2021 is a special year for TQI LLC, or Tecni-Quip, as they are celebrating their 60th year in business as a family-owned and managed company.
Founders Charles and Jane Clement served their country during World War II; Charles as an Army captain and Jane employed as a Civil Service Secretary for the War Department. They met while deployed in the Panama Canal Zone in 1944 and were soon married. In 1950, as so many G.I.s did, they moved to the Los Angeles area where Jane worked as an executive secretary to a Fortune 500 company and Charles (with the help of the G.I. Bill) pursued his degree in aeronautical engineering.
In 1961, not satisfied with designing aircraft and working for large companies, Jane and Charles became entrepreneurs and founded Tecni-Quip, in a borrowed garage filled with tools, a drafting board and many dreams. Within a few years, they were designing and building linen carts for local Los Angeles-area hospitals. Soon, Charles was traveling with carts in tow up and down the West Coast while Jane maintained the office and staff.
By 1966, the Tecni-Quip L-Series models of enclosed aluminum linen carts were sold coast to coast. In 1984, Charles and Jane launched Clean Cycle Systems lint filters, available as slim-line and in-line duct units. Today, CCS models range from the simplest design for OPL laundries to large advanced models that can process lint from multiple dryers.
In 1998, while exhibiting at the IEHA tradeshow, a hotel corporate executive housekeeper urged Tecni-Quip to develop a housekeeping hotel cart system for her hotel chain. Working hand-in-hand crafting trial models to her ideas, the HC Series and the S-Series were developed. That was the beginning of Tecni-Quip's hotel cart line. Since that time, they have worked with many hotel and cruise industry housekeepers and designers developing various models.
A unique feature Tecni-Quip offers is the ability to manufacture tailor built carts, generally accomplished in aluminum fabrication, which can be delivered within a 3-5 week period without any additional costs.
Today, Tecni-Quip strives to retain the original integrity, craftsmanship, and attention to detail in their manufacturing process and product models that Charles and Jane founded the company on. There are 45-year-old carts still in service today that only require occasional replacement parts or new covers! Since its inception in 1966, the L-Series has been manufactured daily in the factory, which pleased Charles greatly before he passed in August 2012 at the age of 93. Staff also works to retain the "Jane C. Method" of professional customer service, responding accurately and efficiently to requests.
More information about Tecni-Quip is available at their website, http://www.tqind.com.