Jon Young, Executive Director of Hawaii Asphalt Pavement Industry (HAPI) is excited about the direction his association is heading in. With Young’s coming on board, HAPI, which represents asphalt producers and other paving related industries, is able to dedicate full–time attention to customer’s questions and technical needs.

HAPI began in 1989 and is based in Honolulu, but represents the asphalt industry throughout the state of Hawaii. “We want everyone to know that we’re here for the entire state,” Young says. “What we really want to do is promote the educational aspect of it. If people have the right info they can make the best decision that is right for them.” Young hopes that choice would be asphalt but says HAPI would support whatever is best for their clients and the general public. Young, himself, is coming from a Civil Engineer design consultant background as well as ten years of experience as a Site Construction Manager. Since becoming HAPI Executive Director last July, he’s hoping to use his past experience to identify more with engineers, as well as to gain a better level of understanding with those working out in the field given his combined areas of expertise.

Since Young started, he says that their focus is not just on asphalt producers but on people who do pavement preservation, as well, because Young sees that as the direction the industry is headed. In addition, HAPI is focusing on the consultants, because the more they can educate the consultants on the products, the more equipped they will be to make the right decision when designing a project. “We have the toolbox,” Young says, “so whatever our clients need, the association can do.”

And education is a key focus for HAPI. “We’re looking at the past and trying to improve the future,” Young says. HAPI is developing four core service courses, “Asphalt Pavement Basics,” “Pavement Preservation,” “Lifecycle/Cost Analysis” and “Sustainable Asphalt Pavement.” Young says, “This is all in the development stage, but we’re hoping to do the first two seminars in the spring.” These four basic courses can then be repeated at set time throughout the year.

Another goal is to include the neighbor island members in activities of the association,” Young says. HAPI currently has 26 members spread around all the main Hawaiian Islands, and Young plans on visit each member at least once a year. HAPI has three membership types. The first is Active, which consists of asphalt producers and hot mix producers. There’s a Sustaining Membership comprised of lay-down contractors who purchase the asphalt from producers, and then Associate members made up of consultants, suppliers, and people who do pavement maintenance like slurry and seal coating.

“The members all know each other so it’s a really great dynamic because everyone supports each other, works together and respects each other,” Young says, which may be a trait indicative of Hawaii’s Aloha spirit. “One thing that makes us unique,” he goes on to say, “is that we’re a small community and would like to have everyone included and represented in our membership. Young has set up a monthly newsletter where HAPI will discuss a featured project that highlights one of their members.

HAPI sees warm mix asphalt (WMA) as a paradigm shift in the industry. “That’s one thing that’s sweeping the country,” Young says. The use of warm mix asphalt pavement started in the United States in 2004. Since then the use of WMA has increased every year. In 2009, 19.2 million tons of WMA were produced followed by 47.2 million tons produced in 2010, WMA pavement is produced 50-100 degrees lower than conventional hot mix pavement (HMA), and one main benefit is that it’s better for workers who use it, as it uses less heat and, therefore, there are less fumes.

To date, the State Department of Transportation has allowed the use of WMA. HAPI is working with the City and County agencies to have them become comfortable with WMA so they will allow it to be used in their roads. “The situation is that plants, on a given day, can produce either HMA or WMA, but not both,” Young explains. “We want to get to a point where people are predominately using WMA.”

Priority Number One, Young says, “Is we’re hoping our members and clients are happy.” Sounds like he’s on the right track.

For more information visit http://hawaiiasphalt.org or call 808.847.HAPI (4274).

Story by Megan McClure

When you think of Malibu, California, you might hear Robin Leach’s voice in your head talking about the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” And while the tiny enclave located along the Pacific Ocean outside of Los Angeles may be one of the most notoriously affluent in the country, it is also occupied by a community with the environment in mind.

Arthur Aladjadjian, Public Works Superintendent for the City of Malibu, says, “The projects we do, we do try to specify energy saving equipment and usage.” In fact, because the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), which is a state highway, is a main road used to get to, through and around Malibu, the city has an agreement with the state of California to handle the sweeping operations along that stretch of the PCH
and invoice them for the job.

The PCH is a famous scenic route that meanders along the California coastline, starting in Orange County and running north of San Francisco. In Malibu, it is also sometimes known for its treacherous traffic conditions, narrowly stretching through the city for 27 miles. To get the job of sweeping the mile or so wide highway done, the city hired a new vendor, Venco Power Sweeping Inc. based out of Oxnard, CA. In addition to sweeping the PCH, Venco handles the sweeping applications for all of Malibu’s public streets, park facilities, and City Hall.

