Page 2 - Mission Linen - Green from the word "GO"

hotels may process their towels in-house or at a COG specialty laundry. Sheets, however, require ironing and with its seven ironer lines, Mission’s Newark plant is well equipped to process these goods. They do so with an environmen- tally friendly focus as well. The plant’s overall water-use rate (including washer/ extractors) is .79 gallons per lb. In addi- tion, the roof of the new plant is outfitted with 50,000 square feet of solar panels (940 individual cells). at full capacity, this system is expected to generate 20%–30% of the plant’s electricity needs.
The plant is located about 40 minutes southeast of San Francisco, with drive times that vary based on the hour of day and local traffic conditions, Milroy says. He and Augelli believe the plant is ideally
situated to take advantage of a growing market, particularly for processing hos- pitality textiles. Currently, some com- petitors bring goods in from small towns further out from the “City by the Bay.” Others truck it in longer distances, such as from Sacramento. While small com- panies may operate closer to this cus- tomer base, they typically have limited production space. Mission Linen’s com- petitive advantage lies in its large capac- ity and flexible access to the city. “We’re here,” Milroy says. “We’re right down the street. We’re down at the bottom of the bay. We can go this way; we can go that way. There’s multiple ways we can go.”
Both Milroy and Augelli have worked at other Mission plants, including Oxnard,
Chico and Redding, CA. The challenge and opportunity posed by this new fa- cility drew them to apply internally for a chance to manage a new state-of-art laundry. When fully utilized, the plant will employ roughly 130 people. Cur- rently that number is about 70. Many of the recently hired employees are new to the industry. Milroy quips that with some “green” staff he’s had to explain, “This is a napkin.” On the day we visited, more than 40% of the staff had worked only 2-3 weeks. “It’s been a challenge for some,” he adds, but most have adjusted quickly to their jobs. Locating the quali- ty and quantity of staff needed to operate the new plant hasn’t posed any signifi- cant challenges, says Augelli. He credits Mission’s appointment of a staff person who stages continuous weekly job fairs
BELOW: (Clockwise/top left) one of two tunnel washers in the plant; a washer extractor fitted with a tilting funnel allows overhead slings to drop their loads into the machine automatically; a view of the plant’s chemical injection system; on the opening page, an overview of the finshing area of the plant.
June 2018 § Textile SERVICES 25
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