03-28-2009, 05:09 PM
Hey a business is moving into Cherry, more jobs coming to town. Good stuff. Anyone know of these people?
![[Image: WA28_BIZTRIFIN_P1_scn_feed_20090327_19_5...ageContent]](http://media1.suburbanchicagonews.com/multimedia/WA28_BIZTRIFIN_P1_scn_feed_20090327_19_57_05_4928-124-165.imageContent)
Sweet smell of success
Owner moves fragrance firm from Baltimore to Waukegan
March 28, 2009
BY LONG HWA-SHU Special to the News-Sun
Jim Merlo is coming back to his Waukegan roots by moving his fragrance business from Baltimore to his birthplace.
He's also relocating the corporate offices of Trifinity from Lake Forest to the former Cherry Corp. headquarters building on Sunset Avenue. The moves prompted Ray Vukovich, Waukegan director of governmental services, to call it "a double win" for the city.
» Click to enlarge image
Tim Harger oversees production of auto air freshener products at Trifinity in Waukegan as enthusiastic company President Jim Merlo applauds.
(Special to the News-Sun)
"We're the largest maker of car fragrance in the world," said Merlo, 50, son of a cobbler whose grandfather was also a shoemaker. They operated Merlo Shoe Repair on Waukegan's West Side.
"I learned tenacity from my grandfather and honesty from my father," said Merlo who is the principal and chief executive officer of Trifinity, so named because this is his third enterprise. He previously owned a nail care business in Waukegan, and still owns a distribution business in Lake Forest. Partner Michael Sawant, who has an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, is in charge of marketing.
Last year, Trifinity, which is in its seventh year, grossed a sweet-smelling $30 million.
"We hope to do $54 million in a year, and we may even exceed that," said Merlo, who was born in the former Victory Memorial Hospital, now Vista Medical Center East, and went to Carmel High School in Mundelein.
"Even though people can't afford to buy new cars in this economy, they do want to buy car fragrance so that their cars will smell good," said Merlo, who got into the business almost by accident.
In 2006, he was invited to "look at the equipment" of Shell Oil Co.'s car fragrance manufacturing plant in Baltimore. He liked what he saw and eventually bought the facility, but not Shell's fragrance brand names, Auto Expressions and Blue Coral, which come in a variety of refreshing scents like mint, summer melon and mountain pine. Trifinity continues to makes these products for Shell and also for other companies.
Merlo recalled that when Shell told him its fragrance products were made overseas, he countered that he could make them in the U.S., save the jobs and still make a profit which he evidently does.
"We hope to become the national leader as a contract manufacturer in body sprays. We want to be the king in whatever product category we get into," said Merlo of his new venture.
"We've got the best liquid blending and mixing person in the United States," he said of Alex Bogdanovitch who heads planning and purchasing. Merlo said he would like to hire Waukegan workers and use Waukegan vendors.
Interestingly, he has hired longtime former Cherry employee Nyle Hendricks as the facilities manager. Merlo said Hendricks knows every pipe and line in the building. Hired as plant engineer is Jorge Vargas, formerly with Goodman Packaging in Waukegan.
"We're looking for machine operators, technicians, forklift operators, quality control and safety people," said Merlo who is often called "King Jim" by his staff.
He and his wife, Jeanne, have two sons, Jimmy, 20, a junior and business major at the University of Dayton in Ohio, and Bobby, 17, a junior at Carmel.
Merlo said the firm is "still in the bulb-changing stage" and that the company won't be in full operation until April 9 when it will have 100 workers.
"It took 190 truckloads to move all the equipment to here from Baltimore," said Merlo, pointing at the huge pile of pallets outside that were also trucked here. He said he was happy to be back in Waukegan, pointing out city officials cut the redtape in offering him assistance to move the timetable ahead.
"We made more progress in two hours than what it took two years to accomplish in Maryland," he said appreciatively as he showed a parts room stocked with all kinds of nuts and bolts. "We can make any kind of parts we need here."
Trifinity, he said, is leasing two former Cherry buildings, one 211,000 square feet for offices and manufacturing; the other 130,000 square feet for warehousing and distribution.