Another major fixture in Malibu is the Malibu Civic Center. According to Media Information Officer for the City of Malibu, Olivia Damavandi, “It is not only the heart of the city, but also the centerpiece of Malibu’s environmental movement.” The civic center is comprised of City Hall, the Malibu Courthouse, the Malibu Public Library, Legacy Park, the Labor Exchange and three major shopping centers, all of which are united by the city’s commitment to environmental stewardship.

The roads that connect Malibu Civic Center were recently repaved using rubberized asphalt and pervious pavers, which allow stormwater to percolate and infiltrate through areas that would traditionally be impervious to the soil below. “For the seven years that I’ve been here, any street that’s been paved has used rubber asphalt, “Aladjadjian says. “The components have to be just right, but we’ve been using it successfully for several years now.”

One side of Legacy Park is bordered by one of the city’s busiest intersections at Webb Way and Pacific Coast Highway. The City of Malibu worked with local nonprofit Malibu Green Machine to replace that intersection’s unattractive concrete median with a new one that combines concrete and landscaping.

A landscaped highway is safer. Median landscaping increases the visual separation of the roadway, decreasing the risk of drivers entering oncoming traffic. Transportation research shows landscaped medians can slow cars and even deflect vehicles that mount the median curb. Planting on medians can reduce glare of oncoming headlights for drivers. Also, by softening the streetscape, the city hopes to make PCH appear more like the residential road it really is and get drivers to slow down.

A landscaped highway is also more environmentally-friendly. Given PCH’s proximity to the ocean, the city feels it important to limit vehicle pollution. The city and Malibu Green Machine plan to devote a larger part of Malibu’s medians, which are mostly paved, to plants. Every time a car breaks, it releases zinc and lead, and paved medians cannot absorb discharge from vehicles, which sends pollutants to the city’s stormwater treatment plant, as well as streams, rivers and oceans. But with landscaping on medians, certain plants can break these polluting compounds into micro-nutrients. Landscaping also absorbs more rainwater, reducing harmful run-off.

From handling the street sweeping of their section of the PCH, to using rubber asphalt in their road paving, as well as landscaping their medians to reduce pollutants in stormwater runoff, the City of Malibu is setting an example by doing all that they can to preserve the environment in which they live. Aladjadjian adds, “Even any equipment we use is environmentally specified with very low energy usage in mind.” That’s a concept any community can get behind.

Story by Megan McClure and Olivia Damavandi

When Ralph Harrington launched City Wide Sweeping in Houston, Texas more than 25 years ago, he says, “I knew instinctively that I had to understand the mechanics of my equipment and how to keep my fleet running, as well as how to sweep streets and commercial lots.” And he is convinced that without this holistic view of his industry he could easily have been swept away by the competition. Instead, the company has grown to take in almost half a million dollars in annual revenues.

The Necessary Tools
As a young man, Harrington attended Bailey Technical School in St. Louis, Missouri, and credits this decision in large part for his current success saying, “My father also ran a successful business, and I learned a great deal from him, which helped me run a dump truck company, as well as become the owner of a gas service station.” He adds, “When I first moved to Houston more than 30 years ago, five years prior to starting City Wide, I worked my way up to general manager of Champion Maintenance, and this was my first experience working with sweepers.”

Harrington considers himself a real nuts and bolts guy, and studying mechanics has turned out to be a crucial skill set that he couples with his ability to talk to anybody at any level of the business community. He says, “I enjoy, equally, working in the shops talking technical issues with the mechanics, helping my operators on a job site, or discussing the benefits of our City Wide maintenance plan in a CEO’s office dressed in a suit and tie.”

Equipment Expertise
Harrington is well-versed in the use and repair of sweeping equipment, noting, “When I first started my sweeping company, I worked for Masco as one of its repair or contact facilities and have built a reputation for being extremely knowledgeable about their equipment. I am proud to say that they still consider me the go-to person when other businesses have issues in the Houston area.”

City Wide Sweeping uses only truck mounted Masco sweeper units, which, in Harrington’s opinion, are “the most efficient, quickest and cost effective equipment available. We use a three-cubic-yard model, recirculating vacuum sweeper that is specifically designed to sweep cans, glass bottles, diapers, stones and rocks, sand and grit, as well as broken glass. The unit also features a high-speed hand blower, so we are able to clean difficult areas such as sidewalks and loading docks.”

