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MMI enables participants to develop more effective, efficient maintenance practices and expertise while building personal relationships with the foremost engineering experts. The program features learning opportunities (classroom instruction, interactive seminars, group projects) with highly specialized professionals. Participants attend two 2.5-day sessions (one per year in consecutive years), completing half the course curriculum in each.

MMI teaches the latest techniques to maximize equipment life and reduce malfunctioning and downtime
- Increases knowledge of plant systems and machinery components
- Builds technical and mechanical skills
- Enhances understanding of electronics
- Improves management of maintenance/engineering functions

Especially for:
- Production/Maintenance Managers
- Plant Managers/Engineers
- Corporate/Regional Engineers

Register: http://www.trsa.org/calendarevent/maintenance-management-institute-mmi-0

DALLAS — Nearly 130 laundry professionals, including more than 50 CEOs and executives representing more than 80% of commercial healthcare-sector laundry production, took part in the Healthcare Conference and CEO/Executive Roundtable hosted here last month by the Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA).

The conference and industry-specific roundtable provided a forum for textile services operators serving hospitals, medical centers and nursing homes to share information and discuss the latest trends impacting the healthcare business.

Internationally recognized health futurist and medical economist Jeffrey Bauer began the conference by providing his views on the future of healthcare reform and delivery, opining that healthcare will change more in the next decade than it has in the past 50 years. “To survive, healthcare providers and their supply chain partners must fix how medical service is delivered by focusing on improving efficiency and effectiveness,” he says.

Bauer discussed opportunities specific to textile services, such as direct sales and service to home care patients, reinventing garments based on emerging patient needs, joint ventures with product and service providers, and linking laundry services directly to green initiatives.

His theme of change and adaptation continued throughout the conference with break-out sessions focusing on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), contracting, outsourcing, infection control, linen life and disposables.

The conference closed with panel discussions involving equipment manufacturers and healthcare textile services CEOs. The first panel covered new tunnel washer technology with each manufacturer—G.A. Braun, Ellis Corp., Girbau Industrial, Jensen USA, Kannegiesser USA, Lavatec Laundry Technology and Pellerin Milnor Corp. were represented—highlighting benefits and features of their products specific to the healthcare sector.

The CEO panelists—Dave Van Vliet of Angelica Corp., Randy Bartsch of Ecotex Healthcare Linen Service, Jeff Berstein of ImageFirst Healthcare Laundry Specialists, David Stern of Paris Cos., and Michael Potack of Unitex Textile Rental Services—discussed their views on healthcare sector-related challenges, competition, customers, products and certification.

They emphasized the impact of the consolidation of healthcare providers and group purchasing organizations, the need to quantify the sustainability and cleanliness of commercial laundering, and the importance of investing in machinery and technology to increase productivity and efficiency to meet growing pricing pressures.

TRSA has committed to conducting the Healthcare Conference and CEO/Executive Roundtable annually, with the next event scheduled for next November in Philadelphia.

PMI enhances and develops supervisory or management performance by:

• educating and providing attendees with a thorough understanding of production management and plant operation skills and leadership

• enhancing attendees' supervisory and leadership skills

For more information: http://www.trsa.org/calendarevent/production-management-institute-pmi

I have been involved in the laundry industry since 1984, with experience in chemicals, coin laundry, mid-size equipment distribution and large-production laundry applications.

I'll never forget my first Clean Show. Dallas. I think it was 1987. A late-season snowstorm brought the city to a crawl. Our group's taxi from the airport to the Loews Anatole spun out on the freeway and ended up pointing in the opposite direction. That’s the good thing about Vegas: The heat is a bear, but you know what you are in for.

Clean for me this year is about touching base with old friends and learning about new technologies. I will be working with a great group of clients evaluating production equipment options. I am excited and eager to see what is new.

David Chadsey is managing director of Capital Equipment Consulting, a laundry design and consulting firm, and a member of the American Laundry News Panel of Experts.

BURLINGAME, Calif. — Virgin America has awarded a two-year contract to Mission Linen Supply, which will supply white linen napkins for passengers flying the new airline.

Virgin America serves San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Cancun, Dallas-Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Los Cabos, New York, Orlando, San Diego, Seattle and Washington D.C.

Mission Linen Supply plants in Chino and Sacramento, Calif., and in Dallas will provide the linen service for the California and Texas airports.

BURBANK, Calif. — ARAMARK Uniform Services has opened a new 52,000-square-foot laundry facility designed for environmental friendliness in Van Ormy, Texas.

ARAMARK has provided services to the San Antonio, Texas, area from its Dallas plant for the past 15 years. To underscore its commitment to the local community and reduce its fleet’s fuel consumption, the company worked with GMA Design Group and Arco-Murray Construction Co. to build the new energy-efficient facility, ARAMARK says.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Richard Hoelscher earned the Association for Linen Management’s (ALM) highest management award when he was named the 2008 Heywood Wiley Manager of the Year during ALM’s Annual Educational Conference last Monday.

RICHMOND, Ky. – The Association for Linen Management (ALM) has approved a slate of officer candidates for election during its national conference this summer and Bart Carpenter, a laundry production coordinator from Oregon, is running unopposed for the association’s presidency.

Carpenter, who is currently ALM’s senior vice president, works at Oregon Correctional Enterprises, Deer Ridge Correctional Institution, in Madras, Ore.

DALLAS — Just as the sun was coming up, the first bus pulled out of the parking lot of the Hilton DFW Lakes, host site of the 2008 Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) Tech/Plant Summit.

You have to get an early start, you see, if you plan on visiting four plants in one morning.

Since the Tech/Plant Summit began five years ago, plant tours have been a staple. The events have featured trips to industrial, linen supply, healthcare and dust control operations but never all in one.

DALLAS — This week marks one of the largest gatherings of textile service operators and vendors in the United States this year, as the Textile Rental Services Association’s (TRSA) Tech/Plant Summit opens here on Tuesday. With nearly 400 industry members expected, it will be TRSA’s largest Summit yet.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In celebrating its 75th anniversary, an independent, family-owned uniform and image-enhancement service provider has renamed itself in honor of its founder.

AAA Uniform Services, headquartered in Kansas City, and Shepherd’s Uniform and Linen Supply, with facilities in Dallas, Houston and Beaumont, Texas, have combined under the new name Ace ImageWear. The Heilman family owns Ace, and its second- and third-generation family members run the company.