CCRC and Alltex form alliance
By Susan English
Bristol, CT — Continuing a recent trend throughout the contamination control industry, Connecticut Clean Room Corp. (CCRC) and Alltex Critical Garment Services (Manchester, NH) have announced a joint venture to service the New England cleanroom market. The alliance will allow the two companies to remain as separate entities while offering each other`s services to new and existing clients. The CCRC/Alltex alliance is yet another ripple in the continuing wave of strategic alliances and mergers designed to provide “one-stop-shopping” to customers of cleanroom products and services.
CCRC will offer its manufactured consumables/ disposables — its PolyTack entrance mats, Munising LP Bond paper, DuPont Tyvek, and DuPont`s Sontara and other non-woven wiping materials. The company also distributes cleanroom equipment and supplies domestically and overseas. Alltex provides Class 1 garment services to 100,000 sterile and conventional cleanrooms through rental, launder-only and custom lease for the microelectronics, pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The move will provide customers of both companies with a single source for all their cleanroom reusables, disposables, supplies and equipment. Other services will include JIT (just-in-time) inventory management, consignment programs and consolidated billings.
“This alliance will bring a host of opportunities to both our companies,” said John Goodwin, director of sales at CCRC. “We are very pleased to be working with Alltex. We like the reputation they have, and we trust them. An integrated supply system such as this will really contribute to serving our customers better.” Alltex`s vice president of marketing, Dick Buechsenschuetz, agrees. “In addition to the opportunities this brings, it will really benefit our customers. A consolidation of vendors and a reduction of paperwork will be a savings for everyone on both sides of the equation. We feel this will keep our customers ahead of the curve for the future.”
Some recent examples are Clean Room Products Inc. (CRP) and VWR Scientific Products Corp. (“CRP/VWR Form Strategic Alliance,” CleanRooms, July 1996, p. 8); VWR Critical Environment Solutions (a division of VWR Scientific Products Corp.) and G&K Services, Inc. (“VWR Launches Alliance with G&K Services,” CleanRooms, August 1996, p. 1); Prudential Cleanroom Services and Pacific Cleanroom Supply and Alameda Industries (“Cleanroom Laundry Giant Prudential Challenges the Consumables Market,” CleanRooms, October 1996, p. 1).
As with industry in general in these “leaner and meaner” times, with buyers consolidating and purchasing staffs being cut, emphasis is on centralized service. Alltex`s Buechsenschuetz says his customers — including IBM and Digital — don`t have a lot of time to go out and buy and don`t want to deal with a number of different suppliers for their cleanroom needs. “They want to be able to handle it with a single purchase order, or at least with no more than a couple, and they want it JIT so they don`t have to stockpile material and have a lot of capital tied up on backup inventory.” n