On-Site Servicing
Harrington emphasizes that every one of his trucks is serviced on-site on a daily basis and equipped with GPS technology. “It has always been my experience that the Masco products give me the best performance because they contain fewer moving parts with lower noise output,” he says. The trucks are easy to maneuver and operate with water-cooled engines that have electric ignitions, and all come with a backpack blower. He also says, “The stainless steel hoppers resist corrosion, which is a real plus, since the Houston area is known for its humid weather, and rust has always been our enemy.”

City Wide’s maintenance plans are based on the diverse needs inherent in each business site, whether commercial or private. According to Harrington, “Each site has its own set of variables, including the type of business, size, terrain design and paved surface condition. We offer flexibility and formulate our plans solely around a customer’s needs.” He adds, “Some businesses require a regular sweeping schedule, while other customers just need a one-time cleaning.” The company’s sweeping sites include business parks, container yards, malls, hospitals, business campuses, shopping and strip centers, loading docks and garages. Their services include vacuuming, litter removal, emptying and relining trash receptacles.

Self-Sufficiency
A major factor that sets City Wide apart from other sweeping services, Harrington explains, “is that we are completely self-sufficient. We do all of our own sweeping and cleaning. Plus, we repair and maintain all of our own equipment, and do not hire subcontractors.”

Many of City Wide’s mechanics have their own equipment, as well. Right now, the company has six full-time employees, but for seasonal or special events, or if the region experiences weather-related problems, they will hire part time staff. Harrington also speaks as a proud father of his daughter, Kristie, who contributes her marketing skills to the company, saying, “She’s very talented. She designed and manages City Wide’s website and Twitter site, as well as owns her own company, Abstract Device.”

A Proactive Approach
On the economic front, Harrington is quick to point out, “Like most companies in my industry, I’ve seen our revenues fluctuate according to changes in market demand, but being proactive and maintaining a solid reputation has helped us weather the periodic downturns.” Today, City Wide is proud to include Hooks Airport, the Boeing Company, Kingwood Hospital and Academy Sports & Outdoor among its customers.

When asked what advice he would give to a young person who wanted to go into the sweeping and cleaning business, he states, “It is critical to keep your fleet manageable and keep your eye on everything and everyone. This is a 24 hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week, year ‘round proposition if you are going to do it right and keep your customers happy.”

For more information on City Wide Sweeping, log on to http://www.citywidesweeping.com,
or call 281-441-8181.

Story by Daurelle Golden Harris

Gerry Kesselring, president and CEO of Contract Sweepers & Equipment in Ohio, does not mince words when he says, “Graffiti is bad for business from any and all vantage points. No one wants to work or shop in buildings or neighborhoods where this loosely termed art form or ‘tag,’ as it is called on the street, is present.”

Graffiti removal is just one of the many services Kesselring’s company offers, but one that is more increasingly needed, particularly in cities since the downturn in the economy. “We can’t stress enough to our clients and customers the importance of prompt removal,” he says. “When the tagger realizes that his or her “work” is short-lived in a lot or on a building, they will go elsewhere with their paints. And, it is cost-effective for the customer because it reduces the need for our services over time.” Kesselring is dedicated to educating his clients and customers about the fact that, “prompt removal of graffiti goes hand-in-hand with sweeping commercial or industrial sites clean of all types of debris and litter. A lot, shopping center or industrial site’s appearance can have a profound effect on a property’s value.”

50 Years and Counting
Founded in 1960, Contract Sweepers celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2010, and Kesselring has been with the company for more than half of those years. “Following my graduation from Ohio State, I landed a job with the original owners of Contract Sweepers and figured that within three years I could learn great business skills and then move on,” he says. “But time had a way of slipping away from me, and here I am today, 25 years later.”

As the largest NAPSA-certified sweeping contractor in the state with two main offices, one in Columbus and the other in Cincinnati, the company’s territory and free on-site demonstrations also extend to northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana, as well. Originally a family-owned company, Contract Sweepers restructured in 2004 to become an Employee Stock Ownership Plan or ESOP. “In terms of our upper management structure, as CEO, I work closely with our CFO and our two division managers,” says Kesselring, “but this plan means that every employee is an owner, and vested in every aspect of our business. We currently employ approximately 90 people, but much of our business is seasonal, therefore, that number can fluctuate.”

