SPECIAL REPORT
Centennial
Celebration
On-Site Drapery Cleaning reaches an educational milestone.
Five years
ago Ben Weller could hardly believe a dream project he had been
working on was actually coming true. Last October, that project
reached a milestone that must have seemed far distant in 2000.
Weller’s On-Site University, the instructional and certification
program for On-Site Drapery Cleaning & More, Coeur d’Alene,
ID, held its 100th class at the company’s headquarters October
20. It was a typical full class of about 18 students who received
classroom instruction that ranged from operating the machinery to
sales promotion and marketing. From there the course moved into
training bays for hands-on cleaning of several types of window treatments.
The classes are taught by Jeff Berkowitz, vice president.
This session, however, marking the University’s centennial
class, featured keynote speaker Joe Jankoski, corporate vice president
of merchandising for Hunter Douglas. “He gave a very informative
and interesting speech on the benefits and values of branding,”
Weller said.
EXPANDING OPPORTUNITIES
On-Site University began January 2000 at the company’s original
headquarters in Hayden Lake, ID (see D&WC, March 2000, page
84). That facility was moved to Coeur d’Alene in April 2002.
From the beginning, Weller’s plan had been to offer two-day,
hands-on sessions to train and certify students in cleaning upholstery
and draperies, including today’s updated window fashions from
pleated shades to fabric vertical blinds and window shadings—all
in the customer’s home without having to remove them or take
them off-site.
The success of the first On-Site University classes led to the opening
of an East Coast facility in Groton, CT, in mid-2000. The training,
which also covered the importance of a price list, estimating jobs
and lead tracking, included cleaning top treatments, cornices, valances,
box pleats, swags, cascades and balloon shades.
Since then the company has been running, on average, one session
a month at each of its two facilities, between 20 to 24 classes
a year.
NEW EAST COAST FACILITY
On-Site Corp. has many changes in store for the remainder of this
year. They begin with the hiring of Michael Gregg, the just-appointed
director of new business development. “We’re also making
a new video, with new advertising and more advertising,” Weller
adds.
On February 1, the company opened its newest training center and
facility in Charlotte, NC, having closed and moved its Groton, CT,
center at the end of last year. The center is located in a new tech
park business development. The Charlotte center will hold its first
class mid-month.
|
