Hotel/Motel/Resort Laundry: Reyes Chavez, Tender Care Laundry, Chicago, Ill.
I am the operations manager at Tender Care Systems Inc., the largest hospitality vendor of quality linens in Chicago.
We receive soiled hospitality linen of all types of materials, thread counts and overall construction. We take extreme care of these challenges by correct formula utilization, conditioning and final processing on a variety of flatwork ironers folders and feeders.
Hospitality is almost 100% customer-owned goods (COG) and with that comes quite a few challenges to basic productivity. We at Tender Care have worked diligently at solving this complex issue to supply clean quality linens to our customers.
Personally, I have 33 years of experience in the laundry industry. I started as a clean-up kid blowing down and cleaning a major West Coast laundry. I moved my way up to the washroom and dryer area where I manually fed all washers with chemistry before liquid injection came along.
I advanced to a shuttle driver between multiple plants transferring linen for delivery. I eventually became a route relief driver and subsequentially I had my own in-town route where I excelled at customer service sales and customer retention to build and grow my route.
I was then asked to become a production manager and managed my first successful combination plant at the age of 30 in Northern California. We serviced industrial uniforms and coveralls, hospital, hospitality, restaurant and banquet accounts.
My next endeavor was in Southern California where I was challenged to bring an OPL into an efficient well-oiled machine while enhancing their maintenance department and building a safety program and standard operating procedures that were laundry-oriented for process improvement.
After this accomplishment, I moved into the chemical side of the industry before being recruited to help build and run a major hospital supplier of linens in the Southern California area.
Understanding laundry processes and building a culture and environment where all parties are involved from a production, maintenance, management and customer service aspect is what I excel in, and it is what keeps me going in the very demanding laundry industry.
Chemicals Supply: Sampson Linus, Ecolab, Woodbury, Minn.
It is an honor to be selected for the American Laundry News Panel of Experts.
I am the global director for technical services for research and development at Ecolab Corp., a world leader in chemicals and sustainability.
I have extensive industry experience in the area of technical services for laundry software management, business process enablement, and the science of cleaning within an extensive range of systems in the laundry and water management equipment industry.
I have a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Port Harcourt with post-graduate certifications in engineering Lean Six Sigma (Purdue University), product marketing (Kellogg Northwestern), data analytics (Cornell University) and a master’s in business administration (University of Phoenix).
I have developed my career in working and independent consulting with on-premises, commercial laundry providers and systems manufacturers for 17 years with an extensive scope of experience in hospitality, healthcare/long-term care, textile, chemicals and commercial laundry businesses.
The year 2024 has seen an achievement in the expansion of global focus for driving digital enablement in the institutional and industrial laundry sphere of businesses in the United States. Businesses are developing the management of efficiencies driven by technological applications of data analytics and AI (artificial intelligence)-powered solutions in several institutional areas with an impact on performance and sustainability.
Due to this expansion, two of the biggest challenges digital enablement brings to the laundry business are the area of software compatibility between laundry machine manufacturers and service providers and the management of big data and security management of data access and storage.
This is an exciting opportunity for industry solutions I wish to bring to the forefront of my interactions on this forum.
Consulting Services: Matthew Alexander, Pertl & Alexander LLC, Manlius, N.Y.
I’m the president of Pertl & Alexander, the laundry, housekeeping textile and valet business experts. We specialize in the design of laundry and housekeeping systems, laundry supply-chain management, mergers and acquisitions, strategic planning, and management consulting.
My laundry industry career began as director of marketing for G.A. Braun Inc. in 1983 where I directed hotel industry sales, managed advertising and public relations, and produced and published technical and training materials.
I subsequently was a corporate director for American Laundry Machinery, senior consultant with Victor Kramer Company, executive director for Mission Industries and became president of Pertl & Alexander in 2003.
We have surveyed hundreds of hospitals and hotels, managed numerous strategic sourcing initiatives, and designed numerous laundries for healthcare organizations, hotels, and commercial laundry companies.