Scrubbing In
Contract Sweepers licensed and insured fleet of sweepers offers comprehensive services for shopping centers, office parks, municipalities, state and local government sites, construction and industrial sites. The services include street and lot sweeping, floor sweeping and scrubbing, winter and other bad weather services, power washing and graffiti removal. “Our cleaning units use state-of-the-art technology to reduce the quantity of water needed by recapturing and recycling, an important environmental consideration,” says Kesserling. “We also rent, lease, repair and sell commercial and industrial sweeping equipment.” Contract Sweepers is authorized to sell the entire line of Tymco™ street sweepers, plus other brands of new and used equipment. The company offers cleaning chemicals for sale and will help customers with a preventative maintenance program for dispensing those chemicals.

A Landmark Cleaning
Contract Sweepers innovative and combined methods of removing graffiti with Armex® blasting, chemical cleaning, power washing (up to 3000psi), and repainting earned them the contract to clean the historic John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati during a seven-month restoration project in 2006. Completed and opened in 1866, the bridge spans the Ohio River connecting Cincinnati and Covington, Kentucky, and was the predecessor to Roebling’s famous Brooklyn Bridge.

Adapting is Asset
In a March 2010 interview with Columbus Business First, Kesselring was asked about the state of his business in relation to that of his commercial real estate customers. While still admitting concern a little more than a year later, he says, “the biggest asset I can bring to my company is the ability to formulate and adapt good ideas in an ever-changing environment through all the peaks and valleys, and to remain optimistic, but also realistic about economic recovery. Kesselring adds, “I know that cleaning and maintenance budgets have been cut both in the public and private sectors, but we are here to help our customers operate and to provide successful solutions by working within those budgets, particularly in the environmental regulatory area. If a company or municipality is unable to purchase our equipment, we give them the option of renting or leasing. We can tailor service contracts to reflect their resources and needs without compromising our excellent reputation.”

Important Alliance
Kesselring is excited about a new venture which he believes will sharpen Contract Sweepers competitive edge. “We recently joined 1-800-SWEEPER, a newly formed service network of independently owned power sweeping companies throughout the USA. With a unified marketing and service structure, a customer can contract for a wide variety of either one-time or on-going contracted sweeping services of the highest quality through a single point of purchase.” This combined initiative will make it possible for big box, or chain retail stores such as Best Buy, Target and Rite Aid’s facility management staff to deal directly with an individual store’s local sweeping service providers and thereby eliminate third-party management companies or “middleman” added costs. Kesserling notes, “By joining this initiative we can have greater impact by engaging in group purchasing of parts, supplies and fuel. I am very excited about this alliance as it will give us leveraged buying power keeping our costs as well as our customers’ costs down.”

Eye to the Future
If he could change one thing about the future of Contract Sweepers, says Kesserling, “it would be to redefine people’s perception about our industry to distinguish us, and our function, from landscaping contractors. Our personnel are on site more than any other contractors through all seasons. We are the companies’ eyes and ears, alerting them to potential problems regarding lot or site conditions and changes in a building’s structure before these issues escalate into costly major repairs. We are, simply put, our customers and clients’ best friend.”

For more information, log on to www.sweepers.com, or call 1-800-227-7977.

Story by Daurelle Golden Harris

The C & L Sweeper Service motto, “service may be our last name, but it’s our first priority,” appears not only in their general marketing vehicles, but also on their website, Facebook and Twitter pages. And, with forty successful years in business, it is apparent that the Vitale family has been traveling the high road since they launched the company in 1970.

As a testament to the Jackson, New Jersey-based firm’s business philosophy and practices, the family owned and operated company has won numerous industry and regional community awards for their property maintenance and sweeping services over the last four decades. Pavement Magazine placed the company in its 2002 Top 100 Contractors category—an industry ranking based on annual sales volume reflective of C & L’s strength at the national level. The company also received the Shore Builders Association of Central New Jersey’s Hall of Fame Award in 2010.

Shore Builders is one of the largest local trade associations in the region and is located in Lakewood, New Jersey. The association spokesperson, Jacki Rible, stresses that the criteria for the Hall of Fame Award is, “to be a company that has performed a series of activities representative of outstanding achievement, both in and out of the association, and given 10 years of quality service through its involvement in committees, events and fundraising efforts,” he says. “We can always count on C & L to step up and go the extra mile.”

