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September/October 2011
WAXIE Fail-Over Backup Benefits Customers During Electrical Outage An unprecedented power outage in San Diego county, the first of this magnitude, recently left 1.4 million customers without the use of electricity after a transmission line from Arizona to San Diego failed September 8, but there was at least one customer in the county of over 3 million people who refused to be powerless during this crisis – WAXIE Sanitary Supply. San Diego, CA, is headquarters to WAXIE Sanitary Supply, that has called the area home for over 65 years. “The products we distribute are vital to providing a safe, clean and healthy environment for away from home locations,” says Charles Wax, President of WAXIE Sanitary Supply. “We have a huge community responsibility to make sure we remain open during a crisis.” San Diego houses WAXIE’s computer system and family of servers that control all aspects of running 20 locations in 9 western U.S. states where over 800 employees collectively service over 25,000 WAXIE customers; many of them schools, hospitals, municipalities, office buildings, and other public and private businesses. “After the 2007 fires, we made a significant investment in a back-up system in the event something like that happened again in San Diego… I think we just experienced another disaster,” remarks Harry Babb, VP Corporate Operations for WAXIE, referring to San Diego County’s power outage. “What we did was put a duplicate system
in one of our other inventory centers that runs about a minute behind the live environment and is mirroring everything that is happening on the main unit. When disaster strikes, we ‘fail over’ to the back-up system, which takes over for the main. This allows us the ability to conduct business as if nothing ever happened,” says Babb. “The beauty of it was that our folks in Seattle or Salt Lake City never even knew we had a power outage, but most importantly, we were able to service our customers uninterrupted.” Charles Wax gives credit to his team of
professionals whose commitment, expertise, and above and beyond attitude got the company through a crisis situation and made sure customers would get their much needed supplies. “I’m just so proud of the team and the leadership shown by these folks, it’s times like these that a person’s character is revealed, and without exception, this is truly a team of champions,” says Wax. “Our customers can be sure that WAXIE will always be there for them, even during a historical power outage.” About WAXIE: WAXIE Sanitary Supply is America’s
largest family-owned distributor of sanitary maintenance supplies. WAXIE is an industry leader in the distribution of quality cleaning chemicals, equipment, disposables, and accessories to the building service contractor, school, hospitality, health care, military, government, industrial, and retail markets. Based in San Diego, the company consists of over 800 professionals working out of Inventory Centers servicing the western United States including California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Alaska. Additional information about WAXIE Sanitary Supply may be obtained at www.waxie.com.
Cascades Wins International Stevie Award For Its Intelligent™ Antibacterial Hand Towel Cascades Intelligent™ antibacterial hand towel was recently awarded the Stevie trophy for Best New Product or Service of the year, in the health category. The 8th International Business Awards Gala will take place in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, on October 11, 2011. The International Business Awards, also known as the Stevies, are among the most prestigious awards of the business world. “We are proud of having been recognized for this prestigious award for our new antibacterial hand
towel,” declared Suzanne Blanchet, President and CEO of Cascades Tissue Group. “It is a unique and innovative product that eliminates residual bacteria almost instantly and provides a 30minute additional protection, contrary to the usual alcohol-based hand sanitizers and antibacterial soaps.” Winner of five innovation awards since its launch in May 2010, the antibacterial hand towel offers a release process unique to Cascades. Recognizable by its green color, the hand towel offers a solution to reduce bacteria
propagation. It is referred to as IntelligentTM because it compensates for people's imperfect hygienic habits without changing the way they dry their hands. The company says that since 80 percent of infections are transmitted by hand contact, the antibacterial hand towel is marketed mainly to sectors where hand hygiene is a daily concern, such as healthcare, foodservice, food processing and education. More information about the antibacterial hand towel is available at: www.cascades.com/bacteria.
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Circle 8 • See Us At ISSA Booth #2669
Circle 8 • See Us At ISSA Booth #2669