American Laundry News - February 2022

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. —

ImageFIRST, a provider of linen and laundry services for the healthcare industry, reports it has acquired Pratt Abbott Uniform & Linen, headquartered in Greater Portland, Maine, with a service center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

This acquisition marks ImageFIRST’s first facility in the state of Maine. This acquisition does not include Pratt Abbott Retail’s dry cleaning and home delivery.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

ImageFIRST says its customers and Pratt Abbott Uniform & Linen customers in the area will be served by these facilities, creating greater processing capacities and job opportunities in the region. Existing leadership and employees will be retained as part of the transaction.

“By merging the expertise of our new partner with the industry-leading expertise from ImageFIRST, we will be able to bring a superior level of service to even more healthcare facilities in northern New England,” says Jim Cashman, president and CEO of ImageFIRST. ALN

Medical laundry provider cleans pediatric patient gowns handmade by 11-year-old

ImageFIRST New Jersey location processes, packages gowns to ensure patient safety, infection control

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — ImageFIRST Healthcare Laundry Specialists, a provider of linen and laundry services for the healthcare industry, shares it was contacted by G’s Giving Gowns, a foundation situated in New Jersey that provides handmade pediatric gowns for children fighting pediatric cancer.

Giuliana D., the 11-year-old president and CEO, sought out the provider to sanitize and package 50 hospital gowns so they could be delivered to pediatric patients safely.

The 11-year-old entrepreneur started her journey after attending a fashion school camp where she discovered her passion for sewing.

When a cousin was diagnosed with cancer at only 10 months old, Giuliana was inspired

Current inflation and laundry operations

BY MATT POE, EDITOR

CHICAGO — The effects of the pandemic continue to be felt across the globe, and one result of COVID-19 has been an increase in inflation. Inflation in the laundry industry is most prominently felt in labor costs, both labor rates and labor availability, says David Potack, president of Unitex, a uniform and linen provider in Elmsford, New York.

“Elevated fuel and textile costs are leading the margin compression significantly though there is some belief that these two areas are cyclical to an extent while the labor rate issue is non-cyclical and viewed as resetting labor cost at a higher rate for the long foreseeable future,” he says.

“Every aspect of the healthcare laundry operation has been impacted by the effects of the pandemic and the elevated costs that inflation

Preventing Rewash

Panel of Experts

In this issue, the experts tackle working with product and service suppliers as prices rise.

The Newspaper of Record for Laundry & Linen Management

Pandemic-induced higher inflation will likely be around for some time, but there are ways laundries can lessen the effects

ImageFIRST acquires Pratt Abbott Uniform & Linen

Ways to improve finding, handling stains, promoting proper linen usage to customers.

Giuliana D., the 11-year-old behind G’s Gowns, and her mother, Vanessa, with the staff at the ImageFIRST plant who processed her handmade pediatric cancer patient gowns. (Photo: ImageFIRST)

(Image licensed by Ingram Image)

RICHMOND, Ky. — The Association for Linen Management (ALM) knows that hospitals around the country face constraints in cost, policies and staffing—and laundry operations often come under scrutiny.

That’s why the association has launched its new Mastery of Healthcare Linen Management (MHLM) Certification.

ALM says that MHLM will help lower textile care costs and ensure textile performance and availability for healthcare facilities. With the MHLM, hospitals can drive best practices and cost effectiveness in their facilities while improving processes and delivering an efficient linen management program.

This online program allows individuals to gain the knowledge necessary for management roles.

“Every hospital is different, but they all face similar constraints in cost, policies and staffing,” says Linda Fairbanks, executive director of ALM.

“ALM developed this program to provide hospital staff with access

to the necessary knowledge to meet the facility’s goals while maintaining the safety of their patients.”

The association says MHLM highlights how effective linen management benefits the healthcare facility. Hospitals can benefit from maximizing their linen budgets, strengthen support for clinicians by providing the materials needed at the correct time and place, and understand how to maintain hygienically clean linen.

Meanwhile, they are better able to collaborate with their laundries by having a mutual understanding of how linen cycles through locations, resulting in reduced linen loss and better utilization, which decreases costs for everyone.

“To ensure patient safety, it is paramount that hospitals employ practices consistent with the concepts of infection prevention regarding the use, storage and transportation of textiles in the hospital,” says ALM

Clinical Advisor Fontaine Sands, DRPH, MSN, CIC, RN.

“It’s not complicated to ensure

that linen is maintained properly, but it does require that every worker involved in linen and patient care know what the proper procedures are. From the laundry technician to the nurse caring for the patient, they each have their role to play.”

The MHLM is suitable for healthcare facility staff at all levels, according to ALM. Materials managers gain insight on effectively managing all aspects of a laundry contract between the hospital and laundry processors, while environmental services staff learn to reduce labor costs and increase opportunities for laundry cost savings.

ALM adds that value-analysis professionals attain new skills in ensuring products meet clinician and patient needs while providing the best cost-per-use.

When an individual completes the MHLM, they recognize variables that impact linen utilization, can successfully implement proper quality measures to resolve customer-related issues, and accurately source and present appropri-

ate information that will positively impact and measure the financial, clinical, and operational outcomes.

“The topics covered in the MHLM are many I’ve been teaching over the years,” shares June Barbrey, assistant general manager of Shared Hospital Services. “But to have this all-in-one, complete program that our managers, new and old, can review is critical to success.”

The MHLM Certification Program includes seven online courses and one online examination. The courses may be purchased individually or as a full program. When purchasing courses individually, participants may choose courses based on their needs and focus.

ALM says the MHLM is the first and only program providing education for healthcare linen management in hospitals, as well as the most recent addition to the training programs available from ALM.

Details about all ALM educational programs for textile care professionals are available at ALMnet.org/ ALMeducation ALN

Publisher

Charles Thompson

Phone: 312-361-1680

E-Mail: cthompson@ ATMags.com

Associate Publisher/ National Sales Director

Donald Feinstein

Phone: 312-361-1682

E-Mail: dfeinstein@ ATMags.com

Editorial Director

Bruce Beggs

Phone: 312-361-1683

E-Mail: bbeggs@ ATMags.com

Editor

Matt Poe

Phone: 866-942-5694 E-Mail: mpoe@ ATMags.com

Production Manager

Mathew Pawlak

Digital Media Director

Nathan Frerichs

Phone: 312-361-1681

E-Mail: nfrerichs@ ATMags.com

Advisory Board

David Barbe • David Carter

Janice Ayers Davis • Nick Fertig Deana Griffin • Steve Kallenbach Edward McCauley

Main Phone: 312-361-1700 Fax: 312-361-1685

Subscriptions

EVANSTON, Ill. — Uniform and apparel service provider Cintas earned six of the top 10 awards in the NAUMD 2021 Image of the Year Award® Competition, an annual program that recognizes the most fashionable, forward-thinking and innovative commercial apparel designs and the businesses that wear

them.

Cintas also earned the Best of the Best nod for its work on the Resorts World apparel program. Twin Hill took home two awards. Rounding out the list are JA Uniforms and Luly Yang Couture.

Ten companies made this year’s top 10 list:

• Design Collective by Cintas, Resorts World, Gaming and Best of the Best—Resorts World is the first integrated resort (hotel, casino, entertainment, convention/exhibit center) to be built on the Las Vegas Strip in over a decade. This property was opened in late June and currently has 3,200 wearers.

• JA Uniforms, Bungalows Key Largo, Hotels, Single Location—Luxury, elegance and exclusivity define the Bungalows brand. Customer satisfaction is highly influenced by employee enthusiasm and comfort, which is supported by uniforms that are not only elegant but comfortable to wear in Bungalow’s tropical environment.

• Design Collective by Cintas, Margaritaville, Hotels, Multiple Locations—The wardrobe addresses every job area in the hotel, from guest arrivals and front desk to engineering and housekeeping. Much of the Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts portfolio is in warm weather areas.

• Twin Hill, McDonald’s, Restaurants, Multiple

847-504-8175 ALN@Omeda.com www.americanlaundrynews.com

American Laundry News (ISSN 1091-9201) is published monthly. Subscription prices, payment in advance: U.S. 1 year $50.00; 2 years $100.00. Foreign, 1 year $120.00; 2 years $240.00. Single copies: U.S. $10.00; Foreign $20.00. Published by American Trade Magazines LLC, 650 West Lake Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60661. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER, Send changes of address and form 3579 to American Laundry News, Subscription Dept., 125 Schelter Rd., #350, Lincolnshire, IL 60069-3666. Volume 48, number 2. Editorial, executive and advertising offices are at 650 West Lake Street, Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60661. Charles Thompson, President and Publisher. American Laundry News is distributed selectively to qualified laundry and linen management and distributors in the United States.

© Copyright AMERICAN TRADE MAGAZINES LLC, 2022. Printed in U.S.A. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher or his representative. American Laundry News does not endorse, recommend or guarantee any article, product, service or information found within. Opinions expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of American Laundry News or its staff. While precautions have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the magazine’s contents at time of publication, neither the editors, publishers nor its agents can accept responsibility for damages or injury which may arise therefrom.

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Higher and higher

Iwish the headline for this issue’s “From the Editor’s Desk” was more about the state of the laundry industry.

While laundry and linen service business does continue to improve from what I hear, there are still many challenges to overcome as this pandemic and its effects drag on.

One effect, which is the basis for the headline, is rising costs.

The pandemic kick-started our current state of high inflation, which raises prices and costs all around.

The Federal Reserve targets 2% inflation annually, but as of November 2021, it had jumped to 5.6%. What exactly trig gered the inflation jump out of the pandemic? What is the Fed

From The Editor’s Desk MATT POE

going to do (or not do) about it?

