WASHINGTON — March 21, 2017 — More than 100 uniform, linen and facility services industry executives traveled here this week not only to speak on behalf of the industry on Capitol Hill, but to advance their individual professional development. They prepared for market and regulatory shifts and prompted TRSA to support their organizations through improved industry-wide education, certification, research, benchmarking and information-sharing.

More than 70 member organizations sent representatives to the TRSA Leadership & Legislative Conference. The majority of participating laundry companies were regional and local operators who took advantage of the event’s versatility, capturing insights on legal issues surrounding workforce management and receiving updates on industry best practices through presentations and TRSA committee meetings.

Education sessions began Monday, March 20, when Brent Weil, senior vice president, Manufacturing Institute, announced a partnership with TRSA to support our industry’s employee recruiting. TRSA members will soon be able to take advantage of the “Dream It. Do It.” program, gaining access to market-tested materials targeting young people, parents, and teachers. Posters, brochures, social media, videos, and web content will aid launderers in developing career awareness, building internship and apprenticeship programs and attracting military veterans to employment.

Michael Lotito, a Workplace Policy Institute attorney, offered a glimpse into likely employment law shifts under the new presidential administration. The Obama administration’s “overreach” into business with onerous equal opportunity and wage/hour laws may cease, he forecast. Newly appointed National Labor Relations Board members can be expected to be tougher on unions. This relief will take several months to appear, however, as Congress slowly confirms appointees.

With news reports of Cintas Corp. closing its acquisition of G&K Services as a backdrop, conference attendees heard about industry consolidation elsewhere: the United Kingdom. Chris Sander, CEO of the U.K.’s Johnson Service Group, noted that his company is one of two competitors that combine for 85 percent of the workwear market there. Customer retention is 95 percent. Still, economic pressure from mandated wage increases and apprenticeship tax levies are threatening corporate bottom lines across the economy.

His view of the road ahead for Johnson sounded like an appropriate charge for any U.S. launderer: increase automation, work faster and more efficiently, and produce better quality. “We need higher outputs per person per hour and must use far less energy than we do now,” Sander said. (The latter is a particular problem in the U.K. because of declining nuclear capacity.) “At the same time, we need to be far more customer-focused as an industry, embracing technology internally and externally, allowing customers quicker and better access to information (on their textile product/service consumption).”

Monday’s agenda concluded with networking events for two interest groups representing demographic segments critical to industry growth: women in uniform, linen and facility services management and young/emerging corporate leaders.

Following their visits to Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning, participants returned to the conference host Gaylord National Harbor Resort for TRSA committee meetings. Eleven committees met during the event plus the Board of Directors. Among the member programs/services planned:

• Benchmarking data on trends in voluntary employee termination
• Interactive online training for plant- and branch-based department managers and employees
• Recruiting/orientation videos explaining functions of various plant machinery/departments
• Support for promoting the superior economics and sustainability of reusable isolation gowns, bedpads and surgical textiles compared with disposable equivalents
• Template for a combination of metrics, including capacity and productivity data, that individual operations can use to dramatize their value to customers beyond simply highlighting their low cost
• Videos for the laundry customer marketplace promoting Clean Green and Hygienically Clean certifications

Posted March 27, 2017

Source: TRSA

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — March 24, 2014 —Miller’s Textile Services, Wapakoneta, Ohio, has added Hygienically Clean Food Safety and Hygienically Clean Food Service certifications to its credentials. The plant has also renewed its Hygienically Clean Healthcare designation, reflecting an extensive commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing.

The certifications confirm the laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing linens and garments using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, the focal point for laundry plant inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points that minimize risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected;
• Managers understand legal requirements;
• OSHA-compliant; and
• Physical plant operates effectively.

In addition, Miller’s Textile Services passed three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean linens and garments and zero presence of harmful bacteria. To maintain certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing including yeast and mold detection to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.

This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for markets served. Hygienically Clean Healthcare requirements address the laundry needs of hospitals, surgery centers, medical offices, nursing homes and other medical facilities. Hygienically Clean Food Safety covers animal processing, dairies, fruit/vegetable, bakeries, grain and other food and beverage industry segments. Hygienically Clean Food Service certification is appropriate for laundry service to any location where food is served, including full- and limited service restaurants, hotels, hospitals and educational institutions.

