How it started
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) 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 products, Legionella Intelligence and Boiler Intelligence.
In February 2011, JLA secured a £12.5 million funding package from Lloyds Banking Group Corporate Markets. The package consisted of £7.5 million for capital expenditure 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, and launched a commercial heating division in 2017.
From Wikipedia’s article on JLA, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2