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30
January 2008
Blog
offers transparent medium to document turn-key
journey
Men in
White has embraced blog technology to document its journey towards
becoming a turn-key business.
The Men
in White blog, launched in January, will tell the story of a Sydney
painting company becoming a streamlined, systems-savvy operation –
in real time.
Rohan
Calvert, founder and director of the award-winning painting
business, has a passion to contribute to the professionalism and
standards of the painting industry.
“Superior
results are the product of tried and tested systems that are known
and understood by the team – and used consistently,” Calvert
says.
“By
setting a big goal to systemise the entire business in a year, we
are committing Men in White to a standard of excellence that keeps
the bar high; and keeps it simple.”
Over its
five years of operation, Men in White has become well known in the
industry for its superior preparation of surfaces, fine attention
to detail and commitment to leaving sites immaculately
clean.
Calvert
makes no apology for having high expectations of his team. However
he says that consistently excellent results depend on everyone
knowing the ‘Men in White way’, and this is sometimes different
from methods painters have learnt elsewhere.
“This
process of systemising we’ve undertaken is all about getting
everyone working together the same way so that our results are
reliably consistent,” Calvert says.
“It’s
great for our customers, more efficient for the guys and good for
business. We hope it will also set a new benchmark in the
industry.”
Calvert
says documenting the unfolding process on the blog is a great way
to keep him accountable. He also hopes it will give others who are
considering something similar a window into the process that may
help them.
Visit the
Men in White blog at:
http://meninwhite-paintingservices.blogspot.com/
ends
29 May 2007
Men in
White reclaims environment through Family Court job
A Sydney
painting company is proving that high quality work and
environmental responsibility can go hand-in-hand. And the Master
Painters Association is right behind it.
Men in
White, the award-winning painting company founded by Rohan Calvert
in 2003, added another achievement to a long list in May this year.
MIW won the commercial repaint category in the Master Painters
Awards for Excellence 2007, for its repaint of the Family Law
Courts of Australia.
Calvert
said the project had two key challenges: a tight timeframe and
applying new technology to an age-old problem – smell.
“In order
to minimise disruption to the courts, the job needed to be
completed between Christmas and New Year, while the court was
closed and people were away,” he explained.
“This
meant setting up, executing the work and cleaning up in a total of
six days.”
Further,
it was important that staff not be impeded by an overwhelming ‘new
paint’ smell when they returned to work. To combat this, Calvert
and his team needed to convert a traditional solvent-based system
to a new acrylic-based system.
The new
technology included a water-based enamel which has the same
hardness as the gloss of traditional enamel; and an acrylic paint
for the walls which has almost no volatile organic compound (VOC)
emissions. The result? No smell AND a smaller environmental
footprint.
“We used
an all-acrylic system on extensive traditional gloss enamel work,
low VOC emission wall paint and acrylic enamel. This meant we could
treat waste water in a reclaimer which we keep on-site,” Calvert
said.
“The
reclaimer separates waste into slurry and clean water. The paint
sludge is left to dry out in the workshop and disposed of as solid
waste. And the water can be recycled.”
The
reclaimer was invented by Queensland painter Bill Kruger of R.A.
Industries. Calvert encourages other painters to investigate this
and other ways of taking more responsibility for their impact on
the environment.
“It feels
good to do something that makes a small difference. It just makes
sense - for people, for business and for the environment,” he
said.
The
judges of the Master Painters Awards for Excellence 2007 were
clearly impressed when they inspected the job. They reported they
didn’t know who was prouder – the client or the painter.
Not only
had Men in White met the particular challenges of the job and done
so in a way that was planet-friendly, the standard of craftsmanship
was exceptionally high, boasting even coverage, good adhesion and
clean lines.
Find out
more about Men in White at www.meninwhite.com.au
Ends
Enquiries: Rohan Calvert
0400 764 262
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