Miller’s Textile Services is the second facility in the Hygienically Clean program’s history (dates to 2012) to earn all three certifications. The other, Crown Linen Service, Brockton, Mass., completed the trifecta in November.

The Hygienically Clean standard provides for two inspections every three years. The certifications incorporate the international cleanliness standards for linens and garments used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.

“Congratulations to Miller’s on their certifications,” said Joseph Ricci, TRSA president and CEO. “This achievement proves their dedication to building their customers’ confidence that their laundry takes every step possible to prevent human illness.”

Posted March 24, 2017

Source: TRSA

WASHINGTON — March 24, 2017 — The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) held its 14th Annual Meeting March 21-23 in Washington.  Elected as NCTO officers for 2017 are:

• NCTO Chairman – William “Bill” V. McCrary Jr.
  • McCrary is Chairman and CEO of William Barnet and Son LLC, a synthetic fiber/yarn/polymer firm headquartered in Spartanburg, S.C., with plants and/or offices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
  • McCrary also served as 2016 NCTO Vice Chairman
• NCTO Vice Chairman – Marty Moran
  • Moran is CEO of Buhler Quality Yarns Corp., a leading fine-count yarn supplier with a manufacturing plant and its U.S. headquarters in Jefferson, Ga.

Also at the meeting, outgoing 2016 National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Chairman Robert “Rob” H. Chapman, III delivered the trade association’s 2017 State of the U.S. Textile Industry overview on March 23.

Chapman’s statement outlined U.S. textile supply chain economic, employment and trade data, as well as the 2017 policy priorities of domestic textile manufacturers.

Chapman is chairman and CEO of Inman Mills, a yarn and fabric manufacturer headquartered in Inman, S.C.

NCTO is a Washington-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.

• U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 565,000 in 2016.
• The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $74.4 billion last year, a nearly 11% increase since 2009.
• U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $26.3 billion in 2016.
• Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2 billion in 2015, the last year for which data is available.

Posted March 24, 2017

Source: NCTO

WASHINGTON — March 21, 2017 — Representatives of member companies of TRSA — the linen, uniform and facility services association — took to Capitol Hill today during TRSA’s Leadership and Legislative Conference to raise issues important to the industry. This year’s conference achieved record participation in the number of individuals traveling to Capitol Hill (77) combining for over 60 meetings at House and Senate offices.

It was one of the busiest days in recent memory on the Hill, with the Neil Gorsuch nomination for the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump promoting healthcare reform and the new 2018 federal budget proposal. TRSA attendees reported eyeing the president as he arrived and departed from the Capitol. They overcame long lines to enter congressional office buildings but then took advantage of the secured underground tunnels and subways traversing the Hill to conduct as many as four meetings each in the three hours allocated on the conference agenda for these visits. TRSA organized the meetings for the participants.

Primary issues TRSA raised with legislators:

Improve the regulatory process — TRSA advocated reform based on bipartisan principles of accountability (Congress should vote on the most costly regulations), transparency (eliminating rulemaking to settle lawsuits) and participation (more public data and comment).

Transportation investment — TRSA called for establishing a steady, reliable revenue source for the Highway Trust Fund without tolling existing highways or levying weight-distance taxes or vehicle miles-traveled fees.

National Labor Relations Board — Reversal is needed of NLRB decisions that:

• Allow organizing of bargaining units as small as a handful of workers in a larger workplace (“micro-unions”);
• Make businesses liable for workplaces they don’t control and workers they don’t employ (“joint employer”); and
• Reduce the time before a union election while requiring employers to provide organizers with employees’ personal information (“ambush elections”).

Preparation for Hill visits began March 16 when Kevin Schwalb, TRSA government relations VP, briefed 22 conference registrants on the issues by teleconference, displaying data using TRSA’s webinar platform. Three conference sessions the day before the Hill visits framed ensuing discussions with legislators:

• Workplace law expert Michael Lotito observed that efforts to drive reforms like those TRSA seeks are most likely to gain momentum later in the year.
• Stephen Hayes, FOX News correspondent and Weekly Standard editor in chief, described Trump as a chaos agent, open to negotiation and “talking to everybody.”
• An issue briefing/team building session acquainted attendees with peers with whom they would visit Congressional offices in small groups the following day. A total of 21 such groups of a few individuals were formed for the visits.

At breakfast on the Hill just before the groups headed to their appointments, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., primed them for these conversations.

Posted March 22, 2017

Source: TRSA