ST. CHARLES, Mo. — The Healthcare Linen Alliance (HLA), one of the largest commercial healthcare linen service providers in the nation with 10 member companies, reports it has its expanded service areas, driven by members adding new facilities.
Century Linen & Uniform Service recently built and opened a state-of-the-art facility in Johnstown, N.Y., and took over the closed Clarus Plants in Syracuse, N.Y., according to HLA. In part, the expansion was born out of demand for a rapid onboarding of new customers made necessary by other linen providers exiting the market.
In less than a month, Century brought on new customers representing more than 15 million pounds of volume annually. Several of those new customers required processing millions of pounds of linen due to existing providers going out of business suddenly.
Within seven days, the Alliance says Century surveyed and assessed all of the locations of the potential new customers, ordered, prepped and processed linen to facilitate installation and seamless operations.
“We have an agile and professional, customer-centric team capable of decisive action, and we were pleased that we could lend a helping hand to businesses in need,” says Richard Smith, CEO of Century in New York. “We are always looking for the right opportunities to expand strategically and we believe that our ability to scale quickly and assist businesses in our community was a win for everyone involved.
Novo Health Services, an HLA member headquartered in Georgia, added an 8 million-pound customer in Richmond, Va., with just 30 days’ notice. Quickly gathering a large install team and partnering another Alliance member, Up To Date Laundry Inc., they surveyed, prepped and processed linen, providing a seamless install and uninterrupted operations for the healthcare system customer.
In the Midwest, a hospital in Peoria, Ill., was given short notice that its provider was discontinuing service. With a two-week timeframe, Alliance says member Midwest Healthcare Linen Service stepped in to survey, prep, install and begin servicing the facility quickly to ensure ongoing service.
Encompassing facilities up and down the West Coast, HLA says member Emerald Textiles has experienced rapid growth and added significant capacity through opening new facilities, upgrading plants and a strategic acquisition plan. Recent Emerald acquisitions include a plant in St. George, Utah, as well as Mediclean Linen and Laundry in Los Angeles.
The company also invested heavily in upgrading existing facilities in Los Angeles and Turlock, Calif., in the third quarter of the year and recently completed its “greenfield” expansion in Livingston, Calif., which opened this fall.
Emerald’s focus on outstanding quality and service to its customers has facilitated explosive growth in its service area along the West Coast as well as adjacent states, shares the Alliance.
As demonstrated by these recent events, Healthcare Linen Alliance says its members are unrelenting in responding to the needs of existing and prospective customers alike. Committed to the industries they serve, members of the Alliance are aggressively scaling their businesses and seeking new opportunities across the nation.
Alliance members serve the United States and Canada, and HLA says the group now collectively produces more than 750 million pounds annually, serving more than 2,100 customers and more than 120,000 hospital beds.
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