TRSA Hosts First Middle East Advisory Meeting

Posted October 30, 2020 at 11:28 am



TRSA hosted its first Middle East Advisory Meeting on Oct. 28 to identify objectives and initiatives for its new Middle East Chapter. Opportunity abounds in the Middle East for TRSA to support flat linen and workwear laundries that can benefit from programs that increase laundry professionalism, meeting participants agreed. They see high potential for these laundries to adopt and achieve hygiene and textile quality standards, which the region currently lacks.

TRSA will address this challenge initially by emphasizing its Hygienically Clean certifications and on-demand learning. TRSA member RNT General Trading (Rent-a-Towel) is managing the new chapter, including certification administration and inspection. High demand from on-premises laundries (OPLs) is expected for the Hygienically Clean Healthcare and Hygienically Clean Hospitality (hotel) certifications. With the region’s food industry beginning to embrace Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) protocols, future demand is anticipated from the region’s outsourced laundries for the Hygienically Clean Food Safety and Hygienically Clean Food Service certifications.

Meeting participants indicated that COVID-19 has increased conscientiousness of the importance of effective commercial laundering. They forecast that importing TRSA expertise on best practices and performance metrics in the region will increase hospitals’ and hotels’ appreciation for professional laundry tactics. Initially, TRSA will promote the Certified Laundry Professional Manager (CPLM) and Production Management Certificate self-study programs.

The Middle East Advisory will help guide chapter growth by identifying initiatives such as standards development and promotion of the industry, as well as development education and training, best practices webinars and events. The TRSA Middle East Chapter is working with Middle East Cleaning Technology Week and Messe Frankfurt to promote this conference, rescheduled for Sept. 28-30, 2021. The chapter plans to contribute conference content, exhibit and host its first event there.

See the chapter website for more details. Anyone interested in serving on the Advisory Board can contact Ken Koepper at (+1) 703.519.0029, ext. 109. Meeting participants included:

  • Alliance Laundry Systems: Tim Bacon
  • Diversey: Nikos Pastros
  • Ecolab: Giannis Giannopapas, Raghu Harihar
  • Messe Frankfurt/Middle East Cleaning Technology Week: Shyam Parmar
  • Natronic: Ali Najmechi, Mohammad Sohail, Mohamad AbdAlwahid
  • RNT: Ram Mohan, Narayanan Raghavan (Chapter Managers)
  • TRSA: Ken Koepper, Joseph Ricci

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