TRSA concluded its 33rd Annual Professional Management Institute (PMI) on Aug. 10 at the University of Maryland. The PMI curriculum provided attendees with a mixture of industry-specific education in a classroom setting, as well as hands-on experience through a pair of plant tours, culminating with Session II PMI students taking the Certified Professional Laundry Manager (CPLM) exam.
Both sessions kicked off the week with lectures and group exercises covering topics specific to the linen, uniform and facility services industry such as soil sort, wash-aisle equipment, scheduling and managing workflow, managing quality control and production efficiency, safety awareness, inventory control, customer service, training and development, coaching and mentoring, employee retention, budgeting and return-on-investment (ROI), and more. To see how these best practices work in the field, both sessions of PMI students embarked on plant tours on Aug. 9. PMI Session I students visited the Alsco Uniforms facility in Lanham, MD, while Session II attendees visited Mayflower Laundry & Linen in Belcamp, MD.
Alsco’s facility in Lanham provides cleaning and processing for linens, workwear, and hygiene and well-being services to Maryland, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia. The production facility is 84,000 square feet and processes more than 125,000 lbs. of laundry each day. Mayflower’s Belcamp location is an 80,000-square-foot healthcare facility that processes approximately 550,000 lbs. of laundry per week. During the tour of the Mayflower facility, PMI Session II attendees got a glimpse of the soil-sort area with a full ETech soil-sort system, wash aisle with three 12-module Pellerin Milnor PulseFlow® tunnel washers and 18 Pellerin Milnor dryers, a receiving area/loading dock and operating room (OR) pack-processing area.
On the final day of this year’s PMI program, Session I attendees received certificates in the classroom from PMI Dean Jon Witschy for completing the first half of the program. Session II attendees took the CPLM exam to get their individual certification, and received their certificate and recognition at the Annual EMI/PMI Graduation Dinner on Aug. 10 at the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center. At the ceremony, Michael McCarthy, a safety & production specialist at Alsco Uniforms, gave a brief speech on behalf of the Session I attendees. Chris Thompson, a regional manager for G.A. Braun Inc., spoke on behalf of the graduating class. Thompson noted that he leaves the program feeling “inspired and invigorated, with a number of true friends and confidants that will share what they can to help each other along the way.”
Witschy, a longtime executive in the linen, uniform and facility services industry, who recently departed for a role with a company that provides services to vacation rental owners and operators, shared his thoughts on the PMI program. “I already missed this crowd because I’ve come back after departing the industry, but it’s been in my blood for 30 years,” Witschy said. “I’m excited that it continues to grow, and I wish everyone luck in the future both with this organization and with this particular training session, and with their careers.”
For more information about PMI, visit www.trsa.org/pmi.
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