MMI Celebrates 25th Anniversary
More than 60 maintenance technicians, engineers, maintenance managers and plant managers gathered for TRSA’s 2017 Maintenance Management Institute (MMI) at the Embassy Suites Newark (NJ) Airport Nov. 1-3. An MMI Task Force that includes TRSA operator and associate members developed an excellent agenda for this year’s program, the 25th anniversary of the educational institute.
Attendees started the program by touring three Unitex Healthcare Linen Service plants in Linden and New Brunswick, NJ. In addition to the tours, a plant tour debrief featuring a question-and-answer session with Jim Curiale, Unitex’s director of engineering, gave everyone a chance to discuss what they observed. Curiale was more than willing to share his views on the how’s and why’s of Unitex’s plant designs and builds. Additionally, workplace safety and best practices are always a part of MMI, and this year attendees reviewed OSHA’s top 10 violations and how those issues are related to the laundry industry. Other topics discussed in detail during the three-day event were troubleshooting equipment malfunctions, recruiting and retaining skilled workers, building better working relationships and strategies for resolving vendor conflicts. Considerable time and discussion was devoted to tactics in managing preventative maintenance with minimal resources, as well as inventory and parts control management.
The true value of the MMI program is the networking opportunity amongst attendees. Many attendees to this year’s program are attending the institute for the second, third and fourth time(s), proving the value of the program. Michael Bermea, Mickey’s Linen, said that, “This is my fourth year attending MMI. Each year has provided me with real solutions for real problems that I have. Each year has grown to be better in content and in the professionalism of the presenters. And, those of us who have been here previously are excited to renew our acquaintances and share what we have accomplished since the last time we were together.”
The highlight of MMI is always on the last day. Most of the time is devoted to answering attendees ‘real world’ problems and issues. As one of our panel of experts stated, “In a room of almost 70 laundry people, at least one person has had almost any problem and someone in the room has a solution, or as a collective group, could arrive at possible solutions.”
MMI features plant tours, networking, self-improvement, education and real-world maintenance problem solving. For more information on MMI, visit www.trsa.org/mmi.