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CHICAGO — Many managers and operators polled in this month’s AmericanLaundryNews.com Wire survey place great importance on continuing education, based on the number who said they have received training or certification or have attended educational sessions.

Asked to classify their industry knowledge, 44% of respondents say they are extremely knowledgeable (12%) or more knowledgeable than other managers or operators (32%).

Twenty-four percent say they are as knowledgeable as other managers or operators. Another 24% say they’re knowledgeable but “need to brush up on a few things.” Eight percent of respondents say they are too busy running their operation to spend time learning about the industry.

Half of the respondents have attended a training program or certification program specific to laundry/linen or textile services management, and 72% have attended or participated in an industry-related educational session (association conference, convention seminar, webinar, service seminar, etc.).

Roughly 47% are planning to attend or participate in an educational session in the next year, while 22.4% are not. The remaining 30.6% are unsure.

When respondents were asked to pick an area they’d like to learn more about, there was no clear favorite. Energy conservation was the leader at 20%. Three categories—laundry chemistry, labor management, and operating costs—tied at 16% each. Sales and marketing was just behind at 14%.

There was another three-way tie between maintenance, different types of equipment, and “other,” each of which garnered 6% of the votes.

Thirty-four percent of survey respondents are planning to attend the 2013 Clean Show, which will offer a wide-ranging agenda of educational seminars. Fifty-four percent are not planning to attend, and the remaining 12% are undecided.

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 – Summer usually brings stormy weather and sometimes flooding, which can cause consternation for the laundry manager or textile rental operator who has to cope with a power outage, blocked road, or another obstacle to keep his or her laundry running.

CHICAGO — During these difficult economic times, positioning a laundry as a valuable service to end-users or clients has never been more important. With that in mind, American Laundry News asked its Wire e-mail subscribers this month if they were actively seeking new business or were satisfied with maintaining the status quo.

CHICAGO — Colder weather that began taking hold this month had to have managers thinking about their natural gas bills. But perhaps recognizing that the economic downturn is driving down energy demand, 75% of respondents to November’s Wire survey say they believe their natural gas bills will be comparable to (40%) or even lower than (35%) last year’s.