Strange But True

I am fortunate to work with many companies throughout the restoration, medical and cleaning industries.  Each company has its own unique cleaning challenges.  Some, however, are downright strange...but true.  From time to time I like to post these items that make you go "Really?"

Here's one.  I was recently training a restoration group in Wisconsin and the first item they brought out for test cleaning was a mounted and stuffed deer head.  They asked "Can we clean it with Ultrasonics?"  "Of course", I replied.  Here's a photo of it on the M-115 "Mighty One" machine.

The soot that was removed was considerable.  You could really see a difference in both the body and the antlers.  After it was cleaned, it was dried with a Heated Blow Dry Gun. 

Recap of Interclean Exhibition

Morantz Ultrasonics journeys to Amsterdam bi-annually to participate in the world’s largest cleaning supply exhibition, Interclean. This year, up until the day we had planned to leave, we weren't sure we were going to make it. The recent eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano in Iceland, that had shut down much of the air traffic across Europe, threated to prevent our trip and possibly, from the show taking place. Luckily there was a break in the ash cloud and we were able to take off without issue.


Lisa Morantz and Neal Wiser at the Morantz Ultrasonics stand.

We had a great time meeting people in our industry from all over the world, and showing them the myriad of benefits derived from Ultrasonic Cleaning. Here is a list of the countries we met people from: (Note: the U.S.A. should be on this list too).



Even better, being at the tradeshow afforded us the opportunity to see many of our clients and to catch up with them. It’s always exciting for me to learn more about their businesses and how they are using their Ultrasonic Machines.

Amelia from Portugal let me know that she is using the machine primarily to clean parts for two major shipyards, and also for computer cleaning. She admitted that starting out 6 years ago trying to convince her clients to clean their computers with sound waves was not without its challenges. Now, she claims confidently, this is a niche market that is an in-demand service.



Sven from the Netherlands let us know that the blind cleaning machine he purchased from us 4 years ago paid for itself right away, and continues to be a revenue generator. While his company has cleaned many blinds in the machine, the entire staff came back to learn a bit more about how they can better market the ultrasonic cleaning service, and how they can diversify into other services such as contents restoration, parts cleaning and more.

We also were happy to see Adriana and her father, Gabriel, from the Canary Islands who have our SM-200 (Super Mighty One) system.



Neal and I, in an effort to not have to repack the M-115 (Mighty One) machine that we brought to the show, decided to put it up for sale. Sure enough, one of the fire restoration companies we had met two years previously at Interclean, purchased the machine. Below is the lucky new owner, Noel from Clean and Construct in Belgium. Before taking the machine back with him, he brought a few items to try out. Here you seem him pre-treating a greasy part that cleaned up beautifully.




Greasy Part cleaning in tank.



When not at the exhibition, we spent hours walking around, experiencing this vibrant city.









The beautiful architecture looks much the same as it did in the 1600’s.



On the last evening of the show, the city wide celebration of Queen’s Day began. A national holiday in honor of the Queen’s birthday (although not the current Queen Beatrice but her mother’s birthday), the entire city became a sea of orange shirts, wigs, boas, balloons and more. I was told that Queen’s Day is the only day anyone can sell anything without a permit, so in essence the entire city is one big flea market. Maybe next time I’ll bring more machines to sell on the street at Queen’s Day (LOL!)

Overall, a great trip! We are looking forward to Interclean 2012.

Kraft Foods Cleaning with Morantz Ultrasonics

There are many uses for our Ultrasonic Cleaning Systems, but just when we thought we knew them all, along comes something new. A few months ago I was contacted by an energy optimization company that works for many large companies including, Kraft Foods Inc. Kraft had a specific part for their baking ovens that needed to be cleaned, and the pressure washing/hand cleaning they were doing wasn't working. The question posed to me was "Can you clean them?" My answer: "I don't know until we try". So that's just what we did. These parts were sent to me for a test clean, and sure enough, the ultrasonic process worked wonderfully. The parts were functional again, saving not only time in cleaning, but a tremendous amount of money in both labor and replacement costs.

In the past couple of months I personally visited a few of the Kraft bakeries to install custom equipment and train their staff on the operation of the system.


These photos are from the Chicago operation, which as I was told during my visit, is the largest bakery in the world! I have no doubt as each of their ovens was literally a football field long (that's Gridiron football for all you non US citizens reading this).


One of the many Kraft Foods ovens.

Yes I do look lovely in my hair net...not!

Kraft's need was specific, and therefore required a machine to be built to their specifications. While many times one of the standard Morantz models will work for an application (there are over 10 different shapes and sizes to choose from!), or at least one can usually be modified for an application, this time it could not. Accordingly, we built a specialized system for Kraft and worked closely with their engineers to be able to provide them with the best tool possible. Here's a photo of Kraft's new system now installed in their bakeries throughout the U.S.:


The Kraft staff watching parts clean and learning the operation of the system. They were all very grateful they no longer had to spend tedious hours working on these by hand.













