Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/125252
Alliance Laundry Systems, LLC » Alliance can trace its roots back to the hand cranked washers manufactured in 1908. » Washers and tumble dryers manufactured by Alliance can handle loads from 12 to 250 pounds. » There are more than 3 million Alliance Laundry machines installed worldwide. » Alliance Laundry has more than 1,600 employees, six global brands and approximately 1.1 million feet of manufacturing space housed in facilities in Ripon and in Belgium (Europe). » Ownership: The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan acquired a majority interest (82.6 percent of stock) in the laundry equipment manufacturer in 2005. Alliance management indirectly owns the balance. » Website: www.alliancelaundry.com 24 | Insight • M a y 2 013 COUR TESY OF ALLIANCE LAUNDRY SYSTEMS They want their machines to work, every time, well past the point end-users have recovered their investment. Then they want to make them last even longer. "The dirty laundry never stops coming," says Bob Baudhuin, vice president of engineering at Alliance Laundry. "Our clients can't afford to have machines that don't work." And perhaps no one understands that better than Ron Feinstein, owner of the largest privatelyowned laundry company in the United States. Feinstein has learned a couple of hard and fast truths about the laundry business in his day. One is that people will always need clean clothes, a truth that has helped insulate the industry from economic downturns and makes it a great investment. The other truth is that the best way to take advantage of the first rule is to use washers and dryers built by Alliance Laundry. As the owner of All Valley Washer Service headquartered in Van Nuys, Calif., Feinstein owns nearly 35,000 machines he maintains and operates on college campuses, apartment complexes and military bases throughout southern California, Arizona and Nevada. "We've used a lot of manufacturers," Feinstein says. "But we've always had Speed Queen. We've Control panels for the four primary Alliance brands – Speed Queen, UniMac, IPSO and Huebsch, pictured – allow users to specify a wide variety of wash and rinse cycles, as many as 30 on many models. always used them because they are reliable." That reliability is critical for Feinstein, who is referred to, in laundry business-lingo, as a route operator. Feinstein owns and services the equipment installed in various locations across his three-state territory. He needs machines that are reliable and can withstand thousands of loads – and some rough handling. "If something goes wrong, we can be looking at an 11-hour drive to some of our locations," he says. "We need to know we have machines that are going to work, and when there are problems, know we have a partner that will help us get the problem resolved." Feinstein has done his own tests and knows he can count on Speed Queen, one of several brands manufactured by Alliance Laundry at the company's Ripon facilities. In the past, he has installed both Speed Queen and machines from another manufacturer in similar residential settings to determine how different brands perform. What he found was fewer calls for service in the locations with Speed Queen equipment. When he did have a problem, the technicians and engineers at Alliance provided a solution – a service he found lacking in the competing brand. "It was six months before (the Alliance competitor) even responded, and then they still didn't have a solution, they were just hoping that we figured it out on our own," Feinstein says. Humble origins t may be the leading manufacturer of commercial laundry equipment in the world, but the company's origins are quite humble. Alliance traces its roots back to 1908, when the company introduced a hand-operated washer, and you can still see an early model of those first washers in the lobby of the company's headquarters in Ripon. It does seem a bit out of place standing next to some of the company's more modern offerings. Some of the new stainless-steel giants can hold up to 200 pounds of wet laundry and have computerized control systems that can tell, w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m