At C & L’s helm, Gabriel Vitale, company president, supervises his professionally trained crews, equipping them with a large fleet of power vacuum and broom sweepers to clean parking lots, construction areas, parking decks, warehouses, municipalities and industrial areas. C & L Sweeper provides one-time cleanup services as well as daily, weekly and monthly bundled maintenance programs. The company is bonded, fully insured and offers select 24-hour field repair emergency services.

In recent years, C & L has expanded its services to include a comprehensive package of additional property maintenance services such as asphalt maintenance, which includes striping, pothole patching, asphalt overlays, speed bumps, parking bumpers, and crack-filling. The company will pressure clean sidewalks, buildings, pylon signs, dumpster pads, hazardous spills, trash containers and remove graffiti. They also handle pavement improvement and concrete services, exterior painting, bulk refuse hauling, outdoor lighting installation and removal, plus installation and removal of signage, including neon signs. Day porter and tenant property damage repair are also services offered by the company. Following Hurricane Irene, C & L assisted clients with water removal and roof repairs, as well as window boarding and replacement.

With the intent of covering even more service bases, C & L is also a master distributor of all Poletector 360™ products used for unsightly or damaged pole lights and bollards.

Responding to today’s environmental regulatory “green” mandates, C & L has positioned itself to handle any and all customer sweeping needs to keep them in compliance with local, regional and federal standards. In fact, consistent and continuous street sweeping is now defined as a Best Management Practice by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This is an emerging market for
C & L, particularly in the removal of small micron particles found in water runoff. For more information on the topic, log on to http://www.sweeping.com/PDF/KeyPointsNPDES.pdf.

C&L Sweeper Service is a founding member of the North American Power Sweeping Association (NAPSA), and one of the first American contractors to become a Certified Sweeping Company through NAPSA. Adhering to the time-tested adage that you only get one chance to make a good first impression, the C & L Sweeper Service management and staff are intent on giving their customers’ businesses a clean leading edge.

For more information about C & L Sweeper Service, visit www.sweeping.com or call 1-888-SWEEPME (1-888-793-3763).

Story by Daurelle Golden Harris

There were several factors that led the city of San Angelo to look for a GPS tracking software application to monitor the performance of their street sweeper fleet. They wanted the ability to track the number of miles their sweepers traveled per year, per month and per day, as well as have the ability to use that data to compare the productivity, or number of miles swept, of one operator compared to others in the fleet. The city settled on Eagle Eye Tracking and couldn’t be more pleased with the results.

The GPS software also acts as a measure of accountability for San Angelo, which has a population of 90,000 and 1,100 of linear miles in need of sweeping. The work is done by four—soon to be five—sweeper trucks. Doug Kirkham, Storm Water Superintendent for the city of San Angelo says, “A citizen calls and says they haven’t seen a sweeper in X amount of time. We can use Eagle Eye Tracking as a measure of accountability and productivity, which turns into customer satisfaction.”

Arthur Gonzales, a supervisor and overseer of San Angelo’s street sweeping operation, agrees that the software is extremely helpful when it comes to addressing the concerns of the citizens of San Angelo. “They want to see what kind of bang they’re getting for their buck.” Eagle Eye Tracking makes it easy to verify services to citizens who have concerns and issues with proof that the work had been completed. Eagle Eye does this by utilizing a tangible breadcrumb trail of data to ease their minds and pinpoint on a map exactly where a sweeper truck had been and when.

Gonzales finds Eagle Eye Tracking easy to use and easy to navigate the different options. Reports are easy to maintain, and he says, “You hit a button and everything’s right there.” Kirkham agrees, “It’s so easy to maneuver through and export data to Excel.” Kirkham adds that Eagle Eye Tracking makes it easy to compare data from the past and present, and unlike other systems, there is no time limit on how long the data is stored.

“We look at Eagle Eye Tracking as a management tool, as well as a GPS tool,” Kirkham says. Gonzales adds, “We can use the software to determine why it takes one person the same amount of time to sweep five miles when it takes someone else the same amount of time to do fifteen miles.” In addition, they present a report to the city council each month to show how many miles have been swept in a given timeframe. Gonzales says the software has made his job of compiling those reports exponentially easier, “I used to sit in the office for two to three hours trying to figure out the data. Eagle Eye Tracking calculates it in three to five minutes.”

Kirkham says the city looked at six different GPS tracking software systems before settling on Eagle Eye Tracking and says there is no need to look at any other product, “The legwork’s been done. These guys are the best.”

You can find more information regarding Eagle Eye Tracking by clicking on www.eetrack.com.

