Multi Housing Non Metered Brochure

How an accident at sea changed

the laundry business

n the mid 1950s, a young man with an engineering background and experience in laundry equipment

sales and service was hired to assess damage to the laundry equipment aboard the Swedish American

Line’s M/S Stockholm after the ship collided with the Andrea Doria, near the Island of Nantucket. The young

man’s name was Bernard Milch.

This was Milch’s rst introduction to the Swedish-made

Wascator front-load stainless steel washers. He was

extremely impressed that the machines remained

functional after the laundry area, which had been lled

with sea water, was drained. He was intrigued by the

simplicity of the European design and construction

compared to products then on the market in the USA.

Milch made inquiries to the Swedish company and

eventually purchased a Wascator washer for testing

and technical investigation. He was curious to see

if it could be adapted for the growing coin laundry

and institutional markets that he was selling to. He

dismantled it, integrated a coin meter, and then reassembled it for the purpose of testing its design, compo-

nents, durability, and wash results.

Milch’s testing conrmed his initial condence in the Wascator machines. He was convinced that commercial

front-load washers could revolutionize the industry. He knew they would provide superior wash results and

use much less water and energy than the appliance top-loading washers that were being used in laundro-

mats at the time.

Milch obtained the sales and marketing rights for Wascator machines in North America and, since he ate

lunch at the “Automat” and liked the sound of the name, decided to use the name Wascomat for marketing.

He seized the opportunity and the industry was changed forever.

Despite the challenges in marketing a stainless steel com-

mercial washer against cheaper appliance washers, Milch

knew that Wascomat washers were a much smarter invest-

ment for the store owner. He understood that they were built

for longer life, durability, lower utility costs, and to withstand

the abuse of a commercial environment. Top-loaders were

not designed for heavy use and overloading. He also knew

customers would appreciate the larger capacity, better wash

results, and reliability of the Wascomat front-loader. Milch

understood that in a successful coin laundry the customer

supplies the labor and the coin meter acts as the cash

laundries equipped with commercial laundry equipment became a reality all across the U.S. and Canada.

Wascomat soon became the standard of the industry for front-loading commercial washers.

TRUST