COLUMBUS, Neb. — Jackson Services, Inc., a fourth generation family business was born in the home of the late Minnie Jackson in 1924 as a family laundry service. The business (originally named Jackson’s Pantorium) grew and evolved to include a multitude of retail and B2B services, including dry-cleaning. In the 1970’s the business dropped all retail and dry-cleaning services to focus solely on the uniform, dust control, and other B2B textile rental services.
Through 90+ years and many business evolutions Jackson Services has trusted Horwath Laundry Equipment to provide their equipment needs. In the beginning they purchased wooden washers manufactured by Andrew Horwath, the company’s founder. Today, Horwath Laundry Equipment, a Milnor distributor, meets their commercial laundry needs.
Jackson Services, Inc., has grown to employ 76 full-time employees and it processes approximately 6 million pounds of uniforms, mats, mops, and towels annually. When it came time to upgrade the laundry’s equipment due to aging equipment and the need to handle an increasing amount of goods, President Jesse Jackson faced a decision – upgrade the entire laundry or just augment the laundry with a few new pieces.
“We had some pretty old Milnor equipment in there that we decided not to replace,” Jackson says. “If we wanted to just spend money we would have. But it was working well and we couldn’t justify replacing it.”
So last December, Jackson Services installed four new Milnor 6464 pass-through dryers (in a pod layout), one 48040 M7K 275 lb. capacity tilting washer-extractor, and a 68036 M5K 400-500 lb. capacity tilting washer-extractor to enhance their washroom’s production.
Another major component to the washroom upgrade was the E-Tech rail system to expedite linen transport in the laundry. The new rail system permitted the dryer pod layout, which eliminates the need to wait for an available dryer.
What Jackson Services did not upgrade was one major piece of equipment – their 1996 G2 Milnor CBW® tunnel. “It was still producing excellent quality goods,” Jackson says. “We had no reason to replace it yet.”
Horwath Laundry Equipment met the challenge of integrating the older equipment with the new equipment. “We would not normally recommend opting out of replacing a 20-year-old workwear tunnel,” President Jim Horwath says. “But Jackson Services’ maintained the tunnel with careful maintenance and we’ve been working with Milnor for 50 years so we were comfortable with the equipment’s quality. It was challenging to integrate the vintage tunnel to the washer-extractors, pass-through dryers, and rail systems but we worked out a wash room upgrade plan and executed it.”
Since the upgrade, dryer production is increasing steadily. “At times we’ve had to throttle the washroom to slow it down because production is so fast that the rest of the plant has to catch up. That capacity is nice,” says Jackson. “That’s what we were looking to have. If we can get that done with a few pieces of new equipment and a vintage Milnor tunnel, I’m okay with that.”
For more information on the M-Series: Milnor’s M-Series Brochure
For more information on Milnor products: Pellerin Milnor
Cover Image: LtoR: Rob Vacek (Horwath Laundry Equipment Vice President—Sales and Marketing), Brock Pellerin (Pellerin Milnor Corp. Regional Sales Manager), Jim Horwath (Horwath Laundry Equipment President), Jay Jackson (CEO), Kathy Jackson (Secretary/Treasurer/Embroidery), Justin Jackson (Vice President/Production Manager), Jason Jackson (Vice President/General Manager), Jesse Jackson (President), and Nikki Jackson-Buckmaster (Vice President/Outside Service)
