It's been a very busy first quarter, complete with travel to The Cleaning Show in the United Kingdom, RIA tradeshow (Restoration Industry Association) in Palm Springs, California, Servpro of the Carolinas Conference in Charleston, South Carolina and Servpro of Penn Del Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Throughout all of our travels, one thing has been clear...Ultrasonic Cleaning is now recognized, worldwide, as an extremely useful tool.




Just this past weekend I had the privilege of speaking to Servpro franchises from Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey.


While many of these franchises already own our equipment and have realized the benefits of high profit margins in content cleaning, others were seeing ultrasonics for the first time. I was happy to share with the group information about how the technology is not only applicable to fire restoration, but the diversification possibilities into medical cleaning, industrial parts cleaning, window blind cleaning, golf club cleaning and more. This aspect is very appealing to all types of business owners. Especially with the current recession, it is important to have a way to compensate for a revenue stream slow down by being able to easily pick up another.


One of our Servpro clients who purchased our Super Mighty One (SM-200) model and Drye Rite cabinet this past Summer, shared their story about their very first job with the ultrasonic machines. The job came from a flooded office building that had 54 computers and boxes full of telephones that needed cleaning (see pictures below).











One employee who you see pictured below, completed the entire cleaning job over the weekend!



She cleaned 3 computers at a time in the ultrasonic tank, and then placed them in the dryer until she filled the dryer (it fit 16 computers!). After 4 hours of dry time, she would remove the computers and fill the dryer with more newly cleaned computers.



Because of the quick turnaround, Servpro was able to walk back into the client's office on Monday morning, set up the computers, and get them back to work. Now that's service...and that's ultrasonics.

A Year In Review and Plans for 2009

In my last entry, I mentioned a new client and his cheery outlook on the New Year (see http://morantz.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-year.html). At a time when many people would rather crawl into bed, pull the covers up, and be woken up when it's 2010, his optimism was almost overwhelming.

As a result, my thoughts turned towards my own New Year. Was I excited about what my work had in store for me this year? Was I ready to execute new plans we had in place? Would working in my family's business continue to help me realize my own dreams and potential? Was I viewing this year as a time for opportunity, even though we are facing a worldwide economic crisis?

Before I could look forward and answer these questions, I reflected on the past year; all of it: the good and the bad.

First, The Good.

In 2008 we had a tremendous growth year. In the 12 years I have been with the company, I can report that on many levels, this was among our very best. Not only in terms of sales, but also because of the tremendous progress in completing what had been a 2 year overhall of our company from the ground up. New processes that had been put in place finally reached fruition. This has made fulfilling orders easier, more timely and with much higher quality.

Our staff, although slightly reduced in size, is efficient and seasoned. I am fortunate to work with such an amazing group of individuals (including two of my own family menbers) who are extremely loyal to our organization.

We have one staff member, Debbie Balliet, who runs our Western Regional Office in Las Vegas, Nevada, with whom we celebrated her 25th anniversary with the company.





Joe Leggett in Operations celebrated his 31st year with Morantz!



We also added on a new training and distribution center in Orlando, Florida! This is a very exciting venture as Orlando continues to grow as a hub for commerce and entertainment. Floridians who are interested in our equipment, or any client for that matter who would like to escape the winter blahs or bring the family along during training, can make arrangements to see a demonstration or train at the new facility. Even more exciting, we are offering training in SPANISH at this location and now have people visiting from all over Central and South America.

My amazing travels .

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our growing distribution in Australia. I had one of the greatest experiences this year traveling to Australia to meet and work with our distributor at the BSM expo, formerly known as Ausclean. I was honored to be a guest speaker at this expo which is considered in Australia to be "the trade show" of our industry. (See http://bsmexpo.com.au/seminars and scroll down to the 3rd speaker--that's me!).

The people I met were eager to learn about Ultrasonics and the benefits that it could bring to their service businesses.

Our Australian Distributors:


Showing the Machines in Action:


From fire restoration to medical cleaning to golf club cleaning, there has been tremendous support. Did I mention that Australians are among the nicest people I have ever met? And that I got to feed and pet a Kangaroo?

Watch this video:



Other Australian photos:

My new, marsupial friends:




A Beautiful Australian Vinyard That We Visited:


Speaking of travel, we made the rounds to several states this year including Texas, Georgia, Maryland, Nevada and Florida.



We also travelled to Europe to participate in the International Sanitary Supply Association tradeshow, where, as always, we received a tremendous amount of interest. It was very nice to see our international colleagues including clients and distributors.





Above are some pictures from the tradeshow floor and below, some from our European journey, including our sunset cruise.










Team Morantz enjoying a beautiful evening canal cruise.













Seminars.

