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American Laundry News - February 2013

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FEBRuary 2013

Late News AmeriPride Services acquires Plus Linen and Uniform Services MINNEAPOLIS — AmeriPride Services, which supplies linen and uniform rental services in North America, has acquired PLUS Linen and Uniform Services, headquartered in Canton, N.C. The Canton production facility and its service centers in Charlotte and Greenville will now operate as a wholly owned and fully functional AmeriPride branch. “Plus is a great fit for our company,” says AmeriPride President/CEO Bill Evans. “This acquisition expands our geographic territory in the area and supports our efforts to grow profitably. Our work over the past few years has established a solid foundation for growth, and that includes strategic acquisitions in our key markets.” AmeriPride does not plan to make any major changes to PLUS in the foreseeable future and is keeping the branch open at full capacity under the “PLUS” name. Most employees and management have agreed to stay on board, including Kevin Lowery, who becomes the branch’s general manager. PLUS is a fourth-generation family business that was founded in the 1920s by M.C. Sprinkle and owned and operated by the family for more than 90 years. The family considered several potential buyers before selecting AmeriPride. “The similarities between our two companies and the personal connections we made with their management team sealed the deal for us,” Lowery says. ALN

Volume 39, Number 2

Faultless Healthcare Linen strengthens production capacity through new facility By Carlo Calma ST. LOUIS — Companies face various challenges in a given year. But for Faultless Healthcare Linen, a Kansas City, Mo.-based healthcare textile laundry company, the challenge of taking on more business was considered a “good problem.” So much so that the company’s “good problem” led to the opening of a new $12 million, 103,000-square-foot facility in St. Louis. “We were awarded a significant amount of business from the Barnes-Jewish Christian (BJC) Healthcare System in St. Louis, and we needed to create more capacity to accommodate that business and to be able to continue to grow,” explains Faultless CEO Susan Witcher. Located at 1615 N. 25th Street, Faultless Linen’s newest facility opened its doors last summer, and has enabled the company to process 17 million pounds of healthcare textiles annually to date,

The E-Tech soil-sort area at the new Faultless Healthcare Linen plant. (Photos supplied by Faultless Healthcare Linen/American Laundry Systems)

serving 470 customer accounts, the company says. The company reached out to Gerard O’Neill of American Laundry Systems to design the plant, after having worked with O’Neill on a previous facility. “Having worked with Gerard

“The two primary focal points in the design were energy efficiency and production efficiency,” she adds. Though the new facility has boosted the company’s production See FAULTLESS on Page 6

Reversing the disposables trend How education is increasing use of reusable surgical textiles By Nancy Jenkins MISSION, Kan. — Since the 1960s, when disposable products first appeared in hospitals, the textile services industry has fought a largely losing battle against disposables for market share. But the current focus on sustainability, combined with education, is starting to make a difference in how healthcare pro-

fessionals view reusable textiles. The American Reusable Textile Association (ARTA) recently conducted its second webinar for Practice Greenhealth—a nonprofit association dedicated to helping hospitals operate in more sustainable ways—on the benefits of reusable surgical textiles. The information from that webinar and other ARTA resources is presented here. Making Case for Reusables

According to a survey of its 114 member hospitals, Practice Greenhealth finds that U.S. hos-

pital patients generate about 33.8 pounds of waste each day. As of 2008, there were 951,045 staffed hospital beds in the States, according to the American Hospital Association. Therefore, it can conservatively be calculated that U.S. hospitals produce nearly 6 million tons of garbage each year. In addition, 78% of hospitals designate medical waste as infectious; 53% of medical waste is comprised of single-use disposable items1; and the biggest source of medical refuse — the operating room (OR) — churns out roughly 20-30% of a hospital’s waste.

www.americanlaundrynews.com

Inside Healthcare in 20 Years

Eric Frederick offers his predictions of healthcare in the year 2033.

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on our last plant in 2005, we found him to be an excellent resource,” says Witcher. “His involvement facilitates an efficient process through every phase of the project, from plant design, RFPs and vendor selection, infrastructure, installation, through start-up.”

The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) agrees in an article featured in its journal that states, “using reusable products provides a means to decrease regulated medical waste generated in the OR by an average of 65%, as well as reduce the cost of waste disposal.”2 Cost-Effective, Safe and Sustainable

Those who have worked in healthcare for more than 30 years may remember the reusable gowns See REVERSING on Page 18

The Newspaper of Record for Laundry & Linen Management

[4]

Panel of Experts

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[12]

Methods to stem the flow of sharps returning with the soiled linen.

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