INDUSTRY DIRT Meet the New Boss PowerWash.com, a leading one-stop shop for those in the mobile power-washing industry, recently announced the hiring of Christopher Blann as CEO. Blann is charged with leading the company's aggressive retail-focused expansion efforts while cultivating the company's industry professional training platform, PowerWash Academy. Previously with Men's Best Primary Care, Blann began transitioning into his new role at the family-owned and -operated business earlier this year. "Christopher's operational and retail expertise exemplify the 'power' in PowerWash.com," said Powerwash. com’s president Michael Hinderliter. "His hands-on approach and leadership experience will be an invaluable asset as we elevate the business that my father started nearly 50 years ago." Blann is a retail industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience in e-commerce and operations. He most recently served as president of Men's Best Primary Care, where he led the launch and 15-month growth of the health care startup. Prior to that, Blann served as senior vice president of store operations at Eyemart Express, where he oversaw everything from retail operations to supply chain to manufacturing at the national optical retailer's more than 200 locations. "I am excited to join a growing and innovative company that is paving the way in this niche industry," said Blann. "The Hinderliter family has created an impressive foundation and legacy, and I look forward to building upon that success with the team." A subsidiary of Delux Cleaning Supply, Inc., PowerWash.com is based in Fort Worth, Texas, and offers a complete selection of equipment and supplies including detergents for all aspects of power washing, including truck washing, kitchen hood exhaust cleaning, house washing, concrete cleaning, wood restoration, awning cleaning, and more. The company also provides comprehensive hands-on and online training for industry professionals with its own PowerWash Academy through the Washaholic Program. Power Play Droning On Charlotte, North Carolinabased industrial drone maker Lucid Drone Technologies’ Lucid C1 spraying drone was recognized as the Best Power Washing Drone of 2022 at The Droning Company’s annual Droning Awards, which recognizes the year’s most impressive drone innovations. The nominees were chosen by members of The Droning Company, with a panel of drone experts, pilots and enthusiasts voting for the winners across several categories. Lucid was first profiled in PW News in 2021. Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin-based FNA Group also recently filed critical circumstances allegations against Chinese and Vietnamese producers of gas-powered pressure washers. Because of a surge of imports, FNA Group has requested that the U.S. Department of Commerce impose early antidumping and countervailing duties against imports from these two countries, as part of its trade case filed at the end of 2022. Shipment data reveals that Chinese and Vietnamese producers, along with their U.S. importers and customers, are trying to evade the proposed additional import duties by stockpiling their products in the United States before a decision by Commerce. FNA Group, determined to put an end to these unfair practices, believes that the U.S. Department of Commerce will substantiate FNA Group allegations of a surge, and backdate the additional duties to dates as early as March <strong>2023</strong>. FNA Group's CEO, Gus Alexander, stated, "Such practices fundamentally contradict the purpose of the duties and will not be tolerated by the U.S. authorities. We fully expect that the allegation will succeed, and the retroactive duties will apply. It is our hope that the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission will make a rightful determination based on the evidence available." The case numbers of the investigations are A-570-148, A-552-008, and C-570-149. FNA Group is represented by Matthew J. McConkey of Mayer Brown LLP. Data from the US International Trade Commission (USITC) shows that in 2021, Vietnam exported about $430 million worth of the investigated products to the U.S., accounting for about 44% of the total export value from all countries to the U.S. and increasing more than 1.5 times compared to 2020 and 25 times to 2019. The estimated dumping margin for Vietnam is 110.23 - 225.65%. At press time, the U.S. Department of Commerce was still investigating whether the named subject imports are being sold to the United States at less than fair value (“dumping”) or benefit from unfair government subsidies. ITC was also investigating whether the subject imports are causing “material injury” or “threat of material injury” to the domestic industry. According to Adams Lee, attorney with Harris Bricken, and author of China Law Blog, these pressure washers are just the latest gas powered equipment to be targeted for AD and CVD duties. In 2020, Briggs & Stratton filed AD/CVD cases on large and small gas vertical shaft engines. Soon thereafter, U.S. producers could no longer afford to import Chinese engines or get enough engines from Briggs & Stratton. Facing their own import competition, they then filed their own AD/CVD against imports of lawn mowers and snow blowers primarily from China. After very high AD/CVD duties were imposed in these cases, the volume of imports from China dropped significantly. “It is not surprising to see domestic producers in other gas powered products wanting to try to get similar AD/ CVD duties to protect themselves from their own Chinese import competition,” Lee wrote. 12 | PRESSURE WASH NEWS | VOL. 5, NO. 1 | SUMMER <strong>2023</strong>
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