This year, we also put on one of the best Firesonics Seminar in our history. In addition to our extremely knowledgeable instructor, Larry Myslicki, we welcomed a new guest speaker, Barb Jackson. Barb is known to many in the industry as "The Queen of Contents" and she certainly lives up to the hype. Her extensive first hand knowledge of contents cleaning allowed her impart valuable information to our class to take them through what I call the "nitty gritty" of fire restoration content work. I am very happy that Morantz has worked with Barb this year. She definitely helps to flesh out the training for anyone who is entering the Fire Restoration training arena. Here are some photos from our Seminar.

Larry Myslicki leading the class:


Barb Jackson accepting a Certificate of Appreciation from Stan Morantz:


Class attendees watching a demonstration of Ultrasonic Techniques:


Other Good Things This past year Morantz Ultrasonics and I personally have become involved with supporting a wonderful charity organization by the name of Kisses for Kyle. I joined the board of directors for this non-profit to help raise money for children with cancer and their families. Morantz continues to sponsor many of the wonderful events the organization puts on throughout the year.

Over the holidays, I visited our local children's hospital along with my 7 year old daughter, Sara, the President of Kisses for Kyle and some fellow board members. We delivered wagon loads of gifts to the children that hopefully helped to lift their spirits.




It was an amazing experience and it makes you stop and think how incredibly lucky you are to just have a healthy child. If you're interested in learning more about this wonderful organization, please visit www.kissesforkyle.org.

Here is the bad. Well, no one can have a perfect year, right? Unfortunately, we had to let our Distributors in both the U.K. and Greece go. It was tremendously unfortunate and disappointing on many levels that I will not get into here, but we have exciting plans to announce for 2009 very soon. Stay tuned....

Plans for 2009. So...where has all this reflection led to for the coming year? First, it helps me to remain positive by acknowledging the progress we have made. It also helps the entire organization to stay focused and "sow the seeds" we have planted for growth both domestically and internationally. These are definitely motivating factors to keep us all moving forward and excited.

Here's what we have coming up: - Several new franchises have expressed interest in working with us - our Canadian distributor plans to unveil his new state-of-the-art facilty for training this year - and we are unveiling our brand new Digital Generators which will provide more power and greater functionality (more to come on this so keep checking back). - We have opened a new European support center for equipment service as well as adding on new distribution - We are also in the process of planning our next "East Coast" Firesonics Seminar...And there is much more!

Despite the challenges we are all facing, 2009 is shaping up to be an exciting year. I hope you will join in the journey with us.

A New Year

Happy New Year! I said this to a new client by the name of Jim who I spoke to on the phone this week. His reply was, "This is going to be the best year ever!!".

WOW! His response really resonated with me. Here is a guy that recently lost his job with a company he worked with for over 10 years. At a time when he has every right to feel confused, angry and even resentful; amidst the daily news reports of doom and gloom; he remains utterly and fantastically optimistic.

When I asked him how he could be so positive, he told me, "I have been waiting all my life to take control and not work for someone else. I was just too scared to do it before. Getting laid off was the best thing that could have happened to me because now I will set my own hours, be my own boss, and take control of my own destiny."

...And he will. I have personally seen this scenario play out over and over again. People who have diligently worked for another boss for years finally having the opportunity to step out on their own and take charge. For many, it is a truly liberating and thrilling experience. They finally have the chance to live out their dreams and define what success means personally for themselves and their families. Although there is hard work involved with starting your own company, once things take off, our clients are then financially rewarded in ways that could never dream of as someone else's employee.

Good luck Jim...I do believe you are right. This may just be the best year of your professional life.

Automotive Parts Cleaning with Ultrasonics

When it comes to cleaning Automotive Parts, the Ultrasonic process does an exceptionally good job. Whether it is grease, dust, rust, carbon, or other dirts, in most cases, these can be removed quickly and easily without hours of hand scrubbing or use of harsh chemicals.

I wanted to share with you some pictures from recent jobs that we've done.

Most recently, I had a client visit and he brought with him an intake manifold from a Ford Mustang engine. He was specifically looking for a way to clean parts prior to powder coating them. Here are the "before" pictures:




Here are photos of our client checking out the finished result:




Depending on the type of dirt we are dealing with, and the make up of the parts to be cleaned, we may work with either a 40kHz frequency (our standard) or a 27kHz frequency to get more agressive. The rule of thumb is that the lower the frequency, the larger the bubble that is being produced and the more powerful the implosion in the Cavitation process. We also have 4 different cleaning solutions that we utilize depending again on the dirt and the part.

Take a look at the following before and after photographs of other automotive parts we have cleaned with Ultrasonics:















A few of the parts you see above are piston heads and exhaust lifters from a motorcycle. There are also rims from a Nascar race car. We have similarly cleaned helicopter parts, boat parts, airplane parts and more. Next week we will be trying something new...lawnmower parts...so check back soon.

