drycleaners Congress (IDC) is heading to the Windy City after a long break due to break due to the last few years having proven difficult times for the industry. Now it is back, full of vigour and ready to engage, at the Sheraton Suites in Elk Grove Village, close to Chicago O’Hare Airport between 10-12 September.

The Convention will be opened at 1:00pm by the IDC executive director Chris Tebbs to commence the three days of presentations and premises visits by leading drycleaning professionals. 

The speaker line-up includes:

Norman Way, vice President of Puritan Cleaners, who will present ‘Developing the wash and fold model’. Puritan is a locally-owned company proudly serving the greater Richmond Virginia area. Way leads a team of 188 employees across 13 retail locations and 14 home delivery routes. Under his leadership, Puritan has grown its Wash Dry Fold service to over $1,000,000 in annual sales.

Heath Bolin has over 32 years of experience in the drycleaning industry and will talk about ‘Automation in the industry’. Bolin began his career at Craig’s Cleaners in Houston, Texas, where he learned the business from the ground up before purchasing Sparkle Cleaners in 2000. As president of Sparkle Cleaners in Tucson, Arizona, he leads a highly successful operation with 16 retail locations, five home delivery routes, and one central production facility. He has been a proud Metalprogetti customer for more than 17 years.

Day 2

On the second day of the convention, Joanna Vasquez, Michael Jackson, and Daniel Fitzgerald of the CD One Price Operations will address delegates. Together they have over 30 years of experience in the dry cleaning and laundry industry. Following a presentation by Fitzgerald about the company’s concept, there will be a visit to CD One Price Cleaners. Venue one is CD40 in Schaumburg The second location is a satellite location in Glendale Heights. And then the one wild card is the American Music World site in Elmhurst which is scheduled to be CD One Price’s first 24/7 automated kiosk.

Back at the venue, the agenda are World Country Reports on the latest developments in the textile care industry, a timely look at global trends and the future perspective of a fast-changing industry. These will highlight the changes that have occurred in the industry over recent years and some developments to address to maintain a profitable business. After the World Country Reports, there will also be a debate on ‘Retail laundering options for a more profitable future’.

Day 3

On the third – optional – day, Thomas J. (Tom) Zengeler president of Zengeler Cleaners, a family business still going strong after 165 years will address delegates. His career in the Midwest’s oldest and largest cleaning company started at the age of five when he spent Saturday mornings riding on a route with a Zengeler Cleaners’ home delivery driver. Those early experiences helped him to experience first-hand the company’s core values, such as knowing how each customer liked things done and the importance of building relationships. 

Wes Nelson, president of Sankosha USA will also make a presentation. He has been part of the Sankosha organisation for over 35 years. He led Sankosha’s introduction to the North American market 32 years ago. Striving to make the laundry and drycleaning industries attractive to all, Sankosha USA is currently an active member of a multitude of industry groups including IDC. Nelson is currently on the board of directors of TCATA.

Following the addresses by Zengeler and Nelson, delegates will visit Zengeler Cleaners followed by Sankosha USA Inc. Here, there will be a further presentation by Nelson and an opportunity to see some of the latest equipment available to the industry. Sankosha will provide a Japanese Sushi lunch.

Showcase operations

92% of American businesses are family-owned and employ most of the USA workforce. Studies show just 30% of such companies survive to the second generation, and only 10% to the third. Zengeler Cleaners has survived for multiple generations, in large part because there was always one or more family members who embraced the challenge of learning the business – and Zengeler’s core values – from the ground up.

One such core value is the belief that community outreach is the responsibility of every civic-minded business owner. That philosophy began in the 1850s with company founder John Zengeler and continues to this day. Over the years, Zengeler Cleaners has invested thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours each year in support of programs such as Coats for Vets, a robust prom dress collection drive and many, many other local programmes that serve both youth and senior citizens in the communities served by Zengeler Cleaners.

Sankosha USA is the North American headquarters for Sankosha, located just 10 minutes from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Sankosha USA provides warehousing and distribution for the North American market. The administrative and service departments are also located at this facility. Here, Sankosha warehouses machinery, parts and covers/pads. Typically, it keeps between 200  and 300 machines in stock and over $2 million-worth of parts inventory across 3,000 plus different items. There is also a state-of-the-art showroom which can showcase up to 10 machines at once.