PowerClean 2013: Building Relationships, Learning, and Looking Expectantly to the Future

Published November 2013

 

The Red Rock Casino, Resort, & Spa on the west side of Las Vegas was the site of CETA’s Power-Clean 2013. This 20-story hotel, which looked out at red-rock colored cliffs, has the entire fifth floor set aside for meetings and events. This fifth floor is where the educational sessions, Awards luncheon, and the trade show were hosted.

The event took place over three full days. It started by allowing golf lovers to wake up early, Sunday morning in time to catch a 6:00 a.m. shuttle over to the Angel Park Golf Club for a 7:15 a.m. shotgun start. For those more interested in history, there was a five-hour excursion down Las Vegas memory lane. One of the tour highlights was stopping by the mob museum to learn about the role organized crime has played in Vegas.

PowerClean 2013 officially swung into action with an opening reception sponsored by General Pump on Sunday evening, September 22 at 6:00 p.m., which featured a wonderful smorgasbord of every kind of food one could eat. The poolside location allowed for a relaxed atmosphere and casual conversations. For first time visitors, it was a chance to match names and voices with a face. Adding to the fun, Farley’s, Inc. sponsored a diamond jewelry give-away drawing. The excitement was evident as everyone waited with baited breath hoping they had the winning ticket. Greg Rossmann with CAT Pumps and Karen Layden with High PSI were the lucky winners. The evening entertainment was capped off by Monica Johns, a talented performer and ballroom dancer. Johns brought a fast-paced night of choreography and entertainment and was joined in a couple of dances by none other than Elvis Presley.

On Monday morning, September 23, Dr. Marlo Dean started the educational sessions with a two-hour, vitally important and informative course on Document Control and Retention. The overall emphasis was that each company should have a document retention plan, which they must implement and follow through on. Furthermore, he explained why it was important for distributors to maintain a log book, which detailed what tests were performed according to the manufacturer’s specifications, along with the date the test was performed, and the signature of the person performing the test. A well-kept and up-dated log book can save a company from losing an expensive lawsuit.

 

2014 CETA Executive Board

• Rick Wendt, President, American Honda
• Linda Chappell, Executive Vice President, Chappell Supply and Equipment
• Curtis Braber, Vice President, BE Pressure Supply, Inc.
• Chad Rasmussen, Treasurer, Royce Industries
• Dr. Marlo Dean, Secretary, Karcher North America
Also, stepping off the CETA Board of Directors this year are:
• Frank Jonkman, Great Lakes Cleaning Systems
• Tony Tranquill, Wayne Combustion Systems

After Dean’s class, the Awards luncheon took place in the Pavilion Room. There were updates from the Financial, Education Foundation, and Technical committees, as well as an important report from incoming CETA President, Rick Wendt, and Vice President, Curtis Braber concerning the co-location of The CETA Annual Convention, which will be held at the same time as the ISSA/INTERCLEAN® North American exhibition on November 4–7, 2014 in Orlando, FL.

The next part of the program was to give CETA’s Service Award, which was presented to R.J. Bowers, for outstanding contributions to the power cleaning industry. In a CETA first, two couples, John and Brenda Purswell of Alklean Industries and Roy and Linda Chappell of Chappell Supply and Equipment, were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, which is given to those who have made an indelible mark on the industry and CETA over the years.

After the Awards luncheon, everyone headed over to the trade show floor and the ribbon was cut at 12:20 p.m. providing CETA members with the opportunity to display their products and explain their benefits to interested parties. The trade show floor closed at 4:00 p.m. and was followed up by a manufacturers summit.

On Tuesday morning, September 24, additional educational classes were offered. Chad Rasmussen of Royce Industries demonstrated how Microsoft MapPoint could benefit sales and service departments in maximizing their driving routes to make them more efficient in the use of their time. This course was followed by Linda Chappell and Brenda Purswell explaining the necessity of putting together a company policy and procedural manual. Purswell explains, “Firm understandings prevent misunderstandings.” The results of their hard labor have been captured on a CD that they provided to class attendees. The last course that Cleaner Times | IWA was able to attend was presented by Drew Harbour, Safety Manager, at Chappell Supply. This course dealt with the deadlines and steps for the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) labels, statements, and pictograms on Safety Data Sheets.

The afternoon finished off with the Women of CETA enjoying time in the bingo hall and the Education Founda-tion raffle. PowerClean 2013 was a great time of building relationships, learning, and looking expectantly to what the future holds. Cleaner Times | IWA is looking forward to seeing old and new faces at The CETA Annual Convention in November 2014 in Orlando, FL.

On September 10, a letter went out from the 2013 CETA Board of Directors, which informed CETA members that the Cleaning Equipment Trade Association (CETA) and ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association, will co-locate their annual events beginning in 2014. The first co-located convention will take place November 4–7, 2014 in Orlando, FL.

