CHICAGO — Collaboration is often key to success for industrial and institutional laundries on a macro level.
However, for individual companies, it can be a challenge to find ways to work together.
That’s where industry associations come into play.
Associations offer central locations for operators and suppliers to collaborate and lift the industry and their own businesses. And because associations work with multiple entities, they see a broader picture of the industry.
Those viewpoints can provide much-needed information to operators and suppliers.
American Laundry News met with the heads of three key laundry industry associations to discuss concerns, positive movement in the industry, and future goals for associations, their members, and the laundry industry as a whole.
Sarah Brobeck is president and CEO of ALM, the Association for Linen Management in Richmond, Kentucky, which supports professionals working in laundry operations and linen management across healthcare, hospitality, and institutional settings.
Lucy Pettys brings the supplier perspective as executive director of TCATA, the Textile Care Allied Trades Association, based in Indian Trail, North Carolina.
And Joseph Ricci is president and CEO of TRSA in Arlington, Virginia, which promotes the linen, uniform, and facilities services industry.
(You can listen to the complete conversation through our podcast on AmericanLaundryNews.com/podcasts.)
When you talk to/hear from your members, what are their topics of concern?
RICCI: I think the biggest issue that our industry is talking about right now is consolidation in a couple of different modes. One is the consolidation of the healthcare space with private equity (PE) involvement. One of the things that you know our industry requires is continuous reinvestment, and that’s not necessarily how PE enters and operates within a business.
But I have been pleasantly surprised with the PE folks that are in the healthcare space that I’m familiar with. They seem to be focused on staying within the business and continuing to run their business regardless of how they’re growing it. And they are reinvesting. But I know that’s a big concern for members.
We also have a large consolidation potentially coming in the near future with Cintas and UniFirst, so there’s a lot of discussion about that and the impact and the opportunities it creates for our operators but also looking at what that does necessarily for supplier partners.
I think one of the areas of concern with consolidation is fewer decision-makers, fewer influencers. What does that do with our supplier partner base? How does that — equipment manufacturers and textile manufacturers and importers and distributors, chemical manufacturers — how does that impact them if they’re not necessarily doing work with some of these companies that are becoming bigger and growing?
PETTYS: Consolidation is a hot button for sure. We see it all the time, and I always cringe when I see people huddled up in a corner, and you know what they’re talking about. And I’m like, no, don’t do it. But I guess it’s good business for them. Maybe for us, not so much.
Workforce again, just can’t stress that enough. Just having the skilled labor to come in. Business costs, the cost of everything. Fuel costs, labor, supply — it just goes on and on. There’s lots to worry about when you own a business, but that’s why we exist as associations to help them find the answers and get them some resources.
BROBECK: To just tap into what Luci was saying, those productivity and cost pressures, they’re not going away. They’re kind of doubling down on those right now, especially because of the consolidation. Labor, utilities, textiles, chemicals, capital equipment cost continue to put a significant amount of pressure on operations, which makes operational excellence increasingly important.
Productivity doesn’t just mean more pounds per operator hour. It means understanding the constraints, reducing that waste, improving processes, and using data to make better decisions. Another thing that we’re also seeing is that people are starting to really get more sophisticated with their data collection, with a data analysis, so that they can have the information to make better decisions.
Now let’s move to the positive. What do you and your members see as going well with the industry?
BROBECK: One of the biggest things is that customer expectations are changing. It’s now imperative that our laundries start to understand that their value is way more than just washing and drying and folding and delivering linen back to their customer. They’re really embracing that because, increasingly, the customers are expecting more than just those clean textiles delivered on time. They want data. They want consistency. They want responsiveness and cost control, and they want help solving those operational problems.
Our strongest leaders are really doubling down on explaining the value that they’re creating, not just the cost per pound. I think, as an industry, that is helping us to grow and to be more sophisticated about how we share the information of who we are and what it is that we do.
We’re seeing that safety is being taken — it’s always been taken seriously — but I think that we’re doubling down on our efforts on how we’re trying to look at even the small things, like using technology and automation to continue to reduce ergonomic and repetitive-motion risks.
And then lastly, talking about advocacy and sustainability, sustainability is definitely becoming a part of the operation. We’re looking at ways to conserve water, energy, chemicals, and fuel, but they also definitely impact operational costs as well.
And then everybody is keeping an eye on what’s going on with PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances), microfiber and textile sustainability. But I think they’re embracing it now more so than just looking at it as a regulation coming down. It’s helping them to just be smarter and more sophisticated.
PETTYS: I think the biggest positive that we can say recently is that this is an incredibly resilient industry. You know, we made it through COVID, and that was very scary.
We continue to be resilient and grow and innovate and adapt in the ways that we need to.
Click HERE to read part 1 about what association leaders see as the most pressing issues they see in laundry industry.
And check back Tuesday for the conclusion as leaders share future industry developments and association plans.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
