The new facility included
efficiency-enhancing equip- ment with immediate returns anticipated from increased labour efficiencies and reduced environmental
through decreased energy con- sumption. The company says it is now realizing the benefits it anticipated. “Somewhat to our surprise,
many on our team were reluc- tant to leave our previous plant,” said Curtis, “especially those working there since it opened 23 years ago. How- ever, it didn’t take long for them to adjust to the new plant and feedback has been unanimously positive.” Every piece of equipment
was new, and required retrain- ing. Normally, this would slow down productivity in the early stages, but K-Bro imported management members from the other seven plants during the transition to assist in and accelerate the retraining process and avoid service dis- ruptions.
Top: A small portion of the large soil-sort system. Above: Separate section of plant dedicated to housing tunnel-system dryers.
The KOR (short for K-Bro Operating Room) program includes registered nurses with operating room experience as CSRs. They are available by phone or pager 24 hours a day. The program utilizes advanced operating room textiles, such as microfibres and laminated membrane fabrics. State-of- the-art bar code and RF chip technology keeps tabs on the location and usage history of surgical drapes, gowns and uniforms. An online customer service reporting web portal provides each facility manager instant reports on quotas and recent usage. Additional related services
that K-Bro provides its cus- tomers include managing the linen and uniform rooms at many customer health care facil- ities, distribution and collection of linen within health care and hospitality customer sites, and sterilization of OR linen packs.
“Surgical linen packs are
sometimes considered a burden and not given the priority they should have, thereby resulting in a loss of business to dispos- able alternatives,” said Curtis. “However, we strongly believe reusable surgical linen contin- ues to yield significant growth opportunities.”
WHY THE NEW PLANT? The previous plant in Edmon- ton was operating close to 20 hours a day, 365 days a year. A separate small warehouse off- site was used to store new linen, and the corporate office was in another building. “We considered expanding the facil- ity and replacing some of the processing equipment, but it became obvious that building a new, highly automated plant was the best solution for our customers, employees, envi- ronment and long-term sus- tainability,” said Curtis.
12 FABRICARE CANADA July/August 2014
PLANNED REDUNDANCY Hospitals and hotels rely heav- ily on the daily supply of linen, so ensuring an uninterrupted supply to customers is a para- mount goal for K-Bro. The plant has built-in redundancy in its mechanical systems, including standby equipment and the ability to increase the operating hours of the process- ing equipment. “Our goal is to virtual ly el iminate risk of exposure to any single piece of equipment. That, combined with a substantial buffer stock of processed linen and our his- torical track record in this regard, provides our customers with a high level of confi- dence,” said Curtis. The longevity of customer
relat ions is measured in decades for K-Bro. Most of the customers of the Edmonton plant have utilized the com- pany’s services for 25 to 40 years.
ABOUT K-BRO The company uses a three-part strategy to maintain focus. First, they seek to secure and maintain long-term contracts with large health care and hos- pitality customers. Second, they look to expand related services to those customers to
footprint
improve the overall service experience. Third, they seek to identify similar opportunities in other fields that comple- ment their infrastructure with- out compromising service to existing customers. The vast majority of the sen-
ior management team, includ- ing operations managers, gen- eral managers, and even the president , have been wi th K-Bro for 15 to 30 years. “For most of us, K-Bro was
our first full-time job, beginning with entry-level hourly posi- tions,” said Curtis. “We’re a very tight-knit group that knows each other well, includ- ing our individual strengths and weaknesses. The considerable respect we have for each other, combined with immense loyalty, dedication, and fresh perspec- tive from the occasional new addition to our team, results in a very effective synergy.” The example of the manage-
ment team also provides inspira- tion for front-line employees who may consider a long-term career with K-Bro. The com- pany has an ongoing effort to identify and promote such people. “K-Bro has a very talented
and knowledgeable manage- ment team that all played a part in the success of this plant. We really enjoyed work- ing with them all,” said Fer- nandes, who worked wi th K-Bro on the design and equip- ment recommendation. Jensen will also be supplying equip- ment for the new Regina plant. “We are very excited and look- ing forward to building the new facility in Regina with them. It will be equipped with all of the latest technology we have to offer.”
EYE ON THE BALL You don’t grow to become a huge linen supply and launder- ing company in Canada with- out great people working together for shared goals. K-Bro has maintained its core focus on the linen industry, and carved out a large portion of the market in the process. Their website says, “We have resisted the temptation to diversify into other activities.” As the com- pany continues to grow, we look forward to seeing the new innovations and benchmarks that are sure to follow.
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