What can laundry operations do to ease the effects of high inflation?

You’ll find the answers in the story beginning on page 1.

William Luther, Ph.D., an assis tant professor of economics at

Florida Atlantic University; David Potack, president of Unitex; and Timothy Lacek, senior director of support services and procure ment for Hospital Central Services Cooperative Inc. (HCSC), weigh in on the topic.

One way laundries can work to ease the effects is to work more closely with their supplier partners.

Turn to page 12 and read the ideas our new Panel of Experts have to foster those relationships and get the best price and quality possible.

Inflation and price increases can get frustrating but hang in there. The industry has ridden out storms like this and will continue to do so.

And American Laundry News will be here to bring you news, insights and strategies to help keep it clean, everybody! ALN

Developing a dedicated crew

I n December, I told the staff of American Laundry News that I would stop writ ing articles effective with the July edition. While I have enjoyed writing articles for the laundry industry since 1977, I feel it is time to move on and retire from this monthly task.

This has been a labor of love to an industry to which I gave 50 years of my life.

Yesterday, we went from 70 degrees on Sunday to the first heavy snowfall of the year on Monday. Sudden changes like this challenge our industry in many ways.

Snow does not come very often to Roanoke, Virginia, or to many areas that got snow over the last several days. Going from unexpected warmth one day to a blizzard the next shocks the sys tem.

Locations—The new McDonald’s crew program is the evolution of the 2017 pro gram offering a fresh, modern look that was designed to sup port McDonald’s leadership as a modern progressive brand.

• Design Collective by Cintas, Fairmont Royal York Library Bar, Restaurants, Single Location—The Library Bar, for which this program has been designed, is an upscale bar environment offering large selections of specialty drinks and a sophisticated light food menu.

• Luly Yang Couture, Amazon, Transportation, Products— Amazon headquarters reached out to Luly to design, develop and deliver a custom uni form collection within three

months. In true Prime speed, the collection was designed, approved, manufactured and distributed to Amazon driv ers in North America within a few months and worldwide in under a year.

• Design Collective by Cintas, Virgin Voyages, Transportation, People—The Virgin Voyages program covers all areas front and back of the house on board. From officers and hotel leaders to culinary and food and beverage service.

Virgin Voyages has 1,200 crew members working on each of their ships.

• Twin Hill, Mary Kay, Service— The Mary Kay Red Jacket Program, one of Mary Kay’s iconic corporate wear collec tions, is a three-year program consisting of 32,000 wearers.

• Design Collective by Cintas, FC Cincinnati, Entertainment Venue—FC Cincinnati is a soccer club located in TQL Stadium. Approximately 1,000

wearers are enrolled in the new apparel program.

• ADT, Retail & Professional— The goal of this program was to identify the commercial technicians in a consistent and meaningful way back to the ADT over-arching brand, while still having its own rec ognizable program. The pro gram utilizes the same fabrica tion and color palette of the ADT Residential Program but has its own color combination that makes it unique.

For more than four decades, the NAUMD’s Image of the Year Award® Competition has honored uniform manufacturers, distribu tors and end users that have mas tered the concept of fashion and function within image and market planning.

Specifically designed to assist in identifying staff and professionals, image apparel can also extend a company’s brand, increase safety, enhance interior décor and improve employee morale. ALN

It also shocks our employees and tests their loyalties. The laundry industry is still very labor dependent, and sudden heavy snowstorms close schools, daycare facilities, and put normal, wellthought-out plans for children in chaos.

Being a stubborn person, I made it to my part-time job driving cars for Enterprise at the Roanoke Airport, but I know many employees across the city did not make it into work. I know of several loca tions that went out and pur chased lunches for the employ ees that did show up under difficult circumstances.

This is a nice show of appre ciation, but a one-time event has a limited lasting effect.

“I MADE A POINT OVER MY LAST FIVE YEARS OF MANAGEMENT TO DO A MORNING WALKTHROUGH OF THE LAUNDRY. IT WAS A SLOW WALK, AND I TOOK TIME TO SAY HELLO AND GOOD MORNING TO EVERY EMPLOYEE.”

I made a point over my last five years of management to do a morning walkthrough of the laundry. It was a slow walk, and I took time to say hello and good morning to every employee.

I took time to listen to their questions or news about their families. We connected on a personal basis not just as employee/ manager. I often thanked them for their hard work and reminded them how important their work is and how much the healthcare facilities we serviced depended upon us.

My office door was a scary barrier that many an employee did not dare try to enter, but out on the production floor or in the breakroom they felt comfortable with asking questions and giving me suggestions related to the work.

I always thanked them for their ideas and gave them full credit when we used their ideas. Employees who work at a job every day will often be the source of excellent process improvement ideas. Respect is always a two-way street.

I am confident that those workplaces that have engaged, dedi cated employees had no trouble getting their employees to show up for work. Pizza restaurant employees saw the storm and knew that the lunch orders would be huge thanks to the snow.

Laundry employees see the snow and know that accidents will happen, extra linen will be used and their services will be in high demand. Their understanding of their business and the impor tance of their role in that business is a part of them.

During my many years of management, I went through major unexpected snowstorms, equipment breakdowns, extended power loss and extreme temperatures. During my 44 years of manage ment, I was always blessed to work with employees who under stood their jobs and their importance to getting the product out the door.

Developing a dedicated crew is a daily task and not just a thank-you lunch on special days.

Eric Frederick served 44 years in laundry management before retir ing and remains active in the industry as a laundry operations con sultant. You can contact him by e-mail at elfrederick@cox.net, or by phone at 540-520-6288.

COLUMNIST AT LARGE Eric L. Frederick, RLLD

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Inflation

brings,” adds Timothy Lacek, senior director or support services and procurement for Hospital Central Services Cooperative Inc. (HCSC), a provider of healthcare linen ser vices in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

“Double-digit cost increases have been the new norm, from our textiles and supplies to energy, equipment and labor.”

Will the current high inflation rate continue? Why has it risen so much—and what can laundry operations do about it?

CURRENT HIGH INFLATION CAUSE AND EFFECT

William Luther, Ph.D., an assistant professor of econom ics at Florida Atlantic University, director of the American Institute for Economic Research’s Sound Money Project and an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, says the current infla tion derives from two distinct “shocks” to the economy.

The first was the COVID-19 contraction. This is what econo mists call a real supply disruption.

“In some markets, we stopped producing entirely for a couple months, and in other markets, the risk of infection caused a slowdown in production, but in general that disruption meant that fewer goods were available,” shares Luther.

“It turns out if you aren’t cutting down trees for a couple months, then roughly a year later, it’s tough to find lumber in the Home Depot. That’s the basic idea behind the supply disruption.”

He goes on to say that because goods were more scarce because of the production disturbances, prices rose.

“The good news about the sup ply disturbances is that they don’t typically last very long,” Luther points out. “As production began to increase, a lot of those areas that had seen elevated prices have start ed to see prices come back down.

The second “shock” to the econ omy, he says, was an increase in nominal spending, which occurred because of all of the measures that were taken to alleviate some of the pain with the recession.

“The government mailed direct checks to households,” says Luther. “It’s made what it called loans, but in many cases were actually grants to businesses to prevent those busi nesses from going bankrupt. It was engaged in some big expenditures and as a consequence that put more money in people’s pockets and they began spending that money.

“So what we have, taken togeth er with these two shocks, we have more money chasing after fewer goods. And so, the prices of goods and services are higher as a result.”

According to Luther, the current inflation is affecting businesses on

two sides because they produce goods and services and they also purchase inputs to engage in that production and hire workers.

“They have to purchase sup plies, and the price of those of those supplies are going up and the wages they have to pay to workers in order to induce them to work are going up as well,” he says.

“On the other hand, they have to raise the price of the goods and services that they’re providing because those dollars that they’re receiving aren’t worth as much as they used to be.

“Of course, every business would like to raise their price faster than the cost of their input increase so long as it doesn’t discourage people from buying their products. And so businesses are kind of caught in this balancing act where they don’t want to raise their prices too quickly because then they’re going to lose customers.

“They also don’t want to raise their prices too slowly because then they’re going to make a loss and will pay more for their inputs than they’re getting for their outputs. Or maybe they have a reduced profit if nothing else. So they’re kind of doing this balancing act.”

Another struggle Luther points out is that workers are deciding how much they’re willing to accept for an hourly wage or an annual salary.

“(Workers) want to make sure that the wage that they’re getting over that period is not going to be devalued in real terms more than they expect,” he shares.

“So, if you expect a 2% inflation, you might agree to a wage at the outset where the employer, in real terms, is paying you a bit more on average than they’ll pay you over the course of the year, and at the end of the year, provided it’s with that 2% inflation, the employer is paying you a bit less than they paid on average over the course of the year in real terms, but your nomi

nal wage is fixed over that period.

“The reason that they’re pay ing you more and then less in real terms is inflation takes place. But so long as you can form a pretty reasonable expectation about what that inflation rate’s going to be over the year, you might not mind this so much.

“You can engage in this annual contract and the employer is will ing to pay you a bit more upfront because they’re going to get to pay you less on the back end, and you’re willing to accept a bit less at the end of the year because you’re going to be getting a bit more in real terms at the beginning of the year. It kind of washes out.”

But, Luther says, if workers don’t know whether inflation is going to be higher than 2%, it makes con tracting much harder and makes it much riskier.

“And as the risk of something increases, some people will just decide that it’s not worth taking that risk right now,” he says.

“There are a lot of reasons why labor has been slow to return to work, but one reason that a lot of people don’t seem to appreci ate is that there is some uncer tainty regarding what inflation will be over the next year and many employees are contracting over the year, and so they want to have a better sense of what inflation is going to look like before they lock themselves into a wage that there will be costly to renegotiate.”