If you company has a special part that needs cleaning, and you can send it to us, we will be happy to offer you a FREE trial cleaning. Just this week I mentioned this to a potential client and they happily sent me this steamer oven full of calcium deposits to trial.

The company who owns this steamer (and many others like this) is paying to replace them 2 or 3 times a year at a cost of several thousands of dollars.

By running the trial at our facility, we were able to determine the proper cleaning chemical, temperature, process, power, frequency and machine size needed for the job.
The result was amazing. Take a look:



Now, the company who is purchasing the ultrasonic machine will clean these ovens on a regular basis, charge nicely for the service (meaning they will make an excellent profit) but still save the client thousands of dollars. That's a true win-win.

If you have a part you would like us to trial clean, please contact me at lisa@ultrasonicmachines.com.

Window Blind Cleaning and Social Media

For many of us, social media has become a standard in our lives. With the proliferation of Facebook, Twitter and other networks, I find myself on the internet more than ever discussing all types of topics with people from all over the world. But who would have ever thought that WINDOW BLIND CLEANING would have been one of those topics?

Don't take my word for it. Check out Facebook and Twitter where I found these messages:

I hate cleaning wood blinds!!!, why did I have to get them everywhere in my house.

You could take em off & throw em in a tub…or buy a swiffer…I hate dusting blinds UGH!

Decided that cleaning window blind slats is right up there with silver polish; never gets done either

Took down blind to clean it...took hours!

Cleaning a mini blind? Don't bother. Its too hard.

Recently I came across a Blog which threw out the simple question:
What's The Best and Easiest Way to Clean Blinds?

Throughout the day, 21 people replied. Most people responded with their homemade bath tub type cleaning and dusting techniques and many admitted that their methods were the best you can expect to do with these methods, but not desirable. And all this frustration leads to people absolutely hating the job of cleaning blinds!














Here was my FAVORITE response:

When asked how to clean Yes there is a great way to take care of this problem! Make sure to read all the way through…even though this is easy, it is kind of detailed instructions.

What you do:
Mix a quart of vinegar, a small box of baking soda, in a bathtub about half to three quarters full of hot hot water.

You need a hammer for this part.

Take down all the horizontal mini-blinds in your home and hammer them to one inch pieces and set the pile on fire. Have the marshmellows handy! While your fire is getting the coals built up (because you can’t rush a great campfire) go online and order some vertical blinds, roman shades, or curtains for the windows in your home, all of which are easy to clean.Next, throw a beach towel over your naked bathroom window. Sprinkle some lavender oil or rose petals in the tub with the vinegar and soda water (which is great for the skin by the way) and celebrate your wise decision with a nice hot soak for your tired, stressed out, marshmellowy body.
All this to say, I think mini-blinds are God’s way of mocking humans and I have NO idea how to deal with them.
(WINK WINK HAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!)

No, I was wrong, here is really my favorite response:

Pay to get them clean, that’s the easiest.

And many, many people do pay to get them clean. There is an absolutely huge market that has proven itself time and time again to be profitable.

The blog went on to discuss ultrasonic cleaning for blinds and stated:

"There are many benefits of ultrasonic cleaning such as they eliminate pollutants, germs, bacteria and move dust. And the best thing of this method is that you can clean your blinds at reasonable price. Another great advantage is that with the help of this method you can not only clean roller blinds but other types of blinds such as vertical blinds, office blinds, wooden blinds, mini blinds and Venetian blinds can be cleaned perfectly." (See http://allshutter.cz.cc/different-ways-of-cleaning-your-roller-blind/).

Just yesterday I was on the phone with one of our clients in Italy. He told me he renamed the Baby Blind Cleaning Machine he puchased from us. Now he calls it "Money" because it has not stopped making him money.

Here are the reasons why:

Blinds have sold steadily over the past 20 years, and only continue to grow in popularity. In most countries, window blinds have overtaken curtains as the preferred window covering. Blinds have become more ornate, and at the same time, a well made blind is now both beautiful and expensive. Accordingly, the owners who spend thousands of dollars on new blinds are looking to protect their investment by maintaining them properly.

The problem with blinds is that they cannot be cleaned effectively with traditional scrubbing methods. Dusting moves dirt from side to side but rarely removes it. Then static electricity is created and more dust is attracted.

Cleaning in the bathtub or hosing down the blind in the backyard creates it's own challenges, among which are scratching, bending and pitting if the blind. Not to mention even if you get the top dirt off you cannot get the cords, ladders and tapes clean.

So if you have not already checked out Ultrasonic Blind Cleaning as a niche market service, that is both easy and profitable, give us a call. We'll be happy to show you how you can make money cleaning blinds...and if you don't believe me...check it out online.

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 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.