I have additionally served as an expert witness for litigation in several jurisdictions.
In 2024, we consulted in the design of two new casino resort laundries, renovated the iconic Pierre Hotel laundry in New York City, consulted in the design and opening of TSX Broadway hotel in Times Square, and advised a dozen healthcare organizations regarding the strategic planning, supply-chain management and implementation of best practices.
Linen Supply: Dyan Troxel, HandCraft Linen Services, Richmond, Va.
I have been at HandCraft Linen Services for three years, and I am the director of clinical education.
This is a unique position in the laundry industry, and although I do not have a great number of years in this business, I do have over 30 years of experience as a registered nurse. I worked as a bedside nurse, nurse manager, clinical educator and quality coordinator.
This allows me to bring a different and dynamic perspective to the customers we serve.
In all my different roles in multiple hospitals, I was not given education about linen management practices, and I did a lot wrong because I did not know.
My department provides linen education to keep clinical and environment services staff well-informed and data analysis to keep administration knowledgeable about costs.
Whether it is through signage, videos, presentations, rounding or blogs, HandCraft’s clinical educators are available to assess, plan, implement and evaluate linen strategies to find solutions for our customers.
HandCraft Linen Services is a family-owned business since 1970 providing linen rental and personalized uniforms. We are TRSA Hygienically Clean and Clean Green certified.
We currently have two acute-care plants with plans to open another in 2025 and two retail plants serving Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.
We manage more than 100 million pounds of linen annually for more than 140 hospitals and 1,500 non-acute medical practices. We still practice our founder’s philosophy of always going the extra mile, one customer at a time.
An area that often presents us with a challenge is our customers’ financial goals. As budgets tighten, customers call to see what can be done to lower linen costs to meet a 10% reduction mandate.
What they do not know is that making a few changes in their linen practices can decrease their linen loss costs and therefore their overall linen spend. The challenge is finding a project owner at the facility who has time to implement these initiatives.
Success is achieved through partnerships.
Equipment/Supply Distribution: Justin Oriel, Garment Machinery Company Inc., Needham, Mass.
I’m the president of Garment Machinery Company Inc., one of the country’s oldest and most reputable distributors of commercial laundry equipment.
Based in Needham, Massachusetts, I and my company specialize in the sales and service of commercial laundry machinery throughout New England.
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my wife, three children and two dogs. As a car enthusiast, I am particularly passionate about working on my CJ7s, and in my downtime, you can find me riding my motorcycle.
Uniforms/Workwear Manufacturing: Steve Berg, Encompass Group LLC, Pelican Rapids, Minn.
I’m vice president of sales for senior living, government, and laundry at Encompass Group LLC.
I enjoy the country and wide-open spaces and reside in northern Minnesota.
I have spent my entire 37-year career in the healthcare market space, which includes acute care hospitals, alternate surgical centers, commercial healthcare laundries, Veterans Administration facilities and the senior living care continuum.
I believe that every patient, resident, caregiver and family member should feel safe and comfortable in today’s healthcare environments. My goal each day is to contribute in some small way to help that belief become reality.
Most of my efforts have been directed toward sales and sales management, but I have also enjoyed my time running a cubicle curtain/window treatment manufacturing facility as well as directing a successful interior design and furnishings division focused on the senior living market.
Having a hand in creating beautiful living environments that helped reduce the anxiety seniors and their families experience while transitioning out of their homes was incredibly rewarding.
My various job responsibilities have always included a high level of travel which has allowed me to interact with healthcare laundry operations of all different sizes, shapes and operational missions across North America.
I am active in several industry associations. Participating on various committees and speaking on educational topics at annual conferences are part of my job I really enjoy.
I’m honored to be part of the Panel of Experts. I appreciate the hard work our industry does every day to help sustain healthcare, food and beverage, industrial, and hospitality customers.
I hope my experience across the healthcare continuum will allow me to bring value to this panel.
Click HERE to meet the Panel of Expert participants introduced yesterday.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