“Labor cost inflation, with the resetting of minimum wage very aggressively over a short period time, historically speaking, has reset the labor market,” says Potack. “Long-term inflation will likely accelerate both automation and industry consolidation.”

CURRENT INFLATION DURATION, LONG-TERM EFFECTS

In 2012, the Federal Reserve

adopted a target of 2% inflation on average, but Luther says that the Fed “redefined” this to “clarify” that it’s an average inflation target.

“Inflation might be a bit below 2%, but then they’re going to let inflation be a bit higher than 2% so that it averages out and vice versa. At least that was the statement in August of 2020,” he says. “We cur rently have in place inflation that’s above the feds 2% target, of course.”

The Fed looks at the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCEPI), and from November 2020 through November 2021, the PCEPI infla tion was 5.6%.

“If you go back to the begin ning of the pandemic, it’s grown at around 3.4% percent per year since January 2020,” he says. “So, on a two-year basis, and certainly on an annual basis, inflation is above the Fed’s 2% target.”

Luther shares that many people expected the Fed to take quick action because of its average infla tion targeting rule to bring the inflation rate back down.

But on Dec. 15, the Fed released a summary of economic projec tions, and Luther says what the Federal Open Market Committee members have said is that inflation will be above target through 2024.

“So you can see that the Fed officials plan to bring inflation back down to 2%,” he says. “They don’t plan to do so very quickly, and it seems likely to me that inflation will remain elevated through 2024 but not to the same extent that it is now.”

So what can a laundry operation do to help relieve inflationary pres sures? Potack suggests operations automate their laundry facilities wherever possible when there is a demonstrated return on invest ment (ROI).

“Refocus efforts around cost management and stay true to fun damental measurements of all oper

ational expenses to mitigate infla tion as much as possible,” he says.

“Evaluate current team mem bers for performance and evaluate customers by whatever criteria a company may use.”

Lacek points out that healthcare linen rental purchasing is a complex model, and it is very challenging to consistently achieve the proper bal ance between cost and quality.

“An annual request for proposal (RFP) sent to selected textile sup ply partners is an excellent means to attempt to control costs, as com petition between our partners is always beneficial,” he says.

“HCSC considers organizations that supply goods and services to the cooperative as vendor partners, and we dual-source all of our highvolume major patient linen items. As we continue to grow, this allows us to draw upon two sources for backup inventory, when required.

“As part of our RFP specifica tions, we require a 90-day mini mum back-up inventory, which is important when trying to main tain consistency in supply. This backup inventory and dual-sourc ing have allowed us to navigate the recent supply chain and shipping dilemmas relatively unscathed.

“It has been interesting and nerve-wracking at times, but we have been largely successful in receiving our normally spec’d products when needed.”

Lacek says HCSC also uses RFPs to gauge the market.

“Price is obviously important, but quality and service have to account for something when eval uating the RFP responses and your current provider,” he says.

“Additionally, we test products extensively to 1) ensure we are receiving what we have requested and paid for, 2) check that the quality across the vendor-partners is consistent with our specifica

(Image licensed by Ingram Image)

July 30 – August 2, 2022

World Congress Center

Tools f the Trade

Results-oriented, optimized chemical solution process to reduce rewash available

reducing rewash, and it’s available immediately.

Compact ONE is a results-oriented, optimized process that provides one total solution for light to medium-soiled flat linen processed in conven tional washers. It was developed by Christeyns, a Belgium-based hygiene solutions company that has 17 production facilities worldwide and serves customers in over 50 countries.

The company says it’s already being used suc cessfully by American and European laundry operators, and it is displaying strong increases in productivity, substantial reductions of water and energy usage, and is extending linen life.

Rudi Moors, the president of Boston-area Christeyns USA, believes Compact ONE offers tremendous benefits for any size laundry opera tion.

Hydro Systems, which delivers chemical dispensing and dosing solu tions, has introduced the Multi-Washer 3000 Series with EvoClean for reliable chemical dispensing for on-premises laundries.

accuracy and is not subject to degrada tion like other peristaltic technologies.

Commercial and on-site laundry operators are being challenged today unlike ever before. Higher costs, thinner profit margins and prob lems finding and retaining qualified workers are at the top of the list.

And there is more recent pressure to become greener and sustainable with an environmentally friendly approach to conserve and save on water and energy usage, in addition to using different methods to help extend linen life.

Christeyns USA says it has a chemical solution that addresses all of these concerns while further

Compact ONE achieves its results with precise dosing to remove all washable and oxidizable stains, the company says. Depending on the linen classification, it typically requires 30 minutes compared to 40-60 minutes for traditional wash processes.

Compact ONE also works at a lower tempera ture between 120-150 F, compared to 150-175 F without. Therefore, water and energy consump tion are reduced by 30-60%.

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Method created for evaluating odor control capabilities in textiles industry

Microban® International reports it has adopted the recently approved AATCC test method—TM2112021—that has been devel oped to support the textiles industry.

This novel and strategi cally important standardized Drager method measures the reduction of odor on materi als treated with antimicrobial technologies and partners well with existing textile test methods, such as the AATCC TM100, to show the correla tion between bacterial reduction and odor control.

Microban says it was one of the early adopters of this groundbreaking method that can for the first time provide a truly quantitative evaluation of the valuable realworld functional benefits of antimicrobial chemistries by quantifying odor reduction.

Antimicrobial technologies in textiles pro vide a proactive solution for preventing “per mastink,” the enduring odors created by the metabolism of sweat by skin flora that often persists on clothes after cleaning.

These odor-control formulations work on the understanding that reducing the growth of microbial populations on textiles will subsequently reduce odors generated from

bacterial activity.

Microban says the AATCC TM 211-2021 test method is an innovative, objective meth od that can articulate the efficacy of odor control technologies and provide definitive scientific evidence for these claims.

Additionally, this highly sensitive test gives real-time visual depictions of ammonia lev els—created by bacterial metabolic pathways— on a colorimetric scale, in under 48 hours.

The biological system can be used across the textile industry for assessing the odor capture propensity of both antimicrobialbased technologies, and other odor-reducing techniques.

www.microban.com 704-875-0806

The company says one system can support up to three washers and dose up to eight products and offers detailed reporting and cost-saving opportunities. Featuring PCB-based control, the system uses the EvoClean’s venturi dos ing technology to deliver precise doses under 30 mL /1 oz and is easy to config ure and maintain, according to the com pany, which adds that it does not utilize squeeze tubes that negatively impact

Multi-Washer 3000 also leverages Hydro Connect, a cloud-based manage ment tool that gives laundries insightful data and recommendations to improve operational efficiency and profitability.

The company says Hydro Connect also enables remote configuration changes from any global location with an Internet connection. Users can dras tically reduce maintenance costs by adding a formula, changing a dosing amount or switching the dosing mode without traveling to a site.

www.hydrosystemsco.com 800-543-7184

Web-based portal provides real-time view of all connected equipment in boiler room

Miura, a manufacturer of industrial steam boilers, recently launched its nextgeneration mobile, cloud-based, real-time remote monitoring and customer accessible platform, Miura Connect.

The company says that this application and the IoT (Internet of Things) technology that enables it will allow Miura to continue optimizing and adding additional features and value along the way, ensuring that Miura Connect will be a living application, with upgrades and features automatically avail able without the need for on-site updates or additional hardware in most cases.

Miura Connect’s standard features include:

Integrated Technical Documentation— Data needed, provided when needed. Find supporting documents such as water logs and maintenance procedures fast while accessing manuals and technical documentation for connected Miura equipment in one place.

View Equipment in Real-Time— Monitor complete boiler room data in realtime using the latest IoT technology. Boiler operators, company management, Miura representatives and technicians can quickly and easily access boiler room data from any where Internet is available.

Data Report Generation—Create custom historical data reports in seconds for quick

visibility and trend analysis. Customize the start and end date timeline, or view full lifetime info to generate CSV reports easily.

Tailored Alarm Notifications—Instant text or e-mail notifications for boiler room equipment cautions and alarms in real-time to take precautionary measures before prob lems arise.

Multiple Location Monitoring—View multiple boiler rooms from one centralized location. Miura Connect gives managers a birds-eye view into the organization’s critical steam generation infrastructure nationwide.

Data Tracking and Trending—Securely store historical data in the cloud, and select customized date ranges to make informed decisions.

www.miuraboiler.com 888-309-5574

Manufacturers: Have you introduced a new product? Revamped your system? Released a new catalog? E-mail your product news, along with a high-resolution image, to mpoe@atmags.com and we’ll consider publishing your news free in Tools of the Trade.

Reliable chemical dispensing for on-premises laundries introduced

to design her own line of pediatric gowns as she recalled the impact that a cheerful, child-themed gown had on her cousin.

Upon creation, the gowns are donated to children with cancer across the United States and Canada.

As G’s Giving Gowns has grown, Giuliana realized that while her gowns were colorful and cheerful in their creation, she had no guarantee that they were safe for patient use.

Giuliana and her mother, Vanessa, contacted ImageFIRST to inquire about the possibility of laundering her handmade gowns in its com mercial laundry facility.

The company says it was eager to support Giuliana’s impactful mis sion by utilizing its advanced laun dry process to properly process and package the handmade gowns.

Upon receipt of the gowns in the Clifton, New Jersey, ImageFIRST location, associates handled the handmade gowns with “Mother’s Care” and upon completion of the wash and sanitization process, they individually plastic-wrapped each patient gown to ensure they remain clean during transport—a practice applied to all gowns from ImageFIRST.

