Page 3 - Mission Linen - Green from the word "GO"

ABOVE: (Clockwise from upper left) A tank stores sludge prior to drying and removal to a certified landfill; a view of the monitor that tracks the plant’s high-pressure ceramic water filtering/recycling system; on the roof is a section of solar panels used to generate electricity from the sun; clean wet goods await processing; the adjustable scissor-lift tables below the slings help cushion the weight of the textile goods.
and other outreach efforts to identify prospective employees. “We have a re- cruiter,” he says. “She’s a full-time em- ployee. That’s all she does, all day, is find ways to bring in good quality candidates that we can bring on board to keep up with the growth and to staff the place.”
Even in a booming economy like the Bay Area, quality staff are available, Augelli says, if you apply a systematic approach to hiring. “It’s an everyday process, but as long as you stay on top of it we haven’t seen too many issues with not finding quality, available candidates.”
Milroy adds that an upside of the plant’s mostly inexperienced staff is that it gives management an opportunity to train people to operate safely and efficiently. Most don’t have to “unlearn” bad habits from previous laundry jobs, he says, and that’s helpful. “Everybody’s ‘green,’” he says, “So now we get to try and start a plant like Matt and I have done at two different plants. That’s trying to re- shape the culture, and it’s nothing that we’re not used to. But that’s the nice thing about here. We got to start fresh and implement the things we wanted to implement.”
TRAINING AND SAFETY
You notice that safety is one of the plans that the management team gives priori- ty treatment to when you see every em- ployee on the production floor wearing a hard had. Augelli says Mission Linen emphasizes personal protective equip- ment (PPE) more than some companies do, but that’s really just the beginning of its safety focus.
Safety training is continuous for all pro- duction employees, and their suggestions for helping to reduce workplace hazards are strongly encouraged. “As a compa- ny, we’re very safety oriented,” Augelli says. “We have a corporate safety man- ager who comes and oversees the pro- gram. Just like any Mission location, we have certain safety topics that we rotate throughout the year and we’re constant- ly updating.” The plant staff regularly review a range of issues, depending on
26 Textile SERVICES § June 2018
PLANT