Better Benchmarks Proposed to Quantify Textile Loss, Service Value

TRSA committees on F&B/Hospitality and Industrial/Uniform/Workwear seek TRSA members’ experience with textile life statistics. The committees will distribute polls to rental and laundry service operators to accumulate data to quantify industry norms that can be used in communications with linen and uniform customers.

For example:

Apparent delivery shortfalls. Hotel laundries can benefit from industry averages for percent redelivered of customer-owned goods (COG) following processing. Of particular concern: duvet covers, known for a higher rate of damage by customers than other hotel textiles due to high stain and tear rates.

RFID-tagged items. This technology is recognized as the most effective means for tracking the full lives of items tagged at the onset of their service. An acknowledged, scientific industrywide figure for a particular item (number of turns) can put the onus on a customer when service of the item ceases. If the item is returned repeatedly for processing and lasts for the standard number of turns or more, the customer is off the hook. If it isn’t returned at all during its useful life and the service agreement with the account expires before its prescribed lifespan, the customer can be implicated.

The Industrial/Uniform/Workwear Committee called for such analysis given the preponderance of RFID tags in industrial uniforms compared with other items. The committee will seek data to support this benchmark’s development from TRSA member supplier partners who market RFID and related technology.

Cost per pound of bulk linen items. This measure is viewed as a major contributor to such a rented item’s value.

• One operator may define this term as the sum of just a few of its components, such as an item’s purchase price, depreciated value or processing cost.
• Another will factor in more components, such as the item’s delivery or sales costs.
• Still another might want this figure to reflect every possible component identified in the operation’s income statement.

Developing a standard meaning of cost per pound would facilitate more precise benchmarking between member companies, e.g., apples-to-apples comparison, which would better guide their strategies to improve production and service of each item.

Interested in participating in any of these polls? Contact Ken Koepper at 540.613.5110.