PANAMA CITY BEACH — Bengt Bruce designed his first washing machine in the 1960s and has made quite an impact on the laundry industry over the past 50 years.
Now the head of Panama City company B&C Technologies, Bruce and his team specialize in developing advanced commercial and industrial laundry machines, including washers, dryers, ironers, folders and more.
On Tuesday, state officials honored the company with the Governor’s Business Ambassador Award in Tallahassee for its commitment to creating jobs in Northwest Florida.
“It’s an honor, of course, and it encourages us to do more,” Bruce said of the award, which was presented by Gov. Rick Scott. “We are very much into trying to produce more and trying to expand the business.”
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Bruce, an engineer, began designing electric motors for washing machines in his native Sweden in the early ’60s and moved to the U.S. in 1978.
He started B&C Technologies in a garage with just two employees in 1995, and the company has since grown to 23 employees in a 60,000-square-foot facility in Panama City, where they develop more than 100 laundry products.
Bruce said the company is in the process of purchasing a 70,000-square-foot building at Commerce Park in Panama City Beach to allow for future expansion.
While machine parts are developed at the Panama City facility, they are then sent off for assembly in Thailand and returned to Panama City for sale and distribution. Despite cheaper assembly prices overseas, Bruce said the company has set a goal to begin conducting more in-house manufacturing.
One of the products B&C now fully develops is a high-tech, small piece towel folder.
“It’s made here,” Bruce said of the machine. “It can fold and sort any towel, hospital gown, anything quicker than you can feed it.”
Through more manufacturing, Bruce said he hopes B&C Technologies will have the capability to create more jobs in Florida.
“Our company has a good business because it’s sustainable,” Bruce said. “We have to use clothes and textiles and sleep in beds. … I don’t want to sleep on paper.”