Jeff Buchanan, owner of Pavement America located in Jacksonville, Florida, knows the importance of business diversification. Pavement America services Jacksonville and three surrounding counties, and Buchanan offers a variety of services that help keep his company competitive during a struggling economy. “I know for a fact when the economy crashed a lot of property managers were looking for one company to handle multiple services to make it easier and less expensive for them,” Buchanan says, “We were ready to fill that need.”

The company began 26 years ago when Buchanan’s wife, a real estate developer, asked if he’d maintain a shopping center that she managed. When the owner examined Buchanan’s work and saw that it was immaculate, he stated to Buchanan, “It looks so clean, like you can eat off this parking lot, are you interested in four more centers that I have?”

Starting out, Buchanan maintained the parking lots by hand, using a non-motorized ‘push sweeper’ for the small debris. For the larger stuff, he had to make a second pass and collect the material by hand. He found the push sweeper at a yard sale, where he bought it for $110. Filled with a sense of nostalgia mixed with pride, he says, “I did five shopping centers a night with that thing.” He even wore the wheels out and, by coincidence, found their replacements when he was looking through a vacuum cleaner magazine one day.

When determining the employee bonus for ‘no equipment damage for the month’, Jeff puts the names in the push sweepers’ hopper. “It’s a pretty neat thing,” he remarks, “It reminds the guys how good they have it to do the sweeping using trucks.” Buchanan’s first sweeper truck was a TYMCO 210, “That truck was such a blessing, I was very proud of that truck.”

Pavement America’s services include but are not limited to: parking lot sweeping and maintenance, seal coating and striping, asphalt repair, parking lot signage, day porter services, graffiti removal, pressure washing, landscaping, and tenant close outs. Buchanan’s branching out even further and getting into curb repair. He says the inspiration for that came from a friend presenting him with a new concrete called Geo Tech, “It’s the thing of the future—really durable stuff.” Geo Tech dries quickly—in ten minutes—and is ready to run a sweeper over. Buchanan is looking into becoming a distributor for the product.

For items like seal coating, signage and wheel stops, Buchanan turns to Professional Pavement Products, with a convenient location also in Jacksonville. Buchanan says “They have great customer service and always have what I need in stock.”

Buchanan has been doing seal coating for about twelve years, and the opportunity came about when property managers began asking him to make the old part of the parking lot blend with the newly repaired areas.

Resurfacing of parking lots is not a current service offered by Pavement America and Buchanan explains, “We try to stick to small repairs, but, often, the small jobs turn out to be bigger.” But Buchanan’s not complaining, “I’ve been very fortunate,” he says, “We’re growing at a rapid rate right now.”

Good customer service is key for Buchanan. If a customer has an emergency, Buchanan says, “There’s no time to waste. If something needs attention, we don’t wait—we send someone over immediately.” Preserving that quality service is also critical for Buchanan and his business. Pavement America doesn’t currently have a web presence, Buchanan says most of his new or returning business is due to ‘word of mouth’ and the quality of his work. He’s okay, though, not having a website at the moment, “You don’t want to grow too fast because you could lose quality.” And quality is something Pavement America values above all else.

For more information contact Jeff Buchanan at 904.219.6149.

Story by Megan McClure

“We move large amounts of air,” Brad Wesley, who handles Product Sales for Buffalo Turbine, says, but after speaking to him for five minutes, it is clear that the company does much more than that. Established in 1945, Buffalo Turbine, located just south of Buffalo, New York, offers an extensive line of debris blowers that can handle an even more extensive line of services.

Wesley puts the Cyclone KB4 Debris Blower at the top of Buffalo Turbine’s bestseller list. It has a 27 HP Kohler engine and operates from a wireless remote control. Another item sure to be a bestseller is the BT Mega Debris Blower, which the company is getting ready to unveil. It has a 40 HP Kohler engine and the highest blowing power than any other single stage Turbine Style blower on the market.

Wesley says the need for the BT Mega Debris Blower arose from their relationship developed with the PGA Tour which began in the 90s. Now, Buffalo Turbine is an officially licensed product of the PGA Tour. They are also the official debris blower for the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) and are the preferred debris blower of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). Services the company performs on these jobs include removing debris and water from race tracks, dragstrips, roadways, parking lots, trails and cart paths.

