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April 10, 2012
Survey: Desired Continuing Ed Includes Energy Conservation, Chemistry, Others

CHICAGO — Half of respondents have received industry-specific training

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.

March 8, 2011
Survey: Finishing Equipment at Top of Clean Show Attendees’ Want-to-See List

CHICAGO — Nearly 60% of respondents to March’s Wire survey say they are planning to attend Clean ’11 in Las Vegas, while another 17% are unsure at this point.

Approximately 24% of those responding to American Laundry News’ unscientific survey say they will not be attending the biennial event slated for June 6-9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Roughly 17% of those staying home say they are sending another member or members of their staff.

January 11, 2011
Survey: Building on Quality Staff, Increasing Productivity Among Top Priorities This Year

CHICAGO — The beginning of a new year offers us a clean slate, a fresh opportunity to set goals. Making a New Year’s resolution is a common tradition, and half of the respondents to January’s Wire survey say they have made resolutions for 2011 and another 20% are thinking about it.

CHICAGO — The beginning of a new year offers us a clean slate, a fresh opportunity to set goals. Making a New Year’s resolution is a common tradition, and half of the respondents to January’s Wire survey say they have made resolutions for 2011 and another 20% are thinking about it.

December 14, 2010
Survey: 50% of Operators Say 2010 Throughput Better Than Expected

CHICAGO — Fifty percent of respondents to American Laundry News’ final Wire survey for 2010 said their laundry’s poundage this year was “much higher” (7.7%) or “somewhat higher” (42.3%) in comparison to 2009 figures.

Approximately 23% reported processing “virtually the same amount,” 15.4% reported processing “somewhat less,” and the remaining 11.5% lamented processing “much less.”

June 8, 2010
Survey: Most Operators Cooperate to Prevent Service Interruptions

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.

February 9, 2010
Survey: Being Unreliable Is Quickest Way to Get on Manager’s Nerves

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

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.

July 21, 2009
Survey: Respondents Give Clean ’09 Mostly High Marks

CHICAGO — Nearly 91% of respondents to July’s unscientific Wire survey said they attended Clean ’09 in New Orleans, and nearly 70% of them reported being “fully satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their experience as a whole.

June 16, 2009
Survey: Cross-Training Employees Is Commonplace, Generates Cost Savings

CHICAGO — It isn’t often that a management practice gets universal support or opposition, but cross-training is an issue everyone can agree upon, based on the results of June’s Wire survey.

Every industry professional who took American Laundry News’ unscientific survey said employees are cross-trained under their supervision so they can perform various laundry/linen service tasks.

April 21, 2009
Survey: Vast Majority of Wire Respondents Seeking Business in Trying Times

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.

December 15, 2008
Survey: 2008 Throughput Exceeds Previous Year’s Total for Many

CHICAGO — When asked to compare their laundry’s poundage this year to its 2007 throughput, more than 60% of those who responded to the final Wire survey of 2008 said it was “much higher than anticipated” (12.9%) or “somewhat higher than anticipated” (48.4%).

Approximately 19% reported processing “somewhat less than anticipated,” 12.9% reported processing “virtually the same as anticipated,” and the remaining 6.5% lamented processing “much less than anticipated.”

October 20, 2008
Managers, Operators Place Great Importance on Continuing Education, Survey Says

CHICAGO — Many managers and operators polled in the October Wire survey place great importance on continuing education, based on the number who said they have received training or certification, attended educational sessions and/or read industry trade magazines.

June 16, 2008
Survey: Managers Working More Hours Today Than Five Years Ago

CHICAGO — Sixty percent of laundry managers who responded to June’s Wire survey say they’re working more hours today than five years ago and spending much of their time overseeing production and quality control, performing supervisory duties and enforcing rules and regulations.

Twenty-four percent say they’re working about the same amount of time, and 16% say they’re actually working less.

May 19, 2008
Survey: 70% of Wire Respondents Feeling Effects of U.S. Economic Downturn

CHICAGO — Whether you believe the United States is in recession or not, there are many signs of economic weakening. A sizable majority of respondents to this month’s Wire survey say the sluggish U.S. economy has adversely impacted their laundry/linen operation or textile rental services business in the last 12 months.

March 22, 2007
Survey: Production Standards Commonplace, Yet Not All Workers Privy to Data

CHICAGO — More than three-quarters of managers responding to March’s Wire survey (76.5%) say their laundry has established production standards that each employee must meet but only 58.8% say they regularly make production data available to employees so they can compare their work to the standard.

Information related to several operational aspects is gathered regularly and analyzed by virtually every respondent, according to results of our unscientific survey.

October 19, 2006
Survey: Vast Majority of Respondents Play Some Role in Maintenance

CHICAGO — Nearly 80% of laundry managers and administrators responding to this month's Wire survey say they perform some level of basic equipment maintenance in their laundry.

About 1 in 10 respondents say their laundry's maintenance efforts have actually backfired at some point, requiring repairs or even replacement.