Jim Kennedy, regional general manager at ImageFIRST, invited Giuliana and Vanessa into the facility for an operations tour and to obtain the professionally cleaned gowns.

A donation of $1,000 was also pre sented to the 11-year-old to support her mission.

“Giuliana is a remarkably impres sive person, and we are honored that she trusted ImageFIRST with her special handmade gowns,” Jim Kennedy.

“We are delighted to be partnered with her and look forward to a fruit ful relationship—consisting of many future pediatric gowns prepared and cleaned with love and care for their intended patients.”

In a note to Kennedy and the ImageFIRST team after her visit, Giuliana writes: “Thank you ImageFIRST for applying your ‘fam ily standards’ and ‘mother’s care’ to all 50 of my handmade pediatric hos pital gowns. They are now ready for the hands of some very special brave children who are fighting cancer.

“Thank you for going above and beyond for my cause and welcoming me like family.”

ImageFIRST is preparing for a continued relationship with G’s Giving Gowns to ensure that the future gowns hand-produced by Giuliana are properly laundered and handled for pediatric patients’ safety.

Upon receiving the donation of $1,000, Giuliana has her sights set on her next project—partner ing with organizations such as Roar Philanthropy, A Moment of Magic Foundation, and pediatric medical facilities to supply her handmade, colorful gowns for patients nation wide.

Inflation

tions, 3) raise questions if there are any variances in quality or quan tity, and 4) ensure that a high level of quality is consistently main tained over time.”

Sometimes when things are out of an operation’s control, it must look harder internally for increases in efficiency to assist with offset ting rising costs, Lacek says.

“As an ongoing and integral part of the HCSC strategic plan, we created a series of internal subcom mittees for the purpose of seeking to enhance productivity efficien cies, reducing energy and operating costs, improving linen utilization and reducing linen losses through the end users, and improving safety measures throughout the organiza tion,” he shares.

“The intent is to have a mix of management staff working on common goals—important toward obtaining perspectives from vari ous areas of expertise and for con tinuing to question the status quo.”

Lacek offers two other ideas to help laundry operations during this period of high inflation. First, always attempt to extend payment terms where possible, especially with longer-term vendor partners (perhaps some new vendors will be aggressive as well). Second, don’t be hesitant to ask the vendor part ner for something.

“My point is that they can always say no, but then you created the start of a productive negotia tion,” Lacek says.

“Being aware of the inflation environment is the first step to dealing with it,” says Luther. “There are a number of things that could go awry, and businesses might want to keep their eyes peeled for

signs that’s happening.”

One negative scenario he says could materialize is a permanent increase in inflation expectations.

“The reason the Federal Reserve has its 2% average inflation target is because it wants to anchor infla tion expectations into the future,” explains Luther. “If people believe that inflation is going to be 2% and the Fed delivers 2% infla tion, then we don’t have to worry about the economy overproducing or underproducing. We don’t get these booms and recessions that we would like to avoid.

“If we have a real disturbance that we had with COVID-19, then goods really do become more scarce and inflation will rise above the Fed’s 2% target. But as long as the Fed takes steps to bring that inflation back down relatively promptly, those inflation expecta tions can persist.”

The problem, as Luther men tioned earlier, is that the Federal Reserve is not acting very quickly.

“It looks very much like infla tion is not merely because of those supply disruptions, but it’s also because of the increased nominal spending as I mentioned earlier,” he says. “So, we risk getting into a situation where consumers expect prices are going to continue to rise at some rate greater than 2%, and potential employees begin to expect that inflation is going to persist at something more than 2%.

“Businesses expect that inflation is going to persist in something more than 2%, so everyone starts building in these higher expecta tions of inflation into their longrun contracts, and that puts the Fed in a very difficult position.

“At that point, they have to choose whether or not they’re going to stick to their guns and deliver the 2% inflation that they have committed to in order to keep

inflation expectations anchored over the longer term. But in order to do that, they would cause a recession because actual expecta tions at the moment are higher than that.

“Or the Fed can meet those expec tations where they are and deliver a rate of inflation greater than 2% well into the future, well past 2024, in which case we have a higher rate of inflation that persists and we have to deal with the costs from that infla tion well into the future.”

Businesses need to know wheth er or not they’ll need to scale back their production in the case of a recession or raise their prices more rapidly in terms of if the Fed were to acquiesce to a higher rate of inflation than the market expects, Luther points out.

So, why isn’t the Federal Reserve acting more quickly?

“I would even go further and say not only are they not acting quickly enough, but they’re also, at least based on their projections, not intending to do what they said they would do,” Luther says.

“If they’re truly engaged in average inflation targeting, then a period of inflation above target should ultimately be followed by a period where inflation is below target. What they’re projecting is a rather long march back to 2% and then just maintaining that 2% into the future.”

Luther says there’s an open debate about the course of action being taken by the Federal Reserve.

“The most charitable explana tion is that the Fed is not actu ally engaged in average inflation targeting, but it’s actually engaged in what you might call flexible average inflation targeting. The idea there is that if the inflation is higher due to supply disturbances, we don’t make up for those.

“And so in that case, goods really were more expensive over the last year and so prices rose to reflect that and will remain elevated for some period of time to reflect that increased scarcity, and eventually they’ll come back down. But there’s no reason to then subject the econ omy to below 2% rate of inflation because those shocks were real.”

However, Luther shares that there are some “less charitable” explanations for the Fed’s lack of actions that deserve further con sideration.

“When the Fed engineers a higher rate of inflation, it’s able to transfer more resources to the treasury, so that relaxes the gov ernment’s budget constraint. And of course, when inflation is higher than expected, it tends to benefit borrowers at the expense of lend ers, and the government is a pretty big borrower.

“So, I think there’s some poten tial that there is political pressure on the Fed not to cut inflation too quickly.”

Another explanation Luther shares is that the Fed might be concerned that if it cuts inflation too quickly, it might overcorrect and push the economy into a recession by excessive tightening.

“It could be taking a slower, more gradual approach to bring ing that inflation down because it sees the cost of overreacting as being larger than the cost of under-reacting,” he says. I think that’s a plausible explanation for the slow response as well.”

Whatever the Federal Reserve’s response, COVID-19 created a scenario for higher-than-expected inflation, and every business, laun dry operations included, must take steps to counter the effects.

“I think a lot of folks, myself included, were not expecting infla tion to be as high as it has been over the last year,” says Luther. “We were contracted into wages or wage increases that resulted in a real pay cut.

“So, I think that employees who are in those kinds of contracts are going to be looking to renegotiate those contracts in the very near term if they haven’t started doing already. Employers need to be pre pared to make those negotiations or else risk losing their more pro ductive employees.”

To help lessen the impact of the current inflation over the long term, Potack says to maintain immediate gains through automation, overall business evaluation, facility evalua tion and personnel evaluation.

“Maintain the discipline of best management practices to be the most efficient and effective laundry operator possible,” says Potack.

“We are all hopeful to begin realizing some relief in these areas as we progress through 2022,” Lacek adds.

The Federal Reserve has been slow in acting on the current pandemic-induced high rate of inflation. (Image licensed by Ingram Image)

Value of creating, implementing linen stain processes

BY SCOTT DELIN

SEMINOLE, Fla. — Hard to believe, just like that, the holiday season was here and gone. The year 2021 is now in the sights of our rearview mirrors, waving goodbye, and hello 2022.

Personally, I will miss spend ing the holidays with my family, because as we all know when said and done, when it comes to the hol idays whether it be Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or celebrating/ringing in the New Year, it’s all about family.

This past Thanksgiving, after all vaccination cards were checked and verified, we were fortunate and lucky enough to entertain our family like we did pre-COVID days. All of our children, along with (fingers crossed) our soon to be son-in-law, daughter-in-law as well as all the nieces and nephews, were at our home to help cel ebrate Thanksgiving and start the holiday season.

What a time we had, sharing stories, laughs and of course lots of good wine. Unfortunately for a select few, the wine glasses were

a little tipsy and spilled onto my wife’s nice white tablecloth. The guilty parties apologized and offered to buy a new tablecloth.

My wife, however, never blink ed an eye in panic. In fact, she looked up and said, and I quote, “Not to worry, I will stain treat it and it will all come clean. In fact, I promise after my stain treatment it will be back into service on the same table for the next holiday when we all get together again.”

Listening to this made me smile and ponder as to how commercial laundries handle their stain wash.

• What processes/procedures/ systems do commercial laun dries have in place that differ from what my better half was going to use?

• What procedures and meth ods do laundries use to identify stains and damaged goods?

• How do laundries reclaim product internally and treat stained or damaged linen? Do laundries use any type of pre- or post-sorting methods to identify stained or dam aged goods?

• Do laundries take the time to sit with their customers to discuss excessive stained and/ or damaged product and work with them to imple ment procedures to reduce stains and damages?

With the cost of linens and other products laundries pur chase to rent and use to service their customers’ needs rising at a feverous pace, the key to a suc cessful business is the ability to reclaim stained or damaged linens and/or uniforms.

The sorting of stained and damaged linen typically starts in our soil departments when our dedicated teams receive, break down and classify the soiled prod ucts as they are offloaded from the trucks returning from our individual customers.

Rarely, but in some cases, stained and damaged linens and/ or uniforms are set aside from the regular soiled linen by the cus tomer in separate collection bins or hampers strategically placed by the laundry’s customer-ser vice team in an effort to identify stained and/or damaged product

before they return to the plant.

On the plant level, it is very important that we have systems in place for identifying and reclaim ing stained or damaged linen and/ or uniforms. In some cases, laun dries may use a re-sorting method to capture stained or damaged products.

Realistically, however, a major ity of laundries have implemented a post-sorting system. This system involves the separation of stained and damaged linen and uniforms that have gone through the initial sorting and cleaning process.