 

PowerClean 2013 Education Classes Offered

Monday, September 23

• Improving Cash Flow, Troy Jaros, Lease Consultants
• Document Control and Retention, Dr. Marlo Dean, Karcher North America

Tuesday, September 24

• Microsoft MapPoint, Chad Rasmussen, Royce Industries
• How and Why to Put Together a Meaningful Company Policy and Procedure Manual, Linda Chappell, Chappell Supply and Equipment and Brenda Purswell, Alklean Industries
• Safety and Regulatory Compliance for the Future, Drew Harbour, Safety Manager, Chappell Supply and Equipment
• Blueprint for Success, Roy Chappell, Chappell Supply and Equipment and John Purswell, Alklean Industries

Perhaps, as a current or potential CETA member, you might be asking why these changes are being made and what they mean. The CETA board has done a great job in anticipating and answering several questions, which they passed out in a document at this year’s PowerClean.

As to the reason for the change, CETA explains there has been a decrease in attendance and exhibitors over the last 15 years, which have led to lower revenues, while costs have not declined in proportion. Furthermore, CETA relies on the PowerClean event to subsidize valuable services, such as lobbying on critical regulatory and legislative issues impacting member businesses, offering education, benchmarking, business tools, and more. The support CETA wants to put toward these initiatives will not be at the level that is needed at the current rate of decline.

 

2014 CETA Committees

• Technical • Benchmarking
• Marketing
• Membership
• Education Foundation
• Personnel (new in 2014!)

In addition, by removing the costs and risks associated with hosting an exhibition, and gaining the expanded attraction of access to a larger event that could draw more CETA attendees and exhibitors, the association can retain, and hopefully grow the best aspects of the annual event that its members value. Chad Rasmussen, CETA board member from Royce Indus-tries sums it up best, “Given the market forces distributors currently face, this is an exciting opportunity for us to have greater access to innovation, technology, and executive education that can help us diversify and strengthen our businesses.”

Here is ISSA at a glance as presented at the CETA Awards Luncheon:
• Show falls between October and November annually (aligns with PowerClean)
• CETA will change their convention name from PowerClean to The CETA Annual Convention
• ISSA educational classes draw between 2000–3000 attendees annually
• Approximately 650 exhibitors
• Exhibitors use 260,000 square feet of floor space
• Average show attendance is 16,000 people
• Show runs for five days (two days of education, three days for the tradeshow)
• There are 20 show hours (PowerClean averages seven hours)
• Site Rotations
~ Currently, ISSA is on a three city rotation (Las Vegas hosts the event every other year)
~ The 2014 co-located convention will be held in Orlando, FL, November 4–7 (Wednesday– Friday will be exhibit days)
• The theme for the 2014 annual convention will be “My CETA,” which will represent what CETA is and does for its members.
~ CETA will continue to have its own independent association, seminars, and core value of education to the CETA distributors
~ The 2014 education classes will move to the Orange County Convention Center on the day prior to the start of the show
~ CETA will market their classes to a wider audience at ISSA
~ ISSA will offer their 30-plus classes to CETA members
• The host hotel for CETA in 2014 will be the Renaissance Hotel Orlando
~ The opening reception and other networking events will be held at the hotel

Many thanks to the 2013 CETA Board of Directors for working hard to make this transition happen; a big thank you also to Curtis Braber for manning the CETA/ISSA booth to answer questions. Cleaner Times | IWA is looking forward to seeing everyone November 4–7, 2014, in Orlando, FL.

For more information on the CETA Annual Convention in 2014, visit www.ceta.org. 

 

2013 CETA Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

• John and Brenda Purswell, Alklean Industries
• Roy and Linda Chappell, Chappell Supply and Equipment
More will be said in a later issue of Cleaner Times | IWA about these two couples and why they were jointly awarded the 2013 CETA Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

2013 Service Award Winner

Richard Bowers, R.J. Bowers Distributors, Inc.

• Born in 1930, near the begin- ning of the Great Depression
• Lost his father at five years old
• Youngest of five children, three boys and two girls
• Started work at age 14 in a car repair shop on flat rate
• At 20, started his own heating and air conditioning company with nothing except a truck
• During the slow season, his wife baked and sold pies to bring in income to support their four children and themselves
• Built the HVAC into a very suc- cessful business over 35 years
• From 1976–1981, he owned a restaurant and worked 90 hours a week
• Has driven race cars and learned to fly with more than 3800 hours as pilot in command
• Owned a T-6, a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots during WWII
• Started selling pressure washers in 1980 because he knew oil burners
• Involved with CETA since 1985 and is a CETA-Certified Distributor