This year, Water Technology^® takes an in-depth look at two “dynamic dealerships,” one in Southern California and the other in New England. In addition, we’re listing a number of other top dealerships in several key categories.

This is our fifth annual review of some of the top performers in the POU/POE industry. With an e-mail invitation/survey sent out in June, we invited the industry to nominate dealerships that have excelled in terms of sales volume, unit sales, bottled water sales, number of employees and other criteria.

We thank those dealers who filled out the survey, and we welcome suggestions from readers about other top dealers who could be profiled and listed in the future, either in this annual review or elsewhere in other issues throughout the year.

These lists are not comprehensive or exhaustive. However, many large dealerships have been listed in past Industry Leader annual reviews since the first one in 2002, and those dealerships typically continue to occupy the top ranks of the POU/POE industry and serve as excellent models of what’s possible for growing a water treatment and/or bottled water business. Businesses profiled in past years can be found in our online article archives, at the WaterTech Online Web site: www.watertechonline.com. Do a search there for the words “Industry Leaders.”

We’ll continue to keep track of many top companies throughout the year with news stories (for example, see this month’s “Around the Industry” item about Hall’s Culligan in Wichita, KS, which was profiled in one of our past Industry Leaders Review issues).

As we’ve said before, this is a snapshot, and we hope it’s interesting and informative, possibly giving small, new-to-the-industry dealerships a glimpse into the possibilities and promise that lie ahead.

— Editors

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A ‘little’ company can go a long way

With only 12 employees on its staff, Superior Water in San Diego, CA, may not seem like all that large a company. But, according to Ted Carlisi, president and co-owner of the business with his brother, Peter Carlisi, it literally has a global reach.

Superior is now selling water treatment systems in places like India, Dubai, and Colombia, as well as in nearby Mexico and, of course, around its home in Southern California and in other US locations.

It’s one example of how a water treatment dealership is taking advantage of the new global economy. In its most recent fiscal year, Superior did about $2.2 million in sales.

Feet on the ground
How can a seemingly small dealership maintain adequate service and maintenance program for customers so far afield? Ted Carlisi says the company contracts with licensed plumbers and other qualified technicians to do its local installation and service. Meanwhile, a Superior representative is on site to manage projects.

“We have people on the ground in these places,” Carlisi says.

He adds about the company’s operation, domestic and foreign: “It’s a good business. There are two key parts to it, marketing and installation. We’re very conscientious about our customers. They’re very important. Our customers are our best salespeople.”

The Carlisis started the business in 1996. Ted Carlisi had been living in Rochester, NY, where he owned a successful real estate agency. But when his children moved West, he decided to follow them there.

“When I got here, I realized there was a real need here,” Carlisi recalls. “The water I was used to in the Northeast was good. But the water [in Southern California] comes from the Colorado River. It’s hard — about 18 grains. It needs to be treated.”

Boiler, cooling work
Superior has two divisions. Superior Water sells and installs softening, reverse osmosis, well-based systems, pool water treatment and descaling systems to residential and commercial customers.

The other division, Superior Environ-mental, has the global reach, designing and selling industrial and commercial treatment systems. Recently, for instance, it arranged with a 51-store retail chain in Mexico to install water treatment for boiler water and cooling towers.

Searching the globe
Doing business outside the US, Superior has made use of federal programs, such as Gold Key Matching Service and the Export-Import Bank, that encourage US companies to export.

Carlisi believes many companies, even some small dealerships, can take advantage of cross-border opportunities.

“Companies today have to go global,” he says.

— Tom Williams

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Treatment — from Starbucks to New England basements

Many water treatment dealers can say they supply their services to an entire building.

But how about the John Hancock tower in downtown Boston?

Or maybe many little buildings — like a region-full of Starbucks coffee shops?

Atlas Water Systems, based in Newton, MA, can lay claim to those kinds of big corporate customers and more, such as Boston Scientific, a major producer of medical devices, and Evergreen Solar, a fast-growing manufacturer of solar panels, both of which use high-purity water for industrial processes.

Two partners lead the way
“We can go into a multi-story office building, put in a central RO unit,  then install other equipment and run risers to all the POU coolers, coffee-making machines and icemakers in the building,” says Atlas Chief Operating Officer Norm Marowitz.