The stained items are typically sent back to the soil room for reprocessing using a stain wash formula developed by their chem ical suppliers who develop and furnish our laundries with spe cific wash formulas.

Misclassified items typically are treated as standard soiled items while all stained product is returned to the washroom to be processed again using a special intense stain wash formula.

The goal of these special stain wash formulas is to remove the stains and reclaim the linens and/

or uniforms as acceptable quality merchandise. Once they go through the stain wash process and meet the quality standards established by the laundry, they can and will go back into the field for further use.

In the event the stains do not come out and the product is deemed or considered not accept able by not meeting the established standards for acceptable linen to be used with their customer base, they will typically either be down graded for use in another area or replaced with new product that is acceptable for use and meets our customers’ expectations.

When dealing with uniforms, lab coats and other types of appar el, these products will typically go through a pre-sort process in an effort to collect any pens or sharps that may have inadver tently been left in the pockets of the uniforms. One pen can ruin an entire load or several loads of product when going through the wash process.

Meanwhile during the postsort process, any and all damaged

PANEL OF EXPERTS

Working with laundry suppliers as prices rise

laundry to monitor their inven tory levels and better plan for the future.

It also creates a strategic con versation between a laundry and their supplier partner instead of simply relying on stock inven tory available to all customers.

we can count on is our human ity. With increasing inflation and prices, it’s becoming quite difficult to predict what will hap pen in the future, and as we all know, uncertainty is the enemy of profit.

Trusting relationships differ by culture and upbringing and can include points like competency, openness, respect and similarity of values.

Developing a trusting partner ship with frequent communi cation with a supplier partner continues to be key to ensuring a consistent supply of product.

Pricing on a majority of prod ucts has increased due to many factors, including raw material, labor and transportation costs.

The lead time for suppliers to obtain product has increased as well. Those laundries commu nicating their needs in advance will have the best opportunity to have product available.

Most suppliers do understand that every laundry will have lastminute needs as well and that precise forecasting is not always possible; however, any communi cation will have a positive impact on inventory availability.

Since the pandemic began, many laundry customers have also committed to inventory reserves to ensure a consistent garment supply for their custom ers. A program like this allows a

The current challenges are likely to persist and actions taken today will help manage the impact throughout 2022.

Sourcing experts expect delays will continue and costs world wide have not yet stabilized.

The key to a productive partner ship will continue to be consistent and transparent communication.

I believe the way forward is relationships, as trusting rela tionships can help us ensure that we’re receiving the best value for our money spent, whether it be on laundry chemicals or your accounting department.

Trust is surely the glue that holds our relationships together, and this is even more true when it comes to business relation ships, as trust ensures that we aren’t wasting our valuable time and energy protecting ourselves from exploitation.

If you’re already working with suppliers you know and trust, the best course of action is to continue to keep the lines of communication open so that you aren’t hit with any surprises.

Generally, a trusting relation ship can be recognized by open ness and consistency during the negotiation phase. If you are able to share relevant business infor mation regarding your priorities and the reasoning behind this information, your supplier should reciprocate and help to build the necessary trust, leading to a mutually beneficial relationship.

Make sure your machines are being properly loaded—over and under loading can increase costs and affect results. Also, identify linen flow to see if there are any bottlenecks creating issues that could be alleviated thus saving you time and money.

To summarize:

• Product—Do you have the right products in the right sizes for your linen and soil loads?

• Equipment—Is your equip ment in proper working order?

• Time—Are your wash for mulas optimized for time?

• Mechanical Action—Proper loading of your machines?

• Labor—Optimizing avail able labor for the amount of linen being washed?

While the provenance of the saying “May you live in interest ing times” is uncertain, the real ity is that we are indeed living in interesting times.

With much of the world in chaos due to the still-unfolding global pandemic, the only thing

If you’re evaluating new busi ness relationships, it helps to begin with a trusting attitude but also to verify that this potential relationship will benefit both parties.

Of course, the relationship should be reciprocal and any new business partners should also show that they trust you.

Great question. You will need to visit with your current vendor and identify what types of linens you are washing, what types of soils you are encountering and any issues you might be having with equipment—water soften ers, leaking valves, drains—and you will need to repair those items as they lead to increased costs and issues with results.

You will then need to make sure the current product selec tion is appropriate for the linens you are washing and the soils you are encountering. Sometimes a simple product change can lead to cost savings.

Also, see if increasing pack sizes might save you money. Sometimes, not always, a larger size will cost less per gallon. Have your vendor look at the program times for your washer formulas and see if they can reduce times or consolidate rinses and/or wash baths. These savings in time will increase pro ductivity—reducing costs—as well as savings in utilities.

Finally, the largest cost in your laundry is labor. Because of COVID-19, most facilities are short on labor. Under-staffing can create issues. Be sure and evaluate your staffing levels to see if you are maximizing your available labor.

As the chief engineer at our plant, I am responsible for most parts related to keeping our equipment running and safe.

I count on my vendors a lot for insight and value. I believe, on the maintenance side anyway, that relationships are the con stant, even when markets are this fluid.

What my M.O. is all about is networking. Be hospitable to your vendors—and their com petition. Having good relation ships with the people you buy parts from, and other people that provide the same goods and services, makes you an educated buyer.

Cheapest isn’t always best, but neither is the most expensive. If shopping a project, consider the reliability of the company you are buying from, the relationship with their rep and the quality of the product when considering the price.

Your best fit for any given issue is usually an easy decision.

The bigger concern for engi neers is parts availability. This

“Faced with inflation and other rising costs, vendors are having to increase prices. How can I work with my suppliers to make sure my laundry is getting the best product or service cost/ efficiency/quality possible?”

Uniforms/ Workwear Manufacturing

Dan Schwartz

Fashion Seal Healthcare, Seminole, Fla.

Chemicals Supply

John Schafer Diversey, Fort Mill, S.C.

Equipment Manufacturing

Al Adcock B&C Technologies, Panama City, Fla. Commercial Laundry

Lee Baldauf Superior Linen Service, Tacoma, Wash.

means having non-laundry, local vendors that you can lean on to be creative to bridge a supplychain issue that the OEM may be struggling with.

Treat all of these people well, don’t scream 911 on every pur chase, pay them quickly and don’t be afraid to enter into a handshake parts trading car tel with your parallels at other plants.

Be honorable in this. We are not in sales. None of this is top secret. Loaning a guy a cradle lock now might mean you can borrow a motor tomorrow.

I’m not saying I am not shocked by pricing and that I am not waiting for some items. What I am saying is this works for me in a way that makes me feel comfortable that I am not being taken advantage of, and I feel less panicked knowing I have all of these people to lean on when we have the notorious “cri sis” occur … like every Monday and pretty much every day.

product or service. As the sales manager for our business, it is my responsibility to define our solutions for new prospects and existing customers, explaining their application and benefits.

This ensures an understanding and agreement that what we deliv er will be the best fit for the user.

The objective for all of us— vendor or operator—is to pro vide the greatest value to our customers for our products and services. This is how we compete and stay in business, especially as we address factors that affect our pricing.

On the front end of the pro cess is the proper definition of a

During implementation, train ing is a key component. This leads to further understanding of how a solution should be used by the customer. Proper utiliza tion then increases the value that the product delivers.

After installation, continued training is important, and system maintenance is essential. Training might be required for new per sonnel, and a refresher is always nice for experienced users.

For a software solution, new features often need an introduc tion. For a hardware solution, which is also often a part of any software product (i.e., servers, monitors, network switches, etc.), maintenance helps to retain the functionality of a system and to extend its life. Combining these two together, proper training on system maintenance is a necessity.

A key aspect that repeats itself above is communication. The vendor must explain, train and define how to maintain their solutions, and the customer should have open ears through out the process to ensure they understand how to achieve the best results. This leads to a true partnership between customers and vendors.

Beyond communication, action is needed; proper system utiliza tion, maintenance and support will help to realize the value that is possible from a solution.

One way we do this is by asking, “Do we really need the best prod uct or service for this project?”

Priority is given to long-term and local vendors for critical parts and services.

Equipment downtime must be looked at this way. It costs you money, so if you cannot get by without it, then you need the best. For items that affect our bottom line, we have confidence that our established vendors are giving us the best price for the service we receive.

A great way to ensure this is to not buy the first run of equip ment. Ask your supplier who else has purchased them. How long have they been making them? Are there any installations where they can see the equipment in use?

When it comes to other prod ucts and services, we compare prices among suppliers. If the item can be found at a lower price, there is nothing wrong with tactfully mentioning to a supplier that the item can be purchased elsewhere for less.

If they can meet or beat the price, then it is worth it to give them the business; otherwise, we will save money whenever we can.

The important thing is to maintain a great rapport with our established vendors and sup pliers because it pays off when faced with costly downtime. If you let them know that you want to save money whenever pos sible, a great supplier or vendor will look for ways of saving you money when they can.

To ensure that all these aspects are addressed, my team and I prioritize our products and ser vices by how critical they are to the process.

Checking in with vendors and suppliers occasionally is a good practice instead of just contact ing them when you need some thing. For very large companies this may be difficult to do.

ALN

(Image licensed by Ingram Image)

Hotel/Motel/ Resort Laundry Kelly Reynolds Sea Island Acquisitions, Sea Island, Ga.

Consulting Services

Jon Witschy

Spindle, Woodridge, Ill.

Pre-packaged products for proactive healthcare textile planning

BY JOHN PIAZZI

NORTHFIELD, Ill. —

Although it’s impossible to always predict what’s on the brink of disrupting the industry, having a more solid and proactive plan is one of the biggest takeaways learned from the pandemic.