Buffalo Turbine also supplied the United States Military with hundreds of blowers used for uncovering Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the United States Forest Service uses Buffalo Turbine’s KB blowers to keep firelines clear. Not wanting to turn the lines into a roadway and disrupt the earth, which would happen if a bulldozer was brought in to do the job, the KB blowers clear away leaves and debris while leaving the top soil undisturbed. Firelines are areas cleared of vegetation used to break the path of or slow a fire. They are also used as trails to move equipment and personnel through the forest in the event of a fire so keeping the earth intact is crucial.

For nearly a decade, Buffalo Turbine’s blowers were used on and around a number of professional football stadiums. Applications include drying paint on fields, clearing light snow, cleaning debris after halftime shows and drying parking lots. Sporting events and forestry aren’t the only industries Buffalo Turbine caters to.

Pavement sealers also find use for Buffalo Turbine’s blowers. “They’ll use them to blow off debris prior to sealing or striping,” Wesley says. And as far as street sweeping applications go, Wesley knows of one municipality contractor who couples a blower with an edger, and can cover 16 miles of roadway in 10 hours.

Wesley’s also heard of blowers being used in place of sweepers for those hard to reach places in supermarket parking lots, for instance, such as outdoor stairwells and around air conditioning units. Sweepers mount a blower to the front of their sweeper truck and blow out the debris so that they can then sweep it up.

Buffalo Turbine offers PTO, gas, diesel, electric and hydraulic debris blowers. Their list of debris blower offerings continues to grow, as does their customer base. “Business keeps getting better year after year,” says Wesley, and so, it would seem, do their debris blowers.

For more information visit www.buffaloturbine.com or call 716-592-2700.

Story by Megan McClure

Tina and Cory McDonough have come a long way. From high school sweethearts to operating a successful business that they love, they’ve followed a road that hasn’t always taken them where they expected to go. Nonetheless, it has been a journey that has allowed them to have rich experiences and touch a surprising number of lives, so you won’t find the McDonoughs complaining, either.

Based in Washington State, One.7, Inc. (pronounced “one point seven”) has its roots in the family business, McDonough & Sons, Inc., a parking lot and street sweeping company established in 1982 by Cory’s parents, Patrick and Linda McDonough. Cory worked for his father from the time he was eight years old, and Tina started her career at McDonough & Sons as office manager.

In 2005, Tina and Cory decided to go in a new and separate direction, matching up used sweeper and Vactor trucks to street sweeping companies—large and small, as well as contractors and municipalities who needed both the quality of the equipment the McDonoughs could deliver, but also the hands-on training and expertise they could provide from their years in the operations end of the business.

Tina says, though, One.7’s customers are mostly contractors. “We sell to some municipalities, although, generally, they buy brand-new equipment, and we sell to smaller municipalities and contractors all over the world.” Most of the McDonoughs’ overseas sales, which ship from Tacoma and Seattle ports, are for U.S. companies who want the trucks to be delivered elsewhere.

What’s In A Name
One.7, Inc.—that’s a story that reflects on the nature of the company’s origins and evolution, which takes on a “road less traveled” mentality. On a ski vacation now a long time passed, 1.7 miles were the directions given to the McDonoughs. They were to travel 1.7 miles from an intersection in the mountains to the hidden driveway of their friend’s cabin. But Tina and Cory got lost, and it took them hours of wrong turns and repeatedly retracing their route before they finally located the turn they’d missed over and over again.

“One point seven” became the phrase of the vacation, as well as became lodged in Tina and Cory’s minds as a great name for a company. One.7 Inc. was waiting for them when they started their business.
Tina admits that the easy way would have been to name the company McDonough Sales and build off of the family business. “But this way, it was different and unique and our own,” she says, “It was scary. We just took a leap of faith and here we are. We built it one truck at a time.”

Today, One.7 operates a 20-bay shop in a section of a 40-acre yard about 30 minutes from Seattle, but things didn’t start out that way. “It was really unplanned,” Tina explains, “and it happened really quickly. We took all we had out of our savings and bought our first truck. Running the business from our home, we’d sell a truck and build our capital that way.”

A New Family Business
Tina, who is president and treasurer of the majority woman-owned business, oversees the financials, as well as works sales and assists with training. Cory, who serves as vice president and secretary, is invaluable for his knowledge about the equipment. Brenda Pitzen handles sales and general office duties, Jeremy Gibson is the company’s mechanic, and Glenda Weiler is Tina’s mother and assistant.

“When a contractor calls, Brenda and I can tell them what they need,” Tina says, pointing out that her own industry experience is one of her strengths, allowing her to help customers determine what is the best type of equipment for their business or project. She says there’s a bit of shock on the other end of the telephone because people expect to reach a man to speak to about sales, and are surprised to speak to women who know their stuff.

