Pellegrino, chief executive officer of Saipan Ice & Water Company, said after a decade and a half of providing high quality drinking water to the community, they will continue to improve their services.
“Water is very important. We can’t live without water, and because of this, Saipan Ice & Water Company wants to assure its clients that we are here to see to it that this need is met,” Pellegrino said.
Staying in business for the past 25 years is a proof that the company lived true to its business philosophy: “Our aim is to be #1, not in sales or market share but in terms of the quality of our products, management and customer service.”
New improvements
Beginning next month, Saipan Ice & Water Company will be supplying fluoridated water in the smaller bottles and gallon sizes. Before, the company only sells fluoridated water in its 5-gallon deliveries.
Pellegrino said Saipan Ice & Water Company cares for the health of the community.
He said the American Dental Association recommends using fluoridated water which is good for the children’s teeth, and the company will be making this available at the same price.
“We care about everybody’s health but customers, however, still have a choice between buying the regular water and the fluoridated water,” Pellegrino said. Anyone can easily identify the fluoridated water from the label.
Expanding client list
Pellegrino said for the last two years, they have been supplying over 7,000 cases of bottled water to the Public School System each month.
They have also been chosen to supply drinking water for military ships that dock in the island.
“We are very happy on the confidence that the government and our other clients have placed on us. This is what counts most — earning the trust of the community that what we are distributing is safe water,” Pellegrino said.
He said for the past years, they had also been supplying small bottled water to Cape Air, the Continental Airlines flights plying the Saipan-Guam and Rota-Guam routes.
More equipment
It all started with one water purifier and one manual filling unit. Now, Saipan Ice & Water Company has come a long way in its operations after 25 years, acquiring state of the art equipment and facilities.
Pellegrino said the company will not stop with what it already has but it will go on acquiring equipment and upgrading facilities that will make their services much better.
In December last year, the company acquired its latest equipment — a shrink wrapping machine that packages the cases of bottled waters in shrinkable film instead of boxes.
“This translates to more savings because we don’t have to pay extra for the boxes, but we will still supply the water bottles in boxes if customers want it,” Pellegrino said.
He said all their machines have duplicates, or stand-by machines so that if one breaks down, they will not have to stop operations.
“The need for drinking water will not stop everyday so we can’t afford to stop processing water,” he said.
Quality products
From the time the bottles are washed, filled up, capped and packaged, they do not pass through human touch — an assurance that customers are drinking the safest water possible. Saipan Ice & Quality water is the only water processing company in the island that had invested a lot in machines that wash the bottles using detergents approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The company’s bottle washing machine can wash 750 bottles an hour and they have a smaller machine as back-up if needed.
An in-house chemist makes daily checks on the water quality to ensure that they maintain the safe standards.
They also conform and pass all tests for water sampling required by the Division of Environmental Quality regularly.
“We are the only company that has hired an in-house chemist to conduct a regular water-quality check. Again, we are not afraid to invest for the safety of our products and our customers,” Pellegrino said.
Last year, the company obtained no violations for coliform for the year after sending samples for testing to the Montgomery Watson Laboratories to check the level of disinfectants and disinfections.
Saipan Ice & Water Company products, like its 5-gallon water, may be priced a little bit higher than the other drinking water supplied by other companies on island, but Pellegrino said customers will get the full value of what they are paying for.
“You may pay higher for our drinking water, but you get your money’s worth. We value your health,” he said.
He added that in their 25 years of operation, they have never received a single complaint about their products.
Sources, treatment methods
Saipan Ice & Water Company sources its water from an underground well, mixed with rainwater when possible.
They also use water from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp..
The company stores water in three storage tanks with a combined capacity of 90,000 gallons. As raw water is pumped from the deep wells, it is pre-treated and disinfected using chlorination. The raw water undergoes a long process of purification through reverse osmosis before it is finally ready for bottling.
With Saipan Ice & Water Company, you can relax with the assurance that you are drinking the safest water possible.
Friendly competition
Pellegrino does not believe in competition when it comes to providing safe and potable water in the islands.
With over a dozen other companies in the same line of business, Pellegrino said that he gladly extends a helping hand to the other water suppliers in the island if they needed any supplies such as water bottles, ice or other supplies.
Since they acquired blow molding machines, Saipan Ice & Water Company has been manufactures their own water bottles — from the 5-gallon bottles down to the smallest 330 ml bottles, saving on the shipping costs they would have paid if they buy the bottles from other countries.
Open for visits
Pellegrino said his company is very transparent in how they process the drinking water to the community. From time to time, he said they host field trips for students and visitors whom they take on a tour around the premises.
“We have nothing to hide and we would like to share to everybody how we process our drinking water, so come anytime and we will be happy to accommodate you,” Pellegrino said.
He is urging especially students like science classes to come and see how water is bottled before being delivered to the stores and homes for drinking.
“Please come to our company. It will be an interesting and educational experience for everybody,” he said.
Products and services
Saipan Ice & Water Company’s 18 delivery trucks have a capacity to haul 500, 1,000 or 2,500 gallon quantities for delivering to homes and stores across the island.
Available for delivery are 5-gallon regular or fluoridated water, 1.5 and 1 liter water bottles, 500 ml and 300 ml water bottles.
One signature product of the company is private labeling where customers can design and put their personalized labels on the water bottles. Ideal for special occasions, Pellegrino said that this service has been gaining popularity among the customers. In the past years, private labeling has been used by politicians to further their campaign by distributing bottled water to their constituents during gatherings. It has also been used for birthdays, weddings and other occasions.
Plans
Saipan Ice & Water Company hopes to serve more people in the island for more years to come.
Pellegrino said they are looking into partnering with the other airlines operating on Saipan flights to supply drinking water
A lot has happened since 1985 when only a few stores are selling bottled water and people were using rain water catchments on island. Pellegrino has initiated the huge move and made it easy for people to drink safe water.
Now, Saipan Ice & Water Company is manufacturing 20,000 pounds of ice each day and providing for about 70 percent of the island’s drinking water needs.
Secret of success
Pellegrino said the secret of his company’s success is through its people who work as a team to provide the purest and safest drinking water to the community.
Pellegrino believes that happy and satisfied employees work better and produce better results. In his company, he said he treats all employees as members of the family.
Some of the company’s employees had been with the company for decades, a proof that “When they put in more work, the company shows its appreciation by giving them incentives,” Pellegrino said.
He said the company believes in boosting the morale of its employees so they will not hesitate to put in their best to share the company’s goals.
As proof, Saipan Ice & Water Company gives recognition for model employees every quarter whose photo they post in the company bulletin board to encourage others to do their best.
For more information, ice or water delivery, call Saipan Ice & Water Company at 322-9848/3160/9455, or email spnice@pticom.com.
