WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Celebrating its 75th anniversary, the Association for Linen Management (ALM) hosted its annual educational conference in mid-June at the Saddlebrook Resort near Tampa, Fla.
The event included three days of educational and networking opportunities—including general sessions, breakout sessions and social activities—all with the goal of helping laundry/linen professionals understand the growth opportunities and challenges facing the industry.
More than 110 attendees were present at the conference, according to Linda Fairbanks, ALM executive director.
“This destination is the perfect setting to learn what your customers may be experiencing as a result of healthcare reform and to explore what potential impacts might reach your laundry,” Randy Wendland, CLLM, ALM president, wrote in a welcome letter. He added that the conference aimed to address issues affecting laundries serving all market segments and to provide creative opportunities for growth.
DAY ONE
The conference opened with a golf tournament on the Palmer Course, with proceeds benefiting the ALM scholarship fund for the American Laundry and Linen College. The day’s education breakout sessions covered topics such as lean processing, succession planning and linen’s role in value-based purchasing.
An afternoon general session focused on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the industry. Later, attendees had the chance to reconnect with long-time colleagues and to meet new colleagues at a welcome reception held on-site at the resort.
DAY TWO
ALM offered attendees the chance to tour the Saddlebrook’s laundry facilities. Rudolf Mompoint, laundry manager and assistant executive housekeeper at the resort, showed tour participants the equipment and workflow in the facility. He says during busy times, the laundry can process 4,000-5,000 pounds of linen per day for the resort’s various facilities.
The laundry employs 12 workers plus two delivery truck drivers. Equipment includes six washers: four at 125 pounds, one at 275 pounds and one at 65 pounds. The facility’s dryers include three 175-pounders and a 95-pounder. For finishing, the laundry has one feeder, one flatwork ironer and one folder. Smaller items like hand towels and washcloths are folded by hand.
Mompoint says the resort’s laundry building was built after its former facility was destroyed by fire. The equipment has been in use since the facility opened more than a decade ago.
Educational breakout sessions covered new business opportunities in the long-term care market; the lifetime value of a customer; mergers and acquisitions in healthcare; managing staff in times of change; and developing new business in the hospitality industry. The morning’s general session, The Playmaker Mentality, featured inspirational speaker Dave Davlin, who called on unsuspecting conference attendees to participate in his engaging examples and high-energy demonstrations.
For lunch, attendees were invited to a “Lunch and Learn” session, an event new to the educational conference. A group of speakers provided rotating mini educational sessions on various topics while attendees dined.
The first dining group listened to Today’s Technology in Flatwork Automation by Milnor/Chicago Dryer, Lean Process Improvement by FV Consulting, Enhance Your Productivity with Spindle’s Automated Monitoring by Spindle, and Cart Basics 101: Advantages of Lint Filtration for Laundry Dryers by TQI.
The second dining group was presented with The Importance of Proactive Maintenance by G.A. Braun, Construction Budgeting: Retrofitting for Your Plant by Laundry Design Group, Determining Ozone’s Application in Your Plant by Guardian Manufacturing, and Textiles 101: An Introduction to Textile Manufacturing and Specifications by Calderon Textiles.
Later, attendees gathered for the evening’s social activity, the Cabana Crawl, with refreshments provided by MIP and Fashion Seal Healthcare.
DAY THREE
The final day’s educational breakout sessions covered linen usage tracking systems; the value of reusables; PowerPoint as a sales tool for linen-based offerings; business plan development; building a foundation to thrive; and managing a disengaged workforce.
For the afternoon’s “Breezeway Chat,” an open-format Q&A general session was offered from a panel of participants that included Doug Story; David Bernstein, Turn-Key Industrial Engineering Services; Jeff Cohen, MedAssets Advisory Solutions; and Glen Phillips, Phillips & Associates. Mike Justice, Venus Group, moderated the session.
That evening, ALM presented its annual awards reception and dinner. Attendees were invited to browse association memorabilia, and motivational speaker Nick Hall presented I Know What to Do, So Why Don’t I Do It?
The event closed with the announcement of ALM’s award winners. For the first time ever, the Heywood Wiley Laundry Manager of the Year award went to two recipients as the result of a tie in voting: Richard Hoelscher, Parkland Health and Hospital System, and Vicky Vessey, Textile Care Services. Receiving the Allied Tradesperson of the Year award was Robin Holmes of Encompass Group.
Handouts from the educational sessions are available to ALM members at www.almnet.org.
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