“Cory has run those trucks for 29 years,” Tina says, “Three years from now, if you have a buzzer going off and don’t know what it’s for, you can call Cory and he can walk you through any issue you’re having.” It’s constantly being around the trucks and knowing them inside and out that gives One.7 its edge, and
they are one of the larger, if not the largest, used sweeper and Vactor dealers in the world, and they are the only one to offer free on-site training for all their equipment.

Tina explains, “We deal with every company on a personal level. When someone calls, they get me, Cory or Brenda. We’re very transparent: what you see is what you get.” And as a dealer of used equipment, the McDonoughs get up close and personal with all makes and manufacturers, unlike sales reps for one brand, whose experience is limited. “We get to see every flavor, and we’re able to sell all the flavors. That’s really nice,” she says.

A Corporate Mission Becomes Personal
In 2007, Tina walked the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure event in honor of her friend Michelle, who was in the battle for her life against breast cancer. “It was the hardest thing I’d ever done,” Tina recalls, “And then Michelle passed away. I just decided, ‘enough is enough,’ and I formed a team.”

Her 152 member team, Valley Girls & Guys, has not only become the top team in the state of Washington, but in the nation, as well. “Collectively over the last five years we’ve raised over $700,000,” she says. So far this year, the team has already raised $223,000 in preparation for the event, a 60-mile walk over three days in September to raise awareness and funds to fight breast cancer.

Besides sponsoring a team, this is the third year the McDonoughs have put a breast cancer awareness truck on the road, one each in Hawaii, Texas and Arizona, with the company donating 30 to 50 percent of the sale of the year’s truck to the SGK fund. They take a sweeper out of their fleet, customize it with donated paint, tires and pink breast cancer decals and put it on the road as an ambassador. “We aim to have an awareness truck in every state,” Tina says, “Cancer’s not going to go away overnight, but hopefully someday soon we’ll have a cure.”

Loving What They Do
Job satisfaction is high at One.7. As far as her favorite aspect of her job goes, Tina says, “I get to work with my husband every day and build this company.” The couple also has three children ranging in age from eight to fourteen—Cody, Taya and Trista. She says, “Second would be the diversity of the contractors we meet all over the world. We get to travel, and we both like the travel and meeting really good people. We truly love what we do and the people we get to work with every day.”

For more information on One.7, Inc. call 425.413.1211,
email sales@1point7.com or visit www.1point7.com.

To learn more about Valley Girls & Guys and their Seattle
3-Day for the Cure efforts visit http://valleygirlsnguys.com/.

Story by Anne Biggs

Keystone Street Sweeping Brooms & Brushes has seen 50 years in the industry. With that many years in business comes years of expertise, and Jack Moran, Sales Manager for Keystone, knows his stuff. “My expertise allows a comfort zone for people to call and get answers to their questions,” he says.

Through earned trust, Keystone has moved to the forefront of their industry with excellent customer partnerships. Keystone’s innovative products, quality and unrivaled customer service have been the foundation of our success in supplying a full line of street sweeping replacement brooms. The combination of commitment and performance has brought Keystone to its position of prominence.

Headquartered in South Plainfield, New Jersey, Keystone has a 62,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Keystone supplies nationwide to OEM’s dealers, distributors, private contractors and municipalities. In addition, Keystone designs the brushes for all their OEM dealers. Keystone also manufactures Polypropylene bristles for the construction of tube brooms and other brushes. Moran cites Keystone’s dedication to production as one reason Keystone surpasses their competition, “Our lead times are better than anyone.”

The AllPro Strip Broom also puts Keystone ahead in the industry, especially now with the new AllPro Combo Strip Broom and the new AllPro Combo Wafer Broom, Keystone continues to keep pace with the continually changing street sweeping industry. The AllPro Strip Broom has revolutionized the industry because it can not only be changed out quickly, but it is 100% recyclable.

In the early 1960s, Keystone was created by current President Marvin Naftal’s in-laws. In 1992, Naftal assumed control of the company and took it into the manufacturing of replacement street sweeping brooms and brushes. The combination of an experienced engineering and sales staff working with the street sweeping industry has enabled Keystone to keep their customers competitive. Our success depends on our customer’s success, and that is Keystone’s key ingredient for moving into the future.

For more information:
800-635-5238
kpbrush.com