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As a guide to textile rental companies in the decade ahead, Textile Rental asked members of the TRSA Executive Committee what they thought the industry's prospects for The Eighties might be. These textile rental leaders are well qualified to have a feel for the years ahead because the group has been hard at work this fall preparing a long-range plan for the association. The results of their efforts, made in concert with TRSA staff, consultant Robert Swift, and the TRSA Board of Directors, is published beginning on page 46. Here, however, are their individual opinions answering the question, "What are our prospects for The Eighties?" WILLIAM GENEMATAS, TRSA president, Marathon Linen Service, Detroit.  On
Oct. 24, President Carter created a commission for the "National
Agenda for the 80's," a group which could have eventually a hundred
members and a budget of $2 to $3 million annually. Its purpose is to make
recommendations for dealing with problems of the '80s, such as inflation,
energy, domestic issues, etc. This is a very formidable and ambitious
undertaking.
In this connection, I would like to suggest that each one of us tackle the same formidable question. What does the next decade hold in store for our industry? Population trends that shaped the '70s will be equally important in the next decade. Changes in families, in regional migrations, and in the age structure of society — all will have major effects on business and life styles. There have been a few predictions about what population changes will take place. If we focus on just one prediction by Vincent Barabba in a speech made recently to the American Council of Life Insurance Companies during a meeting in Chicago, we can focus on certain probable changes. He said, "In the next decade the U.S. population should grow by about 21 million. In the last ten years it has increased about 17 million to a total, now, of 222 million people. Migration to the south and the west will continue in the '80s. The fastest growing age group in the next ten years will be that from 25 to 44 years old which should increase about 42 per cent. Finally, the group 65 and older will increase by another five million." This means that the increase to our population of about 10 per cent will take place primarily in the age groups that have the greatest effect on our economy. That is, the group from 25 to 44 years of age. This means that the market for uniforms that had expanded very rapidly in the last ten years will undoubtedly continue in the future and even perhaps at a greater rate of growth. The same applies to other areas of our service that have expanded rapidly, namely, the linen rental business as concerned with food merchandising. Of course, the growing amount of hospital and institutional business that is developing within the textile rental service industry, both in Europe as well as North America, will continue to grow. Our Japanese members, as well as those in Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the world, may not have a similar picture. As this point, it behooves me to confess that I am not very confident in attempting to foretell or hazard a guess as to what will be happening. In the absence of a similar research commission and a $2 or $3 million annual budget, the most I can do is examine the facts as they exist today and attempt to see in what direction they may suggest we are headed. If we notice weaknesses, it is a good time to determine how we can correct the weaknesses. It is also worthwhile to determine the worst that might happen and have a fall-back position or alternate plan for the future. In the United States, the various governmental regulatory bodies have already established their firm grip on industry, including our own service industry facilities. Clean water, clean air, safety, working regulations, conservation of natural resources, increased social benefits, and protection for society have already reduce( profits and regulated a goo deal of our business. PRODUCTIVITY A CLUE Elsewhere in the world, our industry members may say socialism has restricted the in creased productivity of workers and they may say that they expect the trend to continue. If these facts don't change, they will have a definite influence on the next ten years. For instance, in the United States, we already have a condition in which cotton mills are reducing the content of cotton in fabrics because of difficulties in removing lint from the air in work areas. This means a greater percentage of synthetics in garment apparel and other items we rent and service. This, along with the rising cost and increased shortage of oil, will cause steep material cost increases, which, in turn, can mean changes in processing equipment or at the least, modification of processing techniques. As it is now, many plants are confronted with two different processing techniques. One process concerns all-cotton items and the other concerns blended items. A third is shaping rather rapidly and which concerns 100 per cent synthetic items. The condition in Europe conducive to the development of new and highly production machinery as the only logic. direction to go in order to in crease productivity. An outcome is a tendency to discourage the formation of small textile rental service companies. In North America, conditions aren't quite the same. Companies have not been buying as much new, productive equipment. This is partially true because management techniques, along with the cooperation of unions and the use of incentive plans, have been able t encourage increases in productivitvy. New capital, by necessity has been earmarked for equipment needed to comply with environmental protective regulations such as waste water treatment, air pollution, and environmental safety factors. This means that machinery manufacturers will have tremendous challenge to produce smaller and more efficient equipment that won't be too expensive. A common situation for every member of our industry concerns energy. This, above all, will have the most effect on the future of our industry for the next decade. The necessity to decrease the frequency of deliveries will mean increased investment in inventories. In turn, the management and control of these larger