LATEST ISSUE / Editorial
Greetings dear Reader!
During May I had the pleasure of visiting Tasmania to take part in the Texcare Tasmania Weekend Seminar, a wonderful tradition that combines great speakers with a warm camaraderie, and is always held somewhere interesting. In recent years, apart from the obvious attractions of Hobart and Launceston, Members have explored places as diverse as St. Helens, Coles Bay and Bischeno. This year the venue was the north of the island, Devonport, and the event got great support across the membership.
A highlight of the weekend, though, was the awarding of Life Membership to Philip Littlejohn. President Jamie King took him quite by surprise when he spoke of the 25 years service Philip has devoted to Texcare Tasmania. “Philip came into the industry from his career path as a Chartered Accountant, following in his father’s footsteps, and many would recall Vic Littlejohn of Status Drycleaners, Hobart. Once John Young discovered Philip was an accountant he was elected to Treasurer of the association! Always a driving force on the Texcare Tasmania Committee Philip was involved in staging memorable – and profitable – TwinClean Conventions in Hobart. Proving himself in as a Treasurer of note, he was soon promoted to be our National Council Representative at DIA Ltd. While he did a lot of work we didn’t know about, when Roger Smith recently returned from a council meeting to tell us of the awe and respect in which Philip is held, it wasn’t really a surprise.”
Philip, on the other hand, was taken completely by surprise! He recalled his first exposure to the industry in 1985 at Ulverstone and said 25 years had gone very quickly and he had not expected any acknowledgement since he had enjoyed the fellowship of Texcare so much, and everyone puts in what they can for the association. Philip said it is in fact Meredith who deserves any accolades for what she has put up with!
Few people would deserve Life Membership of their state body more than Philip, and it was a delight to see his pleasure at receiving the approbation of his peers. No doubt the beautiful glass plaque Texcare Tasmania had commissioned in his honour will find an honoured position at home.
Shirley Naylor,
Editor
EVENTS / Upcoming
DOES YOUR PLANT NEED SMARTENING UP?
We are offering four A2 posters for the amazing price of $77.00 delivered anywhere in Australia by Australia Post. See the icon on the lower right hand side of this page for order form!
FROM PAKISTAN
"We are a textile company from Pakistan, we are looking for an individual having good contacts within the commercial textile sector of Australia, who can assist us to develop sales of terry toweling, sheeting and various other textile items. Remuneration to be mutually agreed.
A company representative hopefully visiting Australia in next 3 weeks, so a good opportunity for a face to face meeting, please apply in confidence, giving all your contact details to:
Email: commercetex@gmail.com
Tel: 0092-21-34311962
Fax: 0092-21-34537931
RASKO LAUNDRY, MARRICKVILLE, NSW WAS THE BACKDROP TO A GREAT 'JOHN BUTLER TRIO' MUSIC CLIP. LAUNDRY MADE COOL! paste this into your browser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p2BLqpZiKY&feature=youtube_gdata
LETTER FROM STELCO CHEMICALS TO INDUSTRY
We wish to make you aware that internationally there are hefty price hikes emerging as a result of strengthening demand for all chlorinated solvents such as methylene chloride, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene.
These solvents are increasingly being used in alternative formulations to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) products in refrigerants due to environmental concerns. Couple this with the fact that several plants closed last year during the recession and you have a recipe for price hikes and product shortages.
Over the last 12 months we have had increases in the buying price of perchloroethylene of about 50%, fortunately the strength of the Aussie dollar has buffered this effect to some extent. Further Stelco have so far been able to absorb most of the increased costs by streamlining our operation practices thus enabling us to maintain our competitive pricing. However, things are about to change and we are forced to put the price up to reflect more closely the true cost of the stock.
Perchloroethylene is now being allocated by major manufacturers, meaning restrictions of supply and the price is increasing dramatically, We have already been advised by our supplier that we can expect monthly price reviews for the coming months.
At Stelco we have been very active in ensuring we have sufficient supply in the pipeline to service and support the Australian Dry Cleaning Industry but this comes at a cost. Hence, please be prepared for increases. How long this situation will go on for we are not sure but we will be doing our best to keep the increases as modest as possible.
In the next few months, we will be reviewing our Perclean price monthly, and then advise our customers of the new price structure promptly. It is therefore important that our customers help us to minimise our servicing costs so that we keep our selling price down.
In the unlikely event that allocation of stock is required, our stock will be allocated to our customers according to their respective buying pattern in the past year. To those customers who has had a history of buying Perclean from Stelco consistently in the past, we will give them priority allocation of their monthly average requirement. This is to highlight that our loyalty to our long term customers is never compromised.
We thank you for you understanding and we endeavour to bring the price back down should the supply condition improve.