The company, with about 70 employees, has been in business since 1987, when Marowitz, who heads operations and finance, joined forces with company President Simon O’Leary. O’Leary leads the sales and marketing side and had had prior experience in growing businesses. The two own the bulk of the stock in the privately held company.

Marowitz notes that, even with some gold-plated larger clients, Atlas also has a significant, thriving business with residential and smaller commercial customers. It installs and services softening, arsenic removal, radon removal, reverse osmosis, and other systems as needed. (See article in this issue by Atlas’s Kevin Unger about RO treatment of brackish water.)

Now with four divisions
Four divisions each serve a distinct market in their contributions to Atlas’ $8 million annual revenues:

• Commercial Drinking Water Systems serves the office and commercial rental markets (POU coolers, water for coffee makers, etc.).
• The Residential Systems Group handles the private home water systems market.
• High-Purity and Special Applications designs and installs water systems used by biotech and pharmaceutical companies and other specialized industrial process firms.
• Food Service provides treatment services to restaurants and similar operations.

“In a Starbucks, we might install a sanitizer or maybe water treatment for the espresso machine,” Marowitz says. “Espresso machines are demanding and require high-quality water.”

No fooling around
Atlas has customers throughout much of New England and eastern New York. It has a good rental business as well, focusing rental promotion toward its commercial customers. “We really look at rentals as another form of sale.”

Marowitz thinks one key ingredient of the company’s success is not cutting corners with quality. Licensed and certified technicians are on every job, and the company maintains strict adherence to building codes and other regulations.

“There’s no fooling around,” Marowitz says.

Like Atlas himself, Atlas Water Systems seems to have a good grip on the world of Northeast water treatment.

— Tom Williams

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Annual reported revenues (annual revenues, all locations)
1) $11 million: Spectrum Water Coolers, Inc., Jessup, MD
2) $8 million: Atlas Water Systems, Inc., Newton, MA
3) $3.5 million: Water Canada, Kelowna, British Columbia
3) $3.5 million: Milbert Co. dba Culligan Water, Inver Grove Heights, MN
4) $2.23 million: Water Systems of Birmingham, Birmingham, AL   
5) $2.2 million: Superior Water, San Diego, CA
6) $2.1 million: RainSoft of Des Moines, Des Moines, IA
7) $1.5 million: WA-2! Water Co., Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
8) $600,000: Culligan of Galena, Galena, IL


Value of commercial/industrial accounts (total value, all C/I accounts, 2006)
1) $11 million: Spectrum Water Coolers, Inc., Jessup, MD
2) $6 million: Atlas water systems, Inc., Newton, MA
3) $1.3 million: Water Systems of Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
4) $1.14 million: WA-2! Water Co., Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
5) $500,000: Superior Water, San Diego, CA
6) $150,000: Culligan of Galena, Galena, IL


Number of staff (no. of full-time employee equivalents, all locations)
1) 70: Atlas Water Systems, Inc., Newton, MA
2) 50: Water Canada, Kelowna, British Columbia
3) 43: Spectrum Water Coolers, Inc., Jessup, MD
4) 29: Milbert Co. dba Culligan Water, Inver Grove Heights, MN
5) 26: RainSoft of Des Moines, Des Moines, IA


Value of bottled water accounts (total value of all bottled water sales/rentals)
1) $880,000: H2O to GO, LLC, Howell, NJ
2) $150,000: Clear Solutions, Newark, OH
2) $150,000: Pure Water Supply, League City, TX


Number of rental accounts (total  no. of current accounts)
1) 14,000: Spectrum Water Coolers, Inc., Jessup, MD
2) 3,700: Milbert Co. dba Culligan Water, Inver Grove Heights, MN
3) 3,000: WA-2! Water Co., Ltd., Vancouver, British Columbia
4) 2,500: Atlas Water Systems, Inc., Newton, MA
5) 800: Water Systems of Birmingham, Birmingham, AL


Residential water treatment accounts (current total revenue, all residential treatment accounts)
1) $2.5 million: Water Canada, Kelowna, British Columbia
2) $2.0 million: Atlas water systems, Inc., Newton, MA
3) $1.53 million: RainSoft of Des Moines, Des Moines, IA
4) $945,000: Water Systems of Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
5) $720,000: Milbert Co. dba Culligan Water, Inver Grove Heights, MN
6) $450,000: Culligan of Galena, Galena, IL