inventories will necessitate a greater concentration and development of monitoring systems for proper usage and return on investment. Washing formulas will undoubtedly be geared to processing at lower average temperatures, which will mean changes in chemical supplies. In some areas of North America, electrical energy developed from coal may be more economical than natural gas and oil. There may be a market for equipment that uses electricity in certain areas. The use of more synthetics or even 100 per cent synthetic items will mean less energy needed in the finishing process; however, this will not be enough. The next decade should see the development of new and more efficient methods of drying and finishing. It appears that older companies in the U.S. will be looking into capital investments in newer and more efficient boilers, and/or thermal fluid equipment. Greater attention should be spent on the insulation of processing equipment. Because of the need to restrict the use of motor vehicles, the structure of a main plant and depots may have to be altered. Small, regional facilities may begin to develop in contrast to large, central processing plants. This trend is being advocated in some circles in the British textile service industry and a few companies have already advocated this policy on this side of the ocean. Along these same lines, it may become unprofitable for restaurants, country clubs, motels, and other concerns to operate on-premise laundries the cost of energy may be an impelling reason for their discontinuance. This could bring a substantial amount of business back to our industry. Generally, what happens in one part of the world in the next ten years can also happen in the rest of it. The trend for governments, along with outside investors in many European countries, to invest in large laundry facilities could happen in the United States and Canada. In turn, outside of North America, companies in textile rental service may have not begun to feel the effects of government regulations pertaining to protection of the environment. Regulations pertaining to clean air, clean water and environmental safety protection will cause drastic changes in textile rental service companies elsewhere just as they now affect companies in Canada and the United States. By necessity, I must direct my closing remarks to members in the United States. While everything said before must be recognized as an effort on my part to probe and make us think of what might be happening everywhere, what I want to say now has to do only with my own country. WHERE'S NATIONAL PRIDE We in the United States have the ability to bring cohesion and a national consensus to focus on our problems. I believe that we must do so because the next ten years may be perhaps our most dangerous. In the terms of a newer generation, we must get our act together. The first step is to regain some of the national pride we have allowed to slip from us. In our desire and inclination to try and be all things to all problems, we have undertaken tremendous responsibilities to protect our environment and conserve our national resources. We have done so with noble intent, but the by-product of hasty and over-regulation is hurting our greatest economic asset, our free enterprise system. Our government can not solve the problems that its own regulations have created. All businesses can not solve these problems. It appears to me that some of the regulations must be slackened and we must expect slower progress in some of our altruistic efforts. In addition, we must reduce our dependency on foreign oil or face a slow-down of economic growth. We are very fortunate, in my opinion, because we do have oil and gas reserves on this continent. It now seems apparent to me that government policies have not permitted or stimulated the free economy to develop these resources. Whether we attempt to utilize the vast reserves of coal or whether we recognize the fact that we can still bring out of the ground adequate supplies of gas and oil for the next decade we must put together some energy policy. All of us are traveling through space in the same vehicle with only so much oil, gas, and coal on board. Even if we do have adequate supplies of these items for the present, within the North American continent, we, along with the other passengers, must practice conservation. My opinion is that we should be using more natural fibers for making cloth — not more of the materials we need for energy use. We in the textile rental service industry in the United States can be effective. We are large users of energy and therefore should assume some responsibility in our current political environment to bring about a definite energy policy. Unfortunately, our industry is and will continue to be one of the first to be affected when gasoline, natural gas, and oil become scarce. There is no other single, more important problem that we should concentrate on than this one. An old saying is probably true today. That is, correct our problems at home and undoubtedly we will have corrected some of the problems of our neighbors. BERNARD GITLOW, Rentex Services Corp., Philadelphia.  The
industry today is on a plateau. However, by taking advantage of the fact
that we are a recycling industry, I think we can enjoy growth in the next
decade. Service industries are growing restaurants, hotels, and
entertainment among them and these are industries we serve.
I think the association can play an important role in regard to our recycling strength, particularly government-wise. I see no one area in which the potential is greater than others — hotels/motels, hospitals, restaurant, garments — each has more for us in the future. As far as the association is concerned, I feel that members should back it more strongly through participation, especially in the political arena. Our grass-roots efforts should be realized on both local and national levels. TRSA must now spread its wings and cover all aspects of the industry, representing every segment for its members. RUSSELL GREAVER, Mission Linen Supply, Santa Barbara, Calif.  The
Eighties is beginning with a belt-tightening year. We're going to have to
start the decade clearing up a lot of things we've taken for granted,
energy conservation being the most prominent.