Heading into 2022, healthcare systems and their vertical indus tries across the nation are reex amining inventory, staffing and operational practices to be better equipped to handle disasters and emergencies.

Cleanliness and efficiency were quickly brought into the spot light for both healthcare systems and patients across the world. Hospitals can quickly and effec tively address these apprehen sions at their facilities by starting with one of its most-used articles, textiles, by forming a more strate gic approach in partnership with their in-house or third-party laundry operating partners.

From scrubs and gowns to pil lowcases, sheets, and blankets, the approach to consistency in avail ability, along with the processing and safe handling of these items, is crucial to ensuring a safe environ ment for both patients and staff.

One way to minimize disrup tion is to implement a textile

backup plan. We recommend partnering with an expert to develop a strategic textiles pro gram that offers solutions that address some of the most sig nificant issues facing healthcare today, like preparing for emer gency situations, supporting staff during the labor shortage and continuing commitments to infection prevention.

We recommend leveraging prewashed linen to ensure healthcare facilities are better equipped for success as part of its proactive planning. We offer pre-washed linens that are processed to healthcare requirements, pack aged to maintain integrity and warehoused for implementation at a moment’s notice.

Hospital systems have long utilized a process for “kitting,” a combining of products or items into a package or “kit” that is ready to use. The implementation of kits has boosted productivity and efficiency, allowing clinical staff to spend more time with patients and focus on solutions that ultimately lead to better care.

The process of utilizing prewashed linens, which touch vir tually every aspect of a patient’s journey from the moment they enter a healthcare setting, can be a major area of opportunity for

healthcare systems and proces sors to embrace a similar concept to enhance efficiency with the help of pre-packaged and washed product.

Below, we will explore the sig nificant challenges facing the industry today, in addition to how and why pre-packaged products should be a part of healthcare sys tems’ proactive planning in part nership with laundry operators.

DISASTER AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

Minimizing laundry-related tasks is an essential way to help clinical staff focus more time on providing care and worrying less about hauling and stocking linens.

Pre-washed and assembled textile solutions can not only help alleviate labor constraints in hospitals and laundries but also provide a full-circle solution for equipment issues and disaster and emergency preparedness.

Pre-laundered, pre-packaged and ready-to-use linens are great to have stocked in case of severe weather, pandemics or any other unforeseen disruptions, as they’ve already gone through a health care-grade sanitizing, packaging and distribution process.

From the moment disaster strikes, staff will be better equipped with the resources to perform duties under pressure and with increased demand. Having these products stocked away in inven tory also relieves distress in not having enough product on hand for patients and the timeliness of sanitizing, processing, and having product delivered.

Learning more about the dif ferent options available, includ

ing available varieties of prepackaged products and solutions, should be a part of every health care system’s laundry, inventory and supply-chain operational planning.

ADDRESSING THE LABOR DEMAND

An established plan equipped with ready-to-use products can also better support staff during today’s challenging labor force, and laundry operators can now play a huge role in the solution.

Providing relief and a solution that can be quickly implement ed when navigating exacerbated responsibilities and care due to lower staff numbers is imperative in providing the best care possible.

In addition, untrained temporary staff can be unaware of the critical nature of quality management nec essary to handle these items proper ly, so ready-to-use solutions can be supportive during the onboarding and training process.

Critical front-office staff can’t be focused on processing linens when they should be focused on managing business operations. Having ready-to-use linens that have already been sanitized and offering the same quantity and quality product packaged can be a great resource to have on hand.

CONSISTENCY IS KEY

Delivering consis tency to the healthcare environment is key. That means a consistent flow of inventory minimizing shortages. It also per tains to the cleanliness factor of linen flowing into healthcare facilities.

Integrity is important both oper ationally and from an infection control standpoint for healthcare systems and their laundry opera tors.

When it comes to pre-washed and packaged products, we stand by ingraining the utmost integ rity into the overall process of assembling these pre-packaged products. When providing con sistent products and maintaining the best outcomes for minimizing infections, we recommend fol lowing a robust process for prewashed linen handling:

• After the product is washed, fold tightly to healthcare standards.

• Stack and bale (in some cases) the folded product to be placed in safety-tested boxes.

Place product into polybaglined boxes, which should be of the highest standard to minimize contamination.

• Stacks to be placed inside lining of boxes and sealed shut for transport.

• Store boxes carefully in a warehouse for distribution.

You can’t always predict the future, but you can be better pre pared to tackle the many challeng es facing the industry today as we navigate through the pandemic.

When it comes to operational strategy and planning for laundry, it’s always recommended to con sult a textiles expert that can help craft a plan that best fits your facil ity. ALN

director

John Piazzi is

of product management at Medline.

(Image licensed by Ingram Image)

Pre-washed, assembled textile solutions can alleviate labor constraints in hospitals, laundries, also provide solution for equipment issues, emergency preparedness

Piazzi

(Image licensed by Ingram Image)

uniforms, once identified will be transferred to an identified area to be either be repaired and placed back into the system for use or replaced with new product when no longer meeting the standards set for acceptable product.

It is important to know that quality inspection continues through all stages of processing from the minute it is picked up at the customer site through the final stages when packed out to be returned to our customer. It is our obligation to examine and check to make sure we are delivering quality products to our customers as they expect that.

In the event you have customers who continually stain, damage or abuse product, whether it be linen, towels, scrubs, lab coats, uniforms or any other type of textile prod uct, it is up to your team to flag this particular account for possible abuse.

At this time, if not already established, it might be a good time to develop and implement a Customer Abuse Program. Introducing a simple program like this to your customer base could help in accomplishing many areas:

• By identifying and showing the stained and/or abused items to your customers, it can identify the possible root or cause of staining and/or damage.

• By meeting and presenting these stained or damaged items with customers on a regular basis, you might find out that the product is not being used in the proper

environment or application, thus causing the continual staining and/or damage.

This learning process might allow you to recom mend a different product for use that will now reduce or eliminate the staining or damage.

• By having these meetings

with the customer base, we might also be able to identify an internal issue with one or several employees who are habitual abusers of uniforms and machinery.

Keep in mind that in some cases (hopefully not here) some employees tend to think NMG (Not My Goods), if not

mine I can abuse it.

• By having these meetings and find ing the real causes of the staining and damage, we can ensure our product life is enhanced and last longer before being downgraded

or ragged. This will help us in the reduction of replace ments and can add dollars to our bottom line.

• Last and probably the most important, having random meetings to sit with your customers to review internal and external issues that may be having an impact on the quality of service being given develops a stronger trust factor that will equate to a happy customer and longlasting relationship.

One of the most important lessons I have learned over my 35 years plus in this industry is The Customer Is Always Right no matter how we feel. Our custom ers have choices and it is up to us to make sure we establish a good rapport with them.

Anybody can rent and laun der product, but not everyone can provide service that not only meets your customer’s needs but exceeds them as well without breaking the bank.

Take the time to sit and talk with your customers. Ask them what is it that you can do better to enhance their daily or weekly experience with you and your team. You might be surprised at what you hear.

This brings me back to what my wife uses to clean the stains in our linen or clothing, a good soak in OxiClean and water. Works every time. May 2022 be a suc cessful and stain-free year for all of us. ALN

Scott Delin is vice president of indirect healthcare sales for Fashion Seal Healthcare.

(Image licensed by Ingram Image)

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JENSEN USA

The JENSEN L-Tron, JBW and JWE series washer-extractors are designed for strength and durability with decades of proven experience, according to the company.

The L-Tron open-pocket series is available in 450-pound and 800-pound capacities, the JBW split-pocket barrier washer series from 55- to 510-pound capacities, and the JWE open-pocket series from 50- to 600-pound capacities. All are soft-mount design and can be used in standalone operation.

The L-Tron series can be part of a semi-automated or fully automated wash aisle. In standalone operation, the L-Tron can be manually sling loaded or hand loaded, JENSEN says. In semiautomated or fully-automated operation, the L-Tron can be loaded via monorail system, shuttle conveyor or stationary conveyor.

The L-Tron can be outfitted with either a large door with an observation window or the AutoPro loading hopper. The company says the AutoPro design allows for fast loading times, as fast as one minute.

Standard design features for all series include touch-screen PLC controls, powerful single-motor variable-frequency drive with extract speeds up to 360 G-force and much more.

www.jensen-group.com

850-271-50959

G.A. BRAUN

G.A. Braun says its 900-pound Advantage Side Loader® is engineered with the same structural integrity and reliability of all Braun washers and features mechanical action like its open pocket washer-extractors. The Advantage® features a

• Precise encoder and proprietary algorithms are utilized in hydraulic positioning to reduce time to below one minute once reaching low speed. No pin is needed to jam to stop and position the cylinder. Inverter and brake are used to precisely position each and every time.

• Automated step provides improved ergonomics and alleviates back strain. The large, wide step with a nonskid surface gives operators a stable platform for loading.

• Direct drive vs. sheaves and belts. Minimizes maintenance.

• Standard high-extract speed functionality.

• End of stroke tilt limiter stops the machine from tipping forward if the tilt cylinders were to fail when the machine is tilted forward over center.

• No crush hazard keeps operators safe when the machine is tilting down from unloading, and standard fixed fenced safety guarding around three sides.

• Split-panel control box (safety feature) separates highvoltage from low-voltage components.

PELLERIN MILNOR

Pellerin Milnor says its industrial M-Series washer-extractor line features fully automated, semi-automated and manually loaded machines.

The large, open pocket washerextractors include the 48080M7K (275-pound capacity, 42 cubic feet), the 68036M5K (400-500pound capacity, 75.6 cubic feet) and the 72046M5K (600-700pound capacity, 108.4 cubic feet).

