The JLA Group is a provider of the distribution,

rental Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the use of a good, service or property owned by another over a fixed period of time. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement (or lease) is sign ...

and servicing of commercial laundry equipment, commercial dishwashers and

regulatory compliance In general, compliance means conforming to a rule, such as a specification, policy, standard or law. Compliance has traditionally been explained by reference to deterrence theory, according to which punishing a behavior will decrease the viol ...

tools as well as Fire & Security Systems, Passive Fire Doors, Fire Risk Assessments, Automatic Opening Vents (AOV). The company is the market-leading distributor of commercial laundry and catering equipment in the UK, having recorded circa 30 per cent

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a Market (economics), market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those ...

in 2011. Founded in 1973, JLA is based in

Ripponden Ripponden is a village and civil parish on the River Ryburn near Halifax in West Yorkshire, England. Historically it was part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Its population was 6,412 at the time of the 2001 Census, and 7,421 in 2011. Rippo ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, UK.Work Smart
''JLA Limited''
accessed 10 October 2011.

History

JLA was founded as John Laithwaite Associates Limited in 1973 in Ripponden, West Yorkshire, UK by John Laithwaite. While JLA initially specialised only in commercial laundry equipment distribution, by 1982 the company had begun to offer a rental model combining both machines and servicing which is now known as Total Care. In April 2002, JLA acquired Circuit Managed Laundry, which is now a fully incorporated division of JLA. Circuit provides managed laundry rooms for residential buildings (such as university campuses, holiday parks and

housing associations In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budget surpl ...

) throughout the UK. In 2010, JLA expanded with a division named Black Box Intelligence. This division was established as an umbrella brand for its new compliance and

building management system Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting, ...

products, ''Legionella Intelligence'' and ''Boiler Intelligence''. In February 2011, JLA secured a £12.5 million funding package from

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...

Corporate Markets.Insider Media Limited
''JLA cleans up with £12.5m deal''
3 February 2011. Accessed 10 October 2011.The Star
''Lloyds cleans up with loan''
8 February 2011. Accessed 10 October 2011. The package consisted of £7.5 million for

capital expenditure Capital expenditure or capital expense (abbreviated capex, CAPEX, or CapEx) is the money an organization or corporate entity spends to buy, maintain, or improve its fixed assets, such as buildings, vehicles, equipment, or land. It is considered ...

and a £5 million working capital facility. JLA added a detergents division, JLA Clean, in 2011, and introduced a warewashing division in 2012. In 2013, the company launched its medical and catering divisions,JLA News
''JLA Launches Catering Division''
/ref> and launched a commercial heating division in 2017.

Acquisition by HgCapital

On 26 March 2010, HgCapital announced that they had acquired a majority stake in JLA Limited. The deal was valued between £150 million and £175 million, and the acquisition attracted national attention,The Telegraph

27 March 2010. Accessed 10 October 2011. with both ''The Telegraph'' and ''Reuters'' covering the story.

JLA Acquisitions

JLA has made a number of acquisitions since 2010. In 2011, the company acquired Mason of Blackpool, a regional commercial equipment distributor. In 2013, JLA acquired the Carford Group, a major catering equipment distributor and service supplier , followed by PHS Laundryserv in July 2015. Other businesses acquired by JLA include Red Squared, Wilson’s Electrics, CKM, Harmony Business and Technology, Proton Washrite, Newco and Comcat Engineering. In May 2017, the company acquired rival laundry provider Washstation, however, in 2018 it was ordered to sell the company by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair beh ...

Products and Services

As a commercial equipment supplier, JLA distributes its own branded machines, which includes washers, tumble dryers, catering equipment, dishwashers, sluice room equipment, commercial boilers and hot water cylinders. The company's main service offering is ''Total Care'', a comprehensive equipment and service package. JLA also offers breakdown-only repairs, as well as contract-based breakdown

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

and service plans. In November 2001, JLA launched their ''S.A.F.E.'' (an acronym for Sensor Activated Fire Extinguishing) system for tumble dryers. The system works by utilising two sensors which constantly monitor the temperature in the dryer drum, and which activate a water vapour mechanism that extinguishes the fire before it can escape the drum. OTEX, JLA's

ozone Ozone () (or trioxygen) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , break ...

disinfection A disinfectant is a chemical substance or compound used to inactivate or destroy microorganisms on inert surfaces. Disinfection does not necessarily kill all microorganisms, especially resistant bacterial spores; it is less effective than ...

system for laundry ''OTEX'', was launched in June 2004, following a £3m

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

programme. In 2009 ''OTEX'' received level 1 classification from the ''Department of Health NHS Rapid Review Panel'' for its

infection control Infection prevention and control (IPC) is the discipline concerned with preventing healthcare-associated infections; a practical rather than academic sub-discipline of epidemiology. In Northern Europe, infection prevention and control is expande ...

qualities. The report stated that ''OTEX'' is ‘the most effective laundry disinfection system for eradicating microorganisms, including bacteria, yeasts, moulds and viruses'.Health Protection Agency
''JLA Ltd - OTEX Laundry System''
, September 2009. Accessed 10 October 2011. In September 2010, the company launched two new products through its newly formed division Black Box Intelligence. ''Legionella Intelligence'' was developed as a wireless web-based system for monitoring the prevalence of

Legionella ''Legionella'' is a genus of gram-negative bacteria, gram-negative bacteria that can be seen using a silver stain or grown in a special media that contains cysteine, an amino acid. It is known to cause legionellosis (all illnesses caused by ''Legi ...

via temperature sensors. ''Boiler Intelligence'' is a building management system which controls heating and boiler activity in properties. JLA launched its SMART Wash range in 2013. The washing machines incorporate ‘JLA Sense’ technology to automatically gauge the amount of water needed during a wash cycle. This was followed in 2014 by the SMART Dry range of tumble dryers, which feature S.A.F.E. technology and are programmed to calculate how long it will take for individual loads to dry.

Awards

JLA won the National Customer Service Award for Field Management in 2008. In 2009, the ''Department of Health NHS Rapid Review Panel'' awarded JLA’s OTEX ozone laundry system level 1 classification for infection control products. JLA were shortlisted for the Yorkshire Innovator award for the Yorkshire Business Masters’ Awards in June 2010.

Criticisms

Circuit Managed Laundry has attracted criticisms from the student population for its in house laundry systems on university campuses.

Warwick University The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a ...

replaced most of its Circuit laundries with facilities from WashCO following negative student feedback.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://jla.com/
JLA Ireland

Black Box Intelligence

Circuit Managed Laundry

Onsite Appliance Repair
Business services companies established in 1973 Manufacturing companies of England Service companies of England Manufacturing companies established in 1973 1973 establishments in England