Supplier Research: Initial Step to Wider Adoption of AI Capabilities

To what degree are artificial intelligence capabilities currently deployed in providing linen, uniform and facility services? How might this expand – and when? TRSA’s Industrial, Uniform & Workwear Committee seeks to answer with a two-part survey process, beginning with a questionnaire sent to the supplier partner members most likely to provide such capabilities in their products and services.

The committee distributed this first survey June 2-3 to more than 80 supplier partner members to get a quick read on how they facilitate linen and uniform service operators’ AI use. Results will help shape future questionnaires for operator companies. This process is expected to guide them in AI investment based on available technologies and how well these address their individual business priorities.

Initially, the committee seeks to determine which technologies reported in the supplier survey are most widely used and have the most potential for short- and long-term impact.

Suppliers of the following products and services received the early June survey: boiler room, chemistry, construction, consulting, finance, machinery, material handling and software. These account for about two thirds of TRSA supplier partner members. Those who did not receive the questionnaire are in dust control, facility services, uniforms and other soft goods. Any TRSA supplier partners, especially companies in these excluded categories, can respond by requesting a blank survey form from TRSA’s Director of Member and Industry Relations Ken Koepper.

Responding will enable suppliers to testify to their production of AI capabilities in their products and services. Following National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) guidelines, these capabilities are categorized as:

• Machine Learning
• Vision Systems
• Natural Language Processing
• Generative AI
• Large and/or Small Language Models
• Edge AI
• Agentic AI
• Causal AI
• Physical AI

A glossary defining these terms accompanied the questionnaire and gave examples of products in services used in the industry that deploy these capabilities. Committee Vice Chair Marien van Bezooijen, CEO, ABS Laundry Business Solutions, leads the task force driving the research.