The M-Series comes standard with 21 degree two-way tilting for efficient loading and unloading, intelligent bearing design, and open machine design for easy access and streamlined maintenance.

The company says its SmoothCoil™ suspension system allows for superior vibration dampening and less wear and tear, promoting consistent vibration isolation, noise reduction, and durable, long machine life.

Additionally, the intuitive MilTouch-EX™ control utilizes resistive touchscreen technology to display current machine status information and offers complete programming flexibility.

The M-Series washer-extractors also feature an optional integrated load chute door for semi or fully automated washer-extractor

GIRBAU INDUSTRIAL

Girbau Industrial says its softmount HS-Series washer-extractors drastically improve laundry production, linen life and utility efficiency.

Available in 130-, 190- and 255-pound capacities—stationary and tilt models—the company says its HS-Series washers feature a highly flexible Inteli control, up to 12 internal and external chemical dosing signals, and generate extract speeds reaching 387 G-force. Adding that the HS-Series line delivers exceptional programmability and adaptability to comply with any wash requirement, now and into the future.

Offering 20 pre-programmed and 79 modifiable cycles, HS-Series washers have the adaptability to sanitize laundry loads either through chemistry, ozone/UV disinfection or an auxiliary electric heat kit.

Using the Inteli, operators gain complete control over every variable of the wash process, including water temperature by degree, five levels of mechanical action, water levels, number of fills, chemical injection, bath cool down by degree and extract speed.

Simple to install, HS-Series soft-mount washers do not require bolt-down and reach extract speeds up to 387 G-force, while most hard-mount washers generate just 70-200 G-force,

LAVATEC LAUNDRY TECHNOLOGY

LAVATEC says its Open Pocket LX445, a large-capacity, frontloading washer-extractor, features a computerized touch-screen management system, providing operators of the 450-pound capacity unit with the ability to control its time and temperature, level, dosing, drum speed, reversing and cool-down aspects.

An option allows the operator to run it as a fully automated system, or they can select the manual mode.

The single inverter-controlled drive motor applies reserve power during wash and spin cycles for the lowest energy consumption at any speed, the company says.

Some operators are now using the LX445 in conjunction with LAVATEC’s Ride-On Shuttle to control their washers, dryers and rail system from a safety-enabled technology cockpit.

The LX series includes two other machines, the LX425 (285 pounds) and LX460 (600 pounds).

www.LLTUSA.com 203-632-8777

UNIMAC

High-volume laundries need

JENSEN USA

G.A. BRAUN

PELLERIN MILNOR

GIRBAU INDUSTRIAL

LAVATEC LAUNDRY TECHNOLOGY

COMPILED BY MATT POE, EDITOR

Track Career

Rasche

Fibertech Plastics

ELBERFELD, Ind. — Plastic molding, repair and recycling company Fibertech Plastics reports that Brent Rasche has been pro moted to president.

He suc ceeds

JP Engelbrecht, the CEO of Fibertech Plastic’s parent com pany, South Central Inc., which purchased Fibertech Plastics on July 1.

Before joining Fibertech Plastics as chief operating offi cer in February 2020, Rasche worked for SRG Global, a global manufacturer of coatings on plastic for the automotive and heavy truck industries.

At SRG Global, he held roles including vice president of North American opera

tions, vice president of human resources and numerous other operations roles.

Prior to SRG Global, Rasche held positions with Masterbrand Cabinets and Federal-Mogul.

Gilmer joins Performance Matters as senior consultant

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Performance Matters, which helps laundry operations gener ate long-term success, reports that Caleb Gilmer has joined the company as a senior consultant.

He will support and run the company’s sales opti mization solution for industry cli ents and sales teams.

Performance Matters says Gilmer joined the company after an unexpected move to support family. He has almost

15 years of industry-specific B2B sales management in the textiles rental service industry.

The company says most of his experience was with a premier independent in the Midwest, helping to grow the familyowned business from 17 routes to 50 routes. Gilmer was also responsible for, and involved in, budgeting, pricing, cost control, three major acquisitions and multiple depot openings.

Tingue adds Vacca to management team

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. — Tingue, Brown & Co., a supplier of after-market parts and sup plies for the industrial laundry industry, reports it has added Matt Vacca to the management team of its Tingue division. He will serve in a new role for the company as the national accounts manager.

Vacca has 17 years of experience in the laun dry and tex tile industry. He started as a route driver for Unifirst in New England before joining Tingue as a territory sales rep in South Florida. He returned to New England where he continued his success before being promoted to West region sales manager based in Denver.

Vacca now returns to Tingue from Standard Textile where he served as the New England ter ritory sales consultant.

He is the son of the late Mike Vacca, who was a highly revered Tingue sales representative in New England for 25 years before his untimely death in 2002.

UNX adds two territory managers

GREENVILLE, N.C. —

says it has

and western Pennsylvania. He has more than 25 years of industry experience.

Putnam will be serving cus tomers in the greater Charlotte and sur rounding areas. He brings with him a decade worth of business develop ment expe rience with a heart for taking care of his customers.

HOT-TOPIC TRIO: Making Laundries ‘OSHA Safe,’ Safety

promoted to president of

Chemical manufacturer UNX

hired two territory managers: Randy Lyons and Jacob Putnam. Lyons will be serving UNX cus tomers in Ohio, west ern West Virginia

ALN

Rasche

Vacca

Gilmer

Lyons

Putnam

Showcase

offer long life and dependability. Available in capacities that range from 110 pounds to 475 pounds, these machines utilize a simple design that saves money by keeping repair costs and downtime to a minimum and allows for easy maintenance.

These machines also have the flexible FM7 control that’s Bluetooth compatible and uses the Washtools phone or Android app for easy programming.

The high extract speed of this soft-mount line ensures less dry time for goods saving on utility costs and wear and tear on the goods, according to the company.

to balance exceptional throughput while keeping costs in check, and UniMac says its 160-pound capacity UWT160 carries the load for these facilities and delivers the lowest cost of ownership.

This on-premises laundry workhorse boasts a variety of features to produce quality results while reducing operating costs.

The UWT160’s ultra-high 300 G-force extraction has the power to remove more moisture than many other hard-mount washerextractors, the company says.

In addition, the industryexclusive OPTispray spray rinse removes more residual chemistry than conventional bath rinses— an equally effective asset for removing soil in pre-rinse steps.

When equipped with the powerful and flexible UniLinc control, the washer-extractor’s intuitive operation and multiple language options ensure all staff members can easily operate the unit, shares UniMac. It also offers access to cycle data, error codes, machine history and much more.

The company says the UWT160 bares all the hallmarks of UniMac’s industrial quality, including robotically welded frame, oversized bearings and four fast-fill valves. The end results are improved processes, better quality and the lowest cost of ownership.

www.unimac.com 800-587-5458

All B&C washers feature a solid foundation, a large door opening for easier loading and unloading, and a strong door and hinge system made of 304 stainless steel.

www.bandctech.com 850-249-2222

saving on operational costs while producing hypoallergenic odorfree laundry.

DynOzone has been successfully processing laundry in hotels, shirt laundries, nursing homes, firehouses, prisons, commercial laundries and other on-premises laundries for many years.

www.edrocorp.com 860-828-0311

tric heating.

The barrier-type design provides the necessary separation between soiled and clean sides of the laundry operation with a fully enclosed stainless-steel shell and protective membrane seal, the company says.

Washers are fitted with a fully programmable touch-screen controller, airbag suspension system, integrated load weighing system, inverter with single motor drive and automatic door positioning device.

Sea-lion says the equipment is designed for efficient and environmentally friendly washing through water savings, energy efficiency, easy maintenance, and temperature and speed control.

stop.

Documented water usage on its washers reports an overall average of slightly more than 1 gallon of water per pound of goods processed and use approximately 40% less electricity than competitor’s machines, according to the company.

KANNEGIESSER ETECH

Since the inception of largesized open pocket washerextractors, all designs have faced the common question of loading and unloading: How to load and unload the wash cylinder with a minimum effort and time expended?

Kannegiesser ETECH answers these questions with the PowerSwing. The machine works on the unique swiveling principle. For loading, washing, extracting and unloading, the drum unit is always pivoted to the optimal position.

www.sealionamerica. com 860-316-5563

The machines extract at 400 G-force using a patented balancing design that automatically adjusts to any load size, says Yamamoto. Also, the integrated automatic load weighing system eliminates theoretical load sizes and allows for true real-time ratio wash.

Fully programmable and network ready, the company says Game Changers are available in a variety of versions from 100-1,200-pound load capacity with an operational range from manual to fully-automatic performance in free-standing, system or hygienic pass-through applications.

EDRO CORP.

EDRO Corp says its DW300SM, 300-pound (55.64 cubic feet) capacity three-pocket end loader washer-extractor is manufactured around a tough patented basket design that delivers a dynamic wash action for superior linen cleaning every time.

The battleship-quality machine features many top-quality components including a single-motor variable-speed drive with exclusive variable step extract timing for improved load balancing and water extraction and the DynaMount shock-and-spring suspension system.

A state-of-the-art DynaTrol HMi touch-screen control allows for the most specific wash programming through a simple operator interface that displays myriad machine information, according to the company.

Utilizing multi-programmable field programming, the control can supply operational reports for productivity that include wash program reports, alarm history and logs, pop-up service reminders, service timers, and counters.

The ideal loading position takes full advantage of gravity assistance. For loading, the drum unit with oversized door opening is in a full vertical position, facilitating loading from the top—even with large batch sizes.