He said he has set his eyes on buying the bigger building and plans to erect a building on the 20 acres, part of the former Cherry complex. Cherry vacated the buildings in 2005.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/business/1499835,5_3_WA28_BIZTRIFIN_S1.article">http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article</a><!-- m -->
Sweet smell of success
Owner moves fragrance firm from Baltimore to Waukegan
March 28, 2009
BY LONG HWA-SHU Special to the News-Sun
Jim Merlo is coming back to his Waukegan roots by moving his fragrance business from Baltimore to his birthplace.
He's also relocating the corporate offices of Trifinity from Lake Forest to the former Cherry Corp. headquarters building on Sunset Avenue. The moves prompted Ray Vukovich, Waukegan director of governmental services, to call it "a double win" for the city.
» Click to enlarge image
Tim Harger oversees production of auto air freshener products at Trifinity in Waukegan as enthusiastic company President Jim Merlo applauds.
(Special to the News-Sun)
"We're the largest maker of car fragrance in the world," said Merlo, 50, son of a cobbler whose grandfather was also a shoemaker. They operated Merlo Shoe Repair on Waukegan's West Side.
"I learned tenacity from my grandfather and honesty from my father," said Merlo who is the principal and chief executive officer of Trifinity, so named because this is his third enterprise. He previously owned a nail care business in Waukegan, and still owns a distribution business in Lake Forest. Partner Michael Sawant, who has an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, is in charge of marketing.
Last year, Trifinity, which is in its seventh year, grossed a sweet-smelling $30 million.
"We hope to do $54 million in a year, and we may even exceed that," said Merlo, who was born in the former Victory Memorial Hospital, now Vista Medical Center East, and went to Carmel High School in Mundelein.
"Even though people can't afford to buy new cars in this economy, they do want to buy car fragrance so that their cars will smell good," said Merlo, who got into the business almost by accident.
In 2006, he was invited to "look at the equipment" of Shell Oil Co.'s car fragrance manufacturing plant in Baltimore. He liked what he saw and eventually bought the facility, but not Shell's fragrance brand names, Auto Expressions and Blue Coral, which come in a variety of refreshing scents like mint, summer melon and mountain pine. Trifinity continues to makes these products for Shell and also for other companies.
Merlo recalled that when Shell told him its fragrance products were made overseas, he countered that he could make them in the U.S., save the jobs and still make a profit which he evidently does.
"We hope to become the national leader as a contract manufacturer in body sprays. We want to be the king in whatever product category we get into," said Merlo of his new venture.
"We've got the best liquid blending and mixing person in the United States," he said of Alex Bogdanovitch who heads planning and purchasing. Merlo said he would like to hire Waukegan workers and use Waukegan vendors.
Interestingly, he has hired longtime former Cherry employee Nyle Hendricks as the facilities manager. Merlo said Hendricks knows every pipe and line in the building. Hired as plant engineer is Jorge Vargas, formerly with Goodman Packaging in Waukegan.
"We're looking for machine operators, technicians, forklift operators, quality control and safety people," said Merlo who is often called "King Jim" by his staff.
He and his wife, Jeanne, have two sons, Jimmy, 20, a junior and business major at the University of Dayton in Ohio, and Bobby, 17, a junior at Carmel.
Merlo said the firm is "still in the bulb-changing stage" and that the company won't be in full operation until April 9 when it will have 100 workers.
"It took 190 truckloads to move all the equipment to here from Baltimore," said Merlo, pointing at the huge pile of pallets outside that were also trucked here. He said he was happy to be back in Waukegan, pointing out city officials cut the redtape in offering him assistance to move the timetable ahead.
"We made more progress in two hours than what it took two years to accomplish in Maryland," he said appreciatively as he showed a parts room stocked with all kinds of nuts and bolts. "We can make any kind of parts we need here."
Trifinity, he said, is leasing two former Cherry buildings, one 211,000 square feet for offices and manufacturing; the other 130,000 square feet for warehousing and distribution.
He said he has set his eyes on buying the bigger building and plans to erect a building on the 20 acres, part of the former Cherry complex. Cherry vacated the buildings in 2005.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/newssun/business/1499835,5_3_WA28_BIZTRIFIN_S1.article">http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/news ... S1.article</a><!-- m -->
