The Laundry & Linen College is the premier resource for laundry training and education. The fall session focuses on Processing & Operations, covering equipment selection, safety, bloodborne pathogens, the wash process, energy management, preventive maintenance, laundry management, and laundry production and performance measures.

Details about each topic are available in the Laundry & Linen College Fall Flyer, and more information is available on ALM's website.

Register for the fall session by October 15, 2019, and save $500!

While we all love bright shiny objects, when it comes to textiles, sometimes those intriguing products come with persnickety processing requirements. During the next ALM webinar on September 19, The Textile Trap, learn what questions to ask when considering new products to prevent unexpected costs that anger your customers.

During this session, we’ll explore some of the popular products that may require extra time and attention during processing and provide some tips on how to address the implications with your customer.

Remember, you are allowed an unlimited number of participants at your location for one low fee, they will ALL receive contact hour credit for attending, and as an ALM member, you receive discounted rates for ALM trainings!

Thank you to those who responded to the recent education survey, which will be a tremendous resource as we plan programming for the coming year. Congratulations to Lisa Young with the Bavarian Inn, Beth Orr with Phoenix Textile, and Nicole Grubich with West Michigan Shared Hospital Laundry, who each won a $25 Starbucks gift card for participating in the survey!

If you want to learn about all the education and training ALM has that fits the needs of textile care professionals at all levels of experience, please visit our website.

LaundryMarks^TM by ALM is a revolutionary benchmarking platform that will advance the laundry industry by providing powerful data to improve business performance for single and multi-location laundries. This new benchmarking platform offers a wealth of data on laundry performance indicators that users can customize to evaluate and optimize their businesses.

The platform generates reports on a wide variety of industry-specific key performance indicators in the areas of production, workforce efficiency, utilities, safety and quality. The custom reports can be filtered by location, pounds processed, product line, level of automation and more than 15 other factors. The reports provide data essential for determining opportunities for improvement, planning resources and investments, and building a business plan. By benchmarking against similar facilities, laundries can use data to identify areas for improvement.

Pariticipants are currently entering FY2018 data, and FY2019 data will be allowed soon, for year-to-year comparison reporting in participating facilities. If you aren't already enrolled, enroll today!

How is my data secured?
LaundryMarks^TM data is processed through a secure, robust, digital system. ALM is committed to keeping your information safe and anonymous. LaundryMarks^TM data is encrypted and stored on a secure server, and can only be accessed by an authorized, independent third party that ALM has engaged to manage the platform. ALM staff do not have access to your data.

Your information is never associated with your specific laundry operations to others; only aggregate data will be published. While the data can be filtered, there must be at least five laundries in the data set or the information will not be shown on the report. The data cannot be filtered down to a level that an individual laundry can be identified.

In addition, facilities have full control to designate who in their company is authorized to input or review data.

If you have additional questions, please ask!

In a recent survey performed by American Laundry News, when it comes to handling the most basic equipment maintenance, the majority of laundry/linen service managers are involved at some level in the process. The rest rely on experienced technicians.

ALM has articles regarding maintenance in the laundry in our Article Library, and it is also a topic in the upcoming fall session of the Laundry & Linen College (see article below). 

Managers and their facilities would be well served to know the basics of maintenance to ensure employees and contractors stay safe, as well as avoiding unnecessary costs.

Visit the ALM Member Forum to view the discussion on this topic and share your experiences and opinions. Please note: You must be signed into the ALM website to view the discussion.

Roger F. Cocivera, whose 68-year career in the linen, uniform and facility services industry began with a job washing trucks for Penn Linen in 1951, and included the co-leadership of that company as well as service as president of TRSA, passed away on August 6, due to an illness. He was 87 years old.

Roger began working in the laundry business while still in high school, when he took a job with Penn Coat and Apron in Allentown, Pa. During the next 50 years, he rose through the ranks in the family company owned by Max Stettner; they became business partners and operated Penn Linen, Penn Healthcare and Tartan Textile Services. “Roger is the kid who worked hard and made it,” Stettner, who passed away in 2013, said in an article announcing Cocivera’s receiving an Operator Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

A celebration of life for family and friends is planned. A calling hour is set for 10-11 a.m., Wednesday, August 21, at St. John’s United Church of Christ, 575 Grape Street, Whitehall, Pa. A service will follow at 11-11:30 a.m., with light refreshments to follow.
 
Our thoughts are with Roger's family and friends. 

Softrol Systems Inc. has hired Dave Smith as director of sales & marketing. Dave brings over 30 years of industry experience in promoting industrial laundry equipment, with a focus on customer needs and after-sales support.

Dave holds a business administration B.S. degree with a computer science minor from Bowling Green State University. Reporting directly to the CEO, he is responsible for all sales and marketing activities and will be an important member of the company’s executive board.

Customer associations, problem solving, product knowledge and the ability to lead and strategize are a few of Dave's strengths. He will be instrumental with brand campaign development and new product initiatives, as well as providing the Softrol sales team with strategic direction and insights.

Ecolab Inc. has been named to Selling Power magazine’s 2019 list of the 50 Best Companies to Sell For. The list evaluated companies based on three categories: compensation and benefits; hiring, sales training and sales enablement; and customer retention. This is Ecolab’s fourth consecutive year on the Best Companies to Sell For list.

Recently, the MIP Inc. team in Welland (manufacturing team in China) was informed by the nearby age committee that there are several people in their community with disabilities and who are in need of help. In order to support them, MIP Welland colleagues gathered products that could be donated.

On June 27, a team visited the community center to donate pads, quilts and clothing protectors to distribute to those in need. The team also visited one person with disabilities to personally bring the donation. Both the Ren Yang Village Committee and the families of those in need were very appreciative of the donation and were grateful for help.