Loading can be done semiautomatically via simple inclined conveyor, bag systems or many other systems suited to space requirements. The PSW 300 can be loaded with 880 pounds of nylon-type dust mats or 660 pounds of poly-cotton workwear garments.

www.kannegiesser-etech.com 612-722-1366

YAMAMOTO NORTH AMERICA

Yamamoto North America says its WUN150 and WUN275 washer-extractors come standard with nearly every premium feature available.

Industrial-grade pneumatic valves assure heavy-duty durability that can stand up to the harshest work environments. Dual suspension systems alleviate strain caused by unbalanced loads or the 300 G-force extraction, which ultimately lengthens the machine’s lifespan.

Yamamoto says that its one-ofa-kind lifetime bearing housing is automatically lubricated and built to last nearly twice as long as the nearest competitor. Both units come standard with a fully metal cast and self-serviceable drain valve that saves operators from expensive service calls.

The WUN275 even comes standard with forward and reversing tilt to help manage the heaviest loads, the company says.

www.yamamoto-na.com 866-204-0519

www.VegaSystems-Group.com 855-834-2797

ELLIS CORP.

Ellis Corp. says its Uptime control makes the Ellis WasherExtractor one of the most efficient and flexible on the market. Operators can dial in exact algorithmic formulas for optimal efficiency.

The Ellis side-loading washerextractor has proven that it can withstand the rigors of the laundry industry, the company says, adding that several thousand machines around the world prove Ellis sets the standard for what a workhorse is—efficient, reliable, and as one customer said, “It just keeps running.”

B&C TECHNOLOGIES

B&C Technologies says its line of large-capacity washers has been proven in the field to

The HMI’s integrated ozone control also provides maximum ease of use of the optional DynOzone Disinfecting & Sanitizing Laundry System. This system reduces hot water requirements and shortens cycles thereby

SEA-LION AMERICA

Medical barrier washer-extractors from Sea-lion are available in 132-pound and 220-pound loading capacities with a choice of open pocket or split pocket cylinder design and steam or elec-

VEGA SYSTEMS USA

VEGA Systems says its Game Changers Series WasherExtractors are designed around open pocket wash technology, but that is where the similarities to typical open pocket machines

Complete maintenance, schematics, PM management system and instructional videos are all on board, the company says.

www.elliscorp.com 800-611-6806

EDRO CORP.

KANNEGIESSER ETECH

SEA-LION AMERICA

YAMAMOTO NORTH AMERICA

VEGA SYSTEMS USA

UNIMAC

ELLIS CORP.

Pellerin Milnor Corp.

P.O. Box 400, Kenner, LA 70063 504-467-9591, Fax: 504-468-3094 www.milnor.com

Pellerin Milnor Corp.

P.O. Box 400, Kenner, LA 70063 504-467-9591, Fax: 504-468-3094 www.milnor.com

Pellerin Milnor Corp. P.O. Box 400, Kenner, LA 70063 504-467-9591, Fax: 504-468-3094 www.milnor.com

Corp. P.O. Box 400, Kenner, LA 70063 504-467-9591, Fax: 504-468-3094 www.milnor.com

Pellerin

ImageFIRST acquires Puget Sound Laundry Services facility

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — ImageFIRST Healthcare Laundry Specialists, a provider of linen and laundry services for the healthcare industry, reports that it has acquired the linen processing facility and the private sector operations of Puget Sound Laundry Services, a division of Northwest Center Services.

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. This acquisition represents the eighth acquisition completed by ImageFIRST during 2021.

“As we continue exploring opportunities across the nation, we discovered the blue-ribbon medical facilities in the Pacific Northwest were missing a linen and laundry provider of the same caliber,” says Jim Cashman, president and CEO of ImageFIRST. “We look forward to bringing our world-class service to these medical practices.”

The facility is accredited by the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC). ImageFIRST says there are only three HLAC-accredited laundry facilities in the Seattle region. The company also says it owns the most HLACaccredited plants of any provider in the United States.

All laundry equipment will be purchased and managed by ImageFIRST with 100% of existing employees continu ing employment.

As part of the transaction, Northwest Center, a Seattlebased nonprofit dedicated to enhancing employment opportunities for individuals of all abilities, will continue to service government laundry contracts through contin ued collaboration with ImageFIRST.

“We’re grateful that this sale will allow the commercial customers of Puget Sound Laundry Services to receive the highest quality laundry services from ImageFIRST while positioning Northwest Center to expand our mission of inclusion into more parts of the country,” says Northwest Center President and CEO Gene Boes.

“With the supportive and visionary leadership of SourceAmerica, we hope that this sale serves as a catalyst for the growth of both our organizations.

“We commend ImageFIRST for serving both as a cham pion for the message of inclusion and recognizing the strategic, workplace culture, and profit margin benefits that inclusion can bring to the corporate sector.”

Emerald Textiles expands West Coast footprint

SAN DIEGO — Emerald Textiles, a portfolio company of Los Angeles-based private investment firm Pacific Avenue Capital Partners LLC, reports that it has acquired the West Coast assets of Angelica Corp., a national healthcare linen service provider.

The transaction includes nine facilities and allows Emerald to expand into the Phoenix and Las Vegas mar kets and strengthen its footprint in both Northern and Southern California.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The company says the expansion establishes it as the larg est healthcare textiles provider in the Western United States, leading in exceptional quality of care and laundry services for the healthcare market.

“We are excited to build out our network of facilities with the acquisition of Angelica’s West Coast assets,” says Andy Kratky, Emerald’s CEO. “The new locations are comple mentary to our existing locations in California, Nevada and Utah, where we currently operate six facilities and are the largest healthcare linen service provider.

“This acquisition represents a continuation of our effort to build a world-class healthcare linen provider that can serve the overall needs of the West Coast market, where our current and future customers continue to expand and benefit from our support.”

Emerald says it has experienced impressive growth with significant transformation through add-on acquisitions, $35 million of capital invested across its six facilities since 2018, the greenfield expansion in Livingston in 2019, large customer wins and meaningful operational improvements.

Including the newly acquired Angelica assets, Emerald

says it serves nearly 2,000 customer sites.

“Pacific Avenue, alongside the Emerald team, continue to transform the linen services landscape in the Western United States,” says Chris Sznewajs, founder and managing partner of Pacific Avenue. “The acquisition demonstrates our commitment to invest and grow the business to better serve the needs of our customers.

“We are excited to integrate the Angelica assets into the Emerald network and will continue investing in our facili ties and state-of-the-art equipment to ensure we meet the needs of our customers.”

Standard Textile named Strategic Programs Supplier of the Year by Vizient

CINCINNATI — Standard Textile Co. Inc., a textile man ufacturer for the healthcare and hospitality markets, reports it has been recognized as Strategic Programs Supplier of the Year by Vizient Inc., the nation’s largest member-driven healthcare performance improvement company.

The recognition was announced at the 2021 Vizient Connections Education Summit held Nov. 15-18.

The recognition honors the supplier that participates in a high level of committed offerings and supports Vizient members with significant programmatic rebates and sav ings. This recognition looks at the number of programs in which the supplier participates as well as the overall savings value the member receives in 2021.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by Vizient as Strategic Programs Supplier of the Year,” says Norman Frankel, executive VP/Sales at Standard Textile.

“I’m proud of our Standard Textile organization for step ping up to unprecedented challenges, adapting to changing conditions and elevating our efforts with a common pur pose of serving our healthcare community.”

“Congratulations to Standard Textile for being recog nized as 2021 Strategic Programs Supplier of the Year,” says Simrit Sandhu, executive vice president, Vizient. “Collaboration and a commitment to service excellence is the foundational criteria for this recognition.

“This acknowledgment honors their achievements in enabling Vizient’s members to meet their organizational goals for supply chain efficiency and cost management.”

HID Global enhances portfolio in commercial laundry management solutions

AUSTIN, Texas — HID Global, a provider of identity solutions, reports it has acquired InvoTech Systems Inc.

The acquisition enhances HID’s advanced textile inven tory management systems offering for uniforms, linens, and laundry operations and adds to HID Global’s RFID portfolio.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

February

2 MTSA

2022 Annual Dinner Event

Chicago, Ill.

Info: 888-672-6872

2-3TRSA

F&B, Hospitality & Industrial Conference

New Orleans, La.

Info: 703-519-0029

14 JENSEN

Winter/Spring 2022

Online Service Webinars: JWE & JTD Series

Washer/Extractors & Tumbler/Dryers

Panama City, Fla.

Info: 850-271-5959

21 JENSEN

Winter/Spring 2022

Online Service Webinars: L-Tron DTX Series Tumblers/Dryers

Panama City, Fla.

Info: 850-271-5959

22

JENSEN

Winter/Spring 2022

Online Service Webinars: L-Tron Series

Washer/Extractors

Panama City, Fla.

Info: 850-271-5959

March

16 American Laundry News

Podcast: Supply-Chain Strategies

Chicago, Ill. Info: 312-361-1700 ALN

HID adds that the acquisition advances its stature within this growing market, as InvoTech provides technology and services to clients across hundreds of properties across the globe, including many of the largest players in the hotel, resort, theme park and cruise industries.

“Bringing InvoTech into the HID family exemplifies our commitment to extending our leadership in textile and laundry inventory management applications by providing a comprehensive suite of technology and services to custom ers around the world,” says Björn Lidefelt, EVP and head of HID Global.

“This acquisition, as well as HID’s recent acquisition of the Textile Services business from Invengo, positions us to expand both our technology portfolio and geographic foot print as we become the global leader in uniform, laundry and linen management applications.”

InvoTech’s real-time inventory management platform combines software, RFID tags, equipment and services to efficiently identify, track and monitor uniforms, linen and textile assets.

HID says the InvoTech offering will merge into HID Textile Services and benefit from its expertise in laundry RFID tags and readers to support their solution offering.

The