In the keynote address made at Gulf Laundrex Linen Care expo held in Dubai in November last year, Victor Bastian, Assistant Vice President-Linencraft stated that fostering open, free and transparent communication with various stakeholders is the way forward.
WITH 20 million visitors expected by 2020 and the related infrastructure investment and growth of tourism industry, Middle-East region is in an enviable position.
The present imminent growth and the opportunities demand that we must come together and think strategically if we are to benefit. We must not operate in isolation, if we want to maximize what the industry can take out of this growth.
With the population growing at the pace it is, the demand for laundering services in all business verticals is set to further increase. In fact, laundering demand is set to double in the UAE.
The laundry industry is diverse, fragmented and many of us work in isolation. As laundries have steadily increased their through puts, so have textile choices and linen specifications for the customer. This has put a strain on industrial laundries. Quality has become the key link between the customer, laundry and textile suppliers – this is to achieve maximum value for guest satisfaction. Traditionally, the customer, laundry and textile suppliers have all competed with each other.
Until recently, there has been no concrete and coordinated effort across the businesses to deliver textile choices and results that lead to sustainability of the entire value chain. We’re each striving to optimize our own businesses, which in isolation leads to wasted time, energy, and financial resources in the value chain.
There needs to be a paradigm shift in the entire industry wherein the interests and limitations of all stakeholders are taken into consideration. This should include the overall guest experience and satisfaction. We must break down the barriers between the various stakeholders, and that we develop a true and transparent environment. It requires insight into our customers’ performance parameters and their measurement yardsticks, so we respect their challenges. It requires cross-company, cross-industry, and cross-cultural insight to find opportunities within the value chain – based on mutual integrity and trust, proven over time.
Customers are an integral part of our business, and meeting if not exceeding their expectations by default is our priority. Thus, strong customer relations are key to our industry. In our desire to create a positive image and to increase our customer base, we tend to offer value-added benefits which are often not in our scope of services.
Shorter turnaround time, laundry privileges such as FOCs and discounts, longer credit periods, providing cages and stationery or in-house logistics support by way of manpower resources are examples of these benefits. All these are now being considered a norm by our customers, and a requirement.
With the current market dynamics and cost control measures in place there could well be a tendency to compromise on quality and service levels, while striving to provide service over and above what has been standard in the past.
The industry is so focused on enhancing customer expectations and service levels that we often neglect our own shareholders. The progressive customer expectations have put an enormous strain on the industry – to deliver. Whilst the industry must acknowledge that standards have been on the rise it must be acknowledged also, that costs have risen too.
Costing our services continues to be a major challenge, globally. To counter the challenges facing the industry we are innovating and falling back on higher levels of automation and other areas of efficiency improvements. But can our share holders continue to invest in the businesses in the current market dynamics and is it fair?
One way to sustain our businesses is to factor in all costs pertaining to the scope of services and appropriately price our services.
Of course, we as laundry service providers operate in an environment where damages, linen losses and colour run are increasingly being attributed to us. When in doubt, the service providers should fall back on a third party professional lab for analysis and clarification.
But how many of us utilize these tools at our disposal? Either we are not aware or we shy away due to the costs of these professional services.
We need to be firm in balancing ‘the customer is always right’ attitude with the need to reduce blame and cost being placed on the industry for issues out of our control.
Lowering of linen specifications due to broader market conditions is putting an enormous strain on the laundry industry. While there are cost benefits in the short-term, there are long-term implications too – for cost, reputation and so on.
We can influence purchasing decisions and, more easily protect our reputations by assessing complaints and seeking clarification, rather than simply accepting blame.
The laundry industry supports the hospitality, healthcare, institutional organizations and not the least, the retail industry. Could these organizations operate without the support of the laundry industry?
Well, providing clean laundry and garments in tight time frames is considered a norm – and fair enough many would say.
It is only at times when there is a disruption in services, usually due to plant failures, that the importance of the laundry industry comes to light. Rooms cannot be sold and or serviced.
Despite the challenges I’ve mentioned, the industry has come a long way since I got involved 20 years ago. It was just a couple of decades ago that we used to operate manual washing machines, standalone extractors, manually feed tape ironers. Our industry has historically been associated with high labour. Over the years, the industry has been transformed – and continues to be. Shop floor personnel who operate equipment have largely benefitted from the introduction and continued evolution of laundry technology. Environmental issues are being addressed through this technology and that’s welcome, not only due to the obvious reduction in the environmental impact but also the real financial benefits that good environmental performance provides.
The advancements have helped achieve higher shop floor efficiencies, increased production and enhanced quality levels.
Today the region has some state – of – the – art laundries that can compete on quality with any other region, and this is complimented by other cutting edge technology,like management software solutions, mobile apps, which further boost the industry’s quest for innovation to enhance its services and to maintain business viability through enhancing efficiency targets.
Safety and sustainability are key areas of focus and drivers of the need to innovate and seek continuous improvement. The focus currently is on efficiencies and laundry plants are designed to reduce the overall costs.
Reducing consumption of natural energy resources, lowering carbon foot prints, association with eco-friendly chemical suppliers and water recycling are some of the sustainable solutions also delivering long-term cost benefits.
Several laundries are still however associated with the high use of natural resources and continued investment needs to be made to address this. It is these key areas of focus that will help improve perception of our industry, as environmental performance is undoubtedly the key consideration in future.
While technology is transformative, the truth is our industry as it currently stands, remains a labour intensive industry. Our teams, largely due to the region we operate in, often work in a challenging environment for most part of the year which restricts higher productivity.
One cannot deny that the majority of our teams are passionate and dedicated. They often proactively deal with challenges to ensure that customers get the very best. Surely we can do more to acknowledge and reward their performances – as this goes hand in hand with achieving the reputation and standing in the community that we would all like.
The way forward for the industry is to engage and unite, diversify by exploring newer avenues of revenue generation and introduce the linen leasing model. The current model of COG, through beneficial in creating a distinct identity, has its pitfalls in efficiencies and in managing a sustainable business model for the laundries.
Technological Transformations & Paradigm Shift
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