In the nearly 20 years I’ve spent in the linen, uniform and facility services industry, there’s one recurring theme that I’ve consistently heard. “We need to improve maintenance performance.” Effort and energy is expended, yet the theme remains. Maintenance must improve. So why then do we fall short so often at something so simple? For all the brain power, time and money expended, why haven’t we seen the improvements in this area that everyone recognizes must occur?

In order to answer that question, I believe we need to understand where we have come from to better understand where we are ...