Content about Donald Knuth

CHICAGO — A large share of Wire subscribers don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty, based on the results of this month’s AmericanLaundryNews.com survey. Nearly half of the respondents perform all (19.4%) or most (27.8%) of the basic equipment maintenance for their facility.

Equal shares of 13.9% do “some” or “very little” of their laundry’s maintenance. Only 25% don’t perform maintenance.

More than one-third of respondents (35.1%) admitted that their equipment maintenance efforts have backfired at some point and ended up requiring repairs or even replacement. Some examples:

• a tunnel’s CPU went down, stopping production for days.
• a motor replaced in a dryer turned in the wrong direction.
• over lubrication of a washer’s inner seal allowed grease to contaminate the drum and basket.

Most laundries, at one time or another, require attention from a maintenance or service technician. Respondents have mixed feelings about those occasions.

The largest share, 37.8%, called them “average” and said it depended on the job and who did it. Twenty-seven percent called them “great, they always get the job done,” while another 29.7% ranked them as “good, they get the job done most of the time.” Equal shares of 2.7% described service visits as “poor” or said they never call on repairmen.

Regardless of who performs equipment maintenance in their laundry, 78.4% have a formal schedule for completing the tasks. Approximately 53% say they or a staff member have attended a service school offered by an equipment manufacturer or distributor.

It’s easier to perform basic maintenance on laundry equipment today that it was in the past, according to 37.8% of respondents. It’s no different, say 32.4%, while the remaining 29.7% believe it’s more difficult to maintain machines today.

While the Wire survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.

Subscribers to Wire e-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take a brief industry survey anonymously online each month. All managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.

To sign up for the Wire, click the “Subscriptions” button at the top right-hand corner of this page and follow the instructions.

CHICAGO — Measuring customer satisfaction and tracking complaints are important aspects of their institutional or commercial laundry service, according to the vast majority of laundry managers and administrators who responded to July’s Wire survey.

Three-quarters have a system in place to measure customer satisfaction in their laundry/linen service, and 83.3% record and track customer complaints.

When a complaint comes in, a missed or late delivery is most often the reason for the claim, according to 41.7% of respondents. Condition of laundered goods (25%) and the failure to deliver or package goods according to the customer’s wishes (16.7%) also generate a fair number of gripes. Less-frequent reasons include a reaction to increased cost of service and “other,” each of which was cited by 8.3%.

No one pointed to incorrect charges/billing, mistakes in order contents, or conduct of staff as being the most frequent cause of complaints.

Nearly 92% of respondents rank their level of customer service at excellent (50%) or above average (41.7%) based on the number of complaints received and their ability to resolve them successfully.

So, what’s the most ridiculous complaint you’ve ever received?

• “We were asked to buy a $500 dress that was ‘sent’ to us mixed with the hotel’s linen,” recalls one respondent. “We never found it, and the guest could not show proof of purchase.”
• “I need new bath towels every week.”
• “’Seeing too many stained items,’ which we determined, by tracking it, to be .0025% of the customer’s volume.”

Subscribers to Wire e-mails—distributed twice weekly—are invited to take a brief industry survey anonymously online each month. All managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define operator opinions and industry trends.

To sign up for the Wire, click the “Subscriptions” button at the top of this page and follow the instructions.

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Adopting a “hippie look” to go undercover in his company for the CBS series Undercover Boss, UniFirst President and CEO Ronald Croatti often found himself unable to match the speed of the workers training him, as he sought to discover if he could “make the cut” as an employee.

But his week-long journey was as much about seeing the company through his employees’ eyes and learning if the “family culture” he believed to be in place was truly there.

“How can we tell if we’re getting our money’s worth from the textiles we’re using? What are the characteristics of a high-quality textile after it has been processed a dozen times, 50 times, or more? And can item type — flatwork or garment — actually influence textile durability?”

Textiles — Elizabeth Easter, Ph.D., University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.

CHICAGO — What are the traits of a good employee? Which negative trait will fray a manager’s last nerve? These were just some of the questions that American Laundry News asked in this month’s Wire survey.

CHICAGO — American Laundry News asked its Wire subscribers to lift the veil on their profession: where they work, how many employees they manage, their salary, and even the most unusual thing that’s happened at their laundry.

Nearly 44% of respondents to the unscientific survey hail from the South. Thirty-one percent are based in the Midwest, while equal portions of 12.5% work in the Northeast and the West.

DUBOIS, Pa. — Paris Companies welcomed Lt. Gov. Joseph Scarnati and other dignitaries in dedicating its new $14 million Healthcare Linen Services plant here June 11.

The new state-of-the-art, 52,000-square-foot plant is one of the most efficient in the world and positions Paris as a leader in providing healthcare linen services to the Mid-Atlantic Region, the company says. It has the capacity to launder 50 million pounds of linen annually.

“With the economy in the shape that it’s in, we’re looking for new business anywhere we can find it. But aren’t there times when serving certain accounts doesn’t make sound business sense? Can you suggest some criteria that I can use to weigh the pros and cons of providing textile services to a new account, whatever and wherever it may be?”

Whether trying to express professionalism in the healthcare sector or maintain luxury linens for guests of a five-star hotel, a laundry’s need to produce high-quality ironed goods has never been greater.

“Well-ironed linens are not just pleasing to the end users, they provide a subtle but important statement of your commitment to quality in every aspect of your business,” says Steve Culver, director of management information services for Chicago Dryer Co.

“What ‘green’ laundry products are available for my operation? Are they truly ‘green’ or ‘environmentally friendly’? What’s the difference? I hear the term applied most often to chemicals, but can’t equipment or textiles carry that description, too?”

Hotel/Motel Laundering: Neil MacDonald, the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club, Lihue, Hawaii (ONLINE EXCLUSIVE)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — At Superior Linen Supply Co., the Kartsonis family and other principals in the independent, family-owned company can look back on any number of important moments and appreciate how they have molded and shaped the 115-year-old business.

Few dates in its lengthy lineage have been as significant to Superior Linen as Dec. 1, 2006.

How can a laundry manager determine if they’re getting the best results from the chemical formulas they’re using? For what key quality indicators should they be looking?