Pellerin Milnor – Grown From Modest Roots

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Created on Sunday, 03 June 2007 02:51

Written by Staff

In just 60 years, Pellerin Milnor Corporation has grown from a small New Orleans company to a leader in manufacturing commercial laundry machinery. This year, the Milnor family celebrates its 60th year of producing high-quality, durable, reliable laundry machinery.

Pellerin Milnor was founded in 1947 by Willis A. Pellerin, a laundry machinery distributor since the 1920's; his wife Mildred; their son Norvin, who was a recent engineering graduate of Tulane University; and A.W. Walsdorf, Mildred’s brother.

The company’s first site was a small building in the midsection of New Orleans. The building was so small that the company used the sidewalk as a crating area and shipping dock when weather permitted. The first product was a small centrifugal extractor for laundries and drycleaning plants. Larger extractors were added, followed by small open-end washers a few years later and combination washer-extractors in 1957.
Also in 1957 the company moved to a new factory in the suburb of Kenner. This was the nucleus of today’s manufacturing facilities, which have expanded over the years to 400,000 sq. ft.

Milnor began exporting around 1950 and a European sales manager, Karl A. Schubert, was hired in 1965 to intensify export efforts in the Eastern hemisphere. A communications center opened in Brussels in 1972 and evolved into Milnor International, still run by Schubert over thirty years later.

Other developments include an open pocket, two-way tilting washer-extractor in 1993, solid state small washer-extractors, materials handling systems, a computer network linking large machines in 1997, their first tunnel washing system aboard a cruise ship in 1999, and small, medium and large open pocket washer-extractors with dynamically tuned suspension. The V-Series line of washer extractors was introduced in 2000 followed by the testing of the largest ever CBW® washer at 250 lbs. Additionally, Milnor introduced their cabinet style washer extractors for the OPL and Coin Markets in 2005.

A firm foundation of the company’s past is an important element of Milnor’s future. This is evident by the bust of W.A. Pellerin prominently located in Milnor’s engineering center. The center, opened in 1986, is dedicated to product development and continues to keep Milnor customers ahead of the technology curve.

The company is led by the third generation of the Pellerin family, Jim Pellerin. Jim said, “no one would have envisioned then what Milnor has grown to become today. And, we only dream of what Milnor will be 60 years from now.”