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Tours of High-Efficiency Plants Highlight Upcoming TRSA Healthcare Conference

Design/layout discussions to take place beforehand, say organizers

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Tours of Unitex Textile Rental Services’ laundries highlight the agenda for the Textile Rental Services Association’s (TRSA) upcoming Healthcare Conference, which will take place Nov. 17-18 in New Brunswick, N.J.

TRSA says the tours of Unitex, which has separate bulk and garment operations under a single roof in New Brunswick, will enhance the annual event’s value in guiding attendees toward achieving industry-leading productivity in processing.

Based in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and serving medical providers in that state as well as New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts, Unitex is recognized as the fastest-growing U.S. launderer 100% dedicated to healthcare, according to the association. The company attributes its growth primarily to organization-wide dedication to measurement and consistency, ensuring that strong engineering pays off.  

TOUR VIEWS

Conference participants will view workflow in each plant that proceeds smoothly thanks to efficient layout with proper capacity at each stage of processing, as well as two daily maintenance shifts, with production working one 10-hour shift, seven days a week.  

These visits and sessions at the conference previewing the tours and wrapping them up will cover a wide variety of issues in productivity of plant processing. A Unitex-led plant design/layout discussion will take place the day before the tours. A debrief will immediately follow them. Much of the rest of the agenda will be dedicated to marketing and service discussions.  

In the 60,000-square-foot Unitex bulk laundry, where the company’s characteristic extensive use of ceiling height (“the cube”) makes a large plant seem smaller, the company’s personnel will show visitors how:

  • Energy use is roughly 40% of a typical healthcare laundry.
  • Reject percentage is low.
  • Soil sorting isn’t interrupted when bags fill and depart.
  • Flow of new goods and rewash into mainline production is minimally disruptive.
  • Employee personal hygiene and well-being are given high priority.

In the 40,000-square-foot garment plant, which operates more like an industrial laundry than a linen supply operation, the Unitex team will demonstrate how:

  • Tunnel washing processes a wide variety of garment fabrics and colors.
  • High speed is achieved with the highest-quality finish.
  • Automated sorting drives high-efficiency bundling of folded, packed or hung garments—personalized and bulk.
  • Specials, additions and replacements blend smoothly into route/account makeup. 

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

The keynote will be delivered by Thomas Royer, M.D., the architect of CHRISTUS Health, one of North America’s leading Catholic healthcare systems, TRSA says. He’ll explain the urgent need for all healthcare-related organizations to transform in light of the Affordable Care Act and other market forces, including specific implications for the laundry industry, such as possible new growth venues.  

Panel discussions will feature speakers from the industry examining executive strategic planning perspectives, product developments and services strategies.  

Other general and breakout session topics will cover:

  • Fitting a laundry business into the new healthcare model.
  • How laundries cope when customers re-affiliate.
  • How TRSA promotes Hygienically Clean certification to healthcare professionals.
  • New TRSA video guiding healthcare workers on handling soiled linen.
  • RFID technology for linen.  

Conference sessions will begin at 7 a.m. Nov. 17 at the host hotel, which is the Hilton Hotel and Executive Center in East Brunswick. These continue until 4:30 p.m., followed by a reception. The Unitex tours take place the following morning with activity returning to the hotel for the debrief and the executive panel discussion, ending before lunch.

To register, or to learn more about the event, visit the TRSA website.

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Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].