SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Milliken & Co. played host recently to a bevy of laundry managers and administrators during the annual Laundry & Hospitality Services Processing Seminar, providing networking opportunities, educational sessions and tours of Milliken’s headquarters and select manufacturing facilities.
Milliken’s Napery Fabrics business hosts the low-cost event for invited laundry managers, executive housekeepers and other professionals who rent or process table linens.
First among the industry speakers to address the group this year was Eric Frederick, American Laundry News’ columnist at large. His presentation titled Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish was based on a column published in the magazine.
Frederick, the director of laundry services for Carilion Laundry Service, Roanoke, Va., asserts that laundry managers are too quick to abandon a chemical vendor because another can provide the supplies more cheaply. In reality, an operation can save money in the long run by spending more on washroom chemicals, he says.
Creating a higher wash quality cuts down on rewash amounts, thereby saving labor, utility and textile-replacement costs, Frederick says.
Other speakers during the four-day meeting in March addressed washing fundamentals, tunnel washing technology, soil-room technology, water systems, washroom chemistry and systems, ironing spun and newer fabrics, and more.
The Napery Fabrics business produces high-performance fabrics that are then cut and sewn into finished products by a variety of institutional/linen suppliers.
Its parent company has more than 11,000 associates at more than 60 facilities worldwide working with more than 19,000 different textile and chemical products.
Milliken & Co. makes a variety of fabric, yarn and chemical products that keep astronauts safe, make major league baseball players comfortable, and adorn homes and businesses around the globe. Its products give tennis balls their soft texture and Jell-O pudding its creamy smoothness, for example.
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