Crossover Multihousing 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, components, 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 laundromats 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 commercial washer against cheaper appliance

washers, Milch knew that Wascomat washers were

a much smarter investment 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 register — and his vision

of fully automatic, self-service coin 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