Teresa Pong,
Stelco Chemicals
DRYCLEANING Institute of Australia (South Australia Inc.)
Ph (08) 8352 8233 Fax (08) 8352 8277
176 Grange Rd Flinders Pk. SA
Email: srassoc@adam.com.au
22nd April 2010…
SOUTH AUSTRALIA VOTES TO REMAIN INDEPENDENT
In a vote of all Drycleaning Institute of Australia (South Australia) Inc Members held on 21st April 2010, it was resolved not to disband the organisation to enable a shift to a proposed National Entity.
The vote was decisive – 75% against and 25% for, with well over 50% of Members participating.
South Australian Drycleaners will now ‘go it alone’ and following the vote, the Members made some decisive decisions to ensure that the SA organisation would continue to deliver the services that Members wanted.
The graduated Membership fees would continue until the annual review at the AGM in September, when it was quite likely that fees would be reduced.
All Members will now receive, free of charge, the bi-monthly magazine produced for the drycleaning / laundry industry (The National), while they will also have access to all of the industrial services of the State Retailers Association of SA.
The Training Program already in progress will continue with Training Days now scheduled for July & October.
A system to recognise drycleaners who achieve a targeted degree of professionalism & environmental responsibility is under development for the implementation in the near future, along with a series of publications to improve the public’s knowledge of the drycleaning industry and in particular, the meaning of Care Labels on garments.
All drycleaners will be personally contacted in the next two weeks regarding their views on what they expect from the DIA SA into the future. From that, a properly costed business plan will be developed for adoption at the AGM.
State President Paul Nemer, commenting on the vote said “We now have a mandate to deliver what Members want and then at an affordable price – and we can do it”.
Enquiries, John Brownsea Ph (08) 8352 8233
FRANK HAUSER HAS JOINED KANNEGIESSER AUSTRALIA
Kannegiesser Australia announce the appointment of Mr. Frank Giordano-Hauser who joined our Company at the beginning of May in the position of Area Sales Manager (NSW).
Frank is an Australian permanent resident but a native born German national from the Stuttgart area of Germany who moved to Australia in 2004.
Frank started his professional career in Germany in instrumentation and controls and has a strong background in industrial plant automation.
Since moving to Australia in 2004 Frank has been working in the Sydney area as an instrumentation engineer specializing in major water treatment and desalination project management.
While he has not been directly involved in the laundry industry before Frank brings to a wealth of technical and project management experience, in an area that is closely associated with our industry
Frank is looking forward to the new challenge of the laundry industry and in particular providing sales solutions and support to our customers across NSW and Australia.
I am sure you will make Frank welcome.
WANTED - ALL ROUND DRYCLEANER FOR RELIEF WORK, SYDNEY
If you are a reliable, experienced drycleaner, available for relief work in the northern suburbs of Sydney, please Phone Annette on 0432 450 845
GreenClean 2010 – October 15-17, 2010
"GreenClean 2010 is the premier down under International Business Conference open to all dry cleaners interested in building a successful future for themselves. Internationally renowned speakers from the USA, New Zealand and Australia will share their expertise and their experiences with the Conference attendees. David Shorland of Central Dry Cleaning will be our local host providing a tour of his GreenEarth plant." trumpets the GreenEarth website!
This will be a very affordable International Conference and some great return airfare deals are available on the net. Plan your holiday now. More details soon.
Sponsored by GreenEarth Australiasia for the benefit of all dry cleaners in their pursuit of a prosperous future. Mark these dates today. October 15-17, 2010
- Download the brochure from the EVENTS section of this website -
LAUNTEX 2010 ANNOUNCED – BREAKING NEWS –
September 22nd - 24th, at the Swiss Grand Hotel, Bondi Beach, NSW
Launtex 2010. The 15th Annual Conference of the Australian Healthcare Laundry and Linen Services Association, which quite apart from the healthcare sector increasingly attracts heavy patronage from commercial launderers, is on the move!
This year in choosing iconic Bondi Beach, they have broken with their tradition of siting the conference at a country centre (previously Mitchell, Newcastle and Wollongong). With international laundry consultant and engineer Glen Phillips of Glen Phllips & Associates headlining the speaker list, and a visit to Parramatta Linen Service with address by Jagat Prakash, Manager of PLS on the menu, do not miss this conference.
More details will be announced shortly, stay tuned. If you need to speak with the Launtex team, email Josh Jowsey at jowjow@bigpond.com You can log on to the launtex website for further details. www.launtex.com
TRLA SA
At Berri, the weekend of August 28 - 29, 2010. Awaiting further details from the organisers, but what I have heard about their proposed programme impresses me greatly! See EVENTS for the full colour brochure on this fabulous weekend.
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