Our businesses will be more capital-invested in the future and less labor oriented. The new fabrics are going to make on-premise laundries an easier alternative for people so we must push hard the concept of a service industry. I think service is our strong suit and that we should advertise more than ever before to see that the public knows it. LESLIE SPERO, United Service Co., Youngstown, Ohio.  It's
a time of great challenge and I see as our principal goal finding out how
to keep internal costs going down in the face of rampant inflation.
Without any deterioration of services or greater sales, we have taken a hard look within our own company and done several things to achieve our goal. I suppose the savings we re realizing are things that should have been going on all the time, but in a period of general business expansion, habits and routines are geared to ever-increasing sales with little policing of waste. We've found that four ten-hour days make a better work week for our routes, and it's especially saving for long distance routes. We've reduced mileage substantially which also conserves gasoline. Also, we find we're making better use of vehicles — there's always an extra truck, which helps in maintaining the fleet. The program has had good acceptance and our unions have been cooperative. Also, we have to be very sensitive about increasing our selling price — we could soon price ourselves out of the market. It's got to be in the area of cost reduction. Since the cost of money, is such a significant factor, we're doing much closer monitoring of accounts. In fact, we've spent a lot of money in order to beef up our controls. We now have a service charge for unpaid bills. In this way we're not charging good customers for the irresponsibility of bad ones. We also add a surcharge for increased energy costs. These are more palatable to customers than a price hike and we've had little resistance because we're merely passing on energy costs. I think TRSA's five-year plan is something that can be used as a model for individual companies. Each operator should take a close look at it and restructure it in terms of his own problems. It provides a good starting point. 
DON STRUMINGER, Mohenis Services, Petersburg, Va. The prospects for our industry in The Eighties are excellent. I believe this because our industry has become professional and we have learned the ingredients of what it takes. I would define those ingredients as:
And, I believe there's a definite need for our services. One of the most important problems that it is essential to overcome is not knowing costs. We must accurately determine our costs in order to price our product properly in order to obtain a return on our investment that justifies being in business. JERRY TONNER, Superior Linen Supply, Valparaiso, Ind. My thoughts about The Eighties are of high optimism. I have seen a much higher degree of professionalism and quality in our industry over the past eight years. I see The Eighties as an era of "specialization." I judge this observation from my participation at the TRSA booth at the annual National Restaurant Association show. When I first volunteered to spend some time with the TRSA. staff at the NRA show I was quite concerned what owners and managers of the restaurant industry were saying about our industry. These comments were from all parts of the United States. Believe me, they were not good. I heard complaints about poor quality, poor delivery, poor relationships with their textile rental supplier and they often made the remark, "I can't get that from my supplier" What they were saying is that the quality and professionalism which we displayed at the NRA show was a hoax and no way could they dress their tables the way we were showing at the TRSA booth in Chicago. After one day working at the TRSA 1)00th I was ready to "hang it up. It is hard to describe what happened in just eight years. I have participated at the NRA show since 1971 and today it is a pleasure to work the booth. The over-all bad complaints are almost nonexistent and no longer do I feel uneasy in representing our industry to the restaurant trade. Our industry did indeed come a long way in just eight years to upgrade its image and quality with the restaurant industry. This came about through specialization. We gave the restaurant people what they wanted and in turn they gave us what we wanted. Today our industry has regressed as to the number of pieces rented in almost all of our market segments except the restaurant industry. It is estimated that from 1972 to 1977 the number of tablecloths and napkins rented has increased by 41 per cent, while the back of the house remained virtually unchanged. The restaurant industry is experiencing a 25 per cent actual growth and during The Eighties the textile rental industry should grow along with this trend. Specialization on the part of the textile rental supplier and the ability of associate members to produce the goods has made this growth possible I believe our industry has come to grips with itself and recognizes the merits of specialization. Specialization is what saved our dilemma with the restaurant industry. It is my thinking that if the textile rental industry and its associate members cooperate in giving the customers what they want, we will see significant gains, not only in the restaurant industry but in all other areas of the hospitality field, as well as the hospital and industrial uniform market areas. Being an optimist, I disregard the reports I hear that the average American believes the past was better than the present and that the future will be worse. I believe the past was great and the future will be greater still. |