Cleaning Keyboards with Ultrasonics

Yesterday I was looking at my computer keyboard and realized that it was time to clean it. Like everyone else, I too sometimes eat at my desk, drop crumbs in the keyboard and have general dirt build up over time. Unlike everyone else, I have unlimited access to ultrasonic machines to clean my keyboard.

Before starting, I decided to take some photos so everyone could see this quick and easy process. I also took some readings both before and after the cleaning so that everyone could appreciate the cleanliness difference that ultrasonic cleaning really makes. (Note that I enlisted the help of Josh Perlson, our digital media designer, so when you see a hairy hand or arm you'll know it's his and not mine!).


(Click on this photo to see a larger version with more detail of my dirt!)

First, the swab test. We took a pre-swab for an ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) test that measures bioluminesence or signs of bacterial life. This count gives a starting point and is a great way to verify that our cleaning is working. As you can see, the count on my keyboard was 181 (dirty!).



Most people don't appreciate that their keyboards can be a breeding ground for germs. In fact, there has recently been much discovered and reported about in the news on how keyboards at nursing stations have been one of the main causes of the spread of MRSA in the hospitals both domestic and abroad. (To see a report on this utilizing our cleaning systems in the U.K., visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7187856.stm.)

Next, the keyboard was submerged for one minute in our M-115(Mighty One)ultrasonic cleaning system which is regularly used for cleaning electronics of all types.



After removing the keyboard and drying it with both our Heated Blow Dry Gun and in our Drye Rite electronics drying station, we performed another ATP swab test. This time the result was only 29 (which is great because in the food industry anything under 30 is considered to be excellent).



The result is that I am now typing this blog from a keyboard that looks better, functions better and is verified as clean. If you are currently working in, or considering ultrasonic cleaning for offices, hospitals, schools and other public areas, I would recommend you consider ATP testing along with your ultrasonic process to show your clients the difference that ultrasonic cleaning makes.

New clients visit for training

Today we welcome new clients to our family of Ultrasonic Cleaners. While they have not picked a name for their new company yet, David Morson, along with his fiancée, Cindy, his father Lamar Morson and Lamar's wife Hannah Morson all completed 2 days of basic training at our Philadelphia headquarters and are headed back home to take delivery of their new 3-in-1 system.

Training is among my very favorite activities at Morantz Ultrasonics. While I do the majority of the teaching during training, I also make sure I spend time at the beginning of each session doing plenty of listening. This is my way of knowing what I really need to teach my clients to position them best for success. Believe me, it’s not the same for everyone. I’ve never approached our training as a set, static class. I individualize each training session for the needs of that client. This is the reason we conduct our basic training classes one on one and not in a group, classroom style.

For example, Dave and his family are a new, start-up business. They are planning to diversify into many different areas of ultrasonic cleaning including window blind cleaning, fire restoration and parts cleaning. To teach them everything they needed to know, I set aside two days. Beyond the basic know-how of the machine and cleaning techniques, we spent time talking about the family’s goals and expectations for the business. This helps me to make recommendations on things as diversified as marketing, pricing, and even the legal structure of the company (I am a lawyer so I always ask about the nitty, gritty details to make sure everything is being thought through). However, if for example, I was training an existing fire restoration company, I would not approach the training the same way. Their needs are very different, as is each client’s needs.

I truly believe that training and support is the key to success in this business, and while each client has different needs, we are available for all of them. I told David before he left that he should feel free to call me and ask questions often….especially in the beginning when he is just getting started. He admitted that he is a bit anxious about everything but feels better knowing he can reach us should he need to.

Best wishes to the Morson family on their new venture!

Note: Shortly after this post, here is the note we received from the Morson's:
Dear Stan, Lisa, Heather, and the entire Morantz Team.

We wanted to thank you for your hospitality, generosity, and wonderful experience we had coming to your operation. We look forward to embarking on a wonderful journey in the world of ultrasonic cleaning. The professionalism of each of your employees was unmatched. It was truly a pleasure dealing with each of them.

We are very excited to get started and look forward to many future dealings with your company.

Sincerely,
David, LaMar, and Hannah Morson
Clean Blinds Now

Welcome to the New Morantz Ultrasonics Blog!

Welcome to the New Morantz Ultrasonics Blog. I am very excited to be able to update both our existing clients and other visitors on a real time basis about the events, innovations, techniques and news about our company and about the Ultrasonics industry.

For years we put out a newsletter. At the time, this was an effective tool for communicating information. However, with information being disseminated more and more rapidly, and with news changing daily, my hope is that this blog will be better than any newsletter could possibly be…and certainly more useful and relevant for our readers.

Thanks for visiting and check back frequently.