Each quarter, subscribers to an American laundry news magazine are invited to anonymously take part in an online industry survey. Managers and administrators of institutional/OPL, cooperative, commercial and industrial laundries are all encouraged to participate, in order to define operator opinions and identify industry trends.
After a few difficult years, the most recent survey indicates that the laundry and linen services industry has an overall positive attitude towards business in 2023. When asked for one’s laundry operation outlook in 2023, 50% of respondents indicate “good”, with 9% giving an excellent outlook.
Some of the reasons given for these outlooks include:
- Improving productivity and customer loyalty have started to pay dividends.
- Volume has been increasing from the hospital organizations.
- Adaptation to inflationary influences and forecasting of expenses now lead to appropriate implementation of cost controls.
- Increased hospital census/expansions will drive demand for linen and challenge both COG (customer-owned goods) vendor and laundry services.
- Continued cooperation with provider/processor for operational efficiency and product distribution.
When asked about their laundry’s No. 1 priority for the coming year, 26.1% of respondents say both “retain/improve staff” and “maintain present level of business.” More than 21% want to increase productivity, and 17.4% are looking to attract more business.
