Adapting to change


Christeyns talk to Joanne Somers of Celtic Linen about her new role, the recent challenges, and what the future holds.


It’s been a momentous year for Joanne Somers, Chief Executive of Wexford-based Celtic Linen. Despite 24 years with the company, nothing could have prepared her for the impact that the Coronavirus pandemic has had on the business.


Celtic Linen was set up over 90 years ago as a


domestic laundry,


and today serves the whole of Ireland. Bought by Causeway Capital in December 2016, Joanne took over as CEO in June last year.


Celtic is one of the largest suppliers of linen and commercial laundry services to the healthcare and hospitality industries, and under normal circumstances delivers over one million freshly laundered items per week.


Operating from three sites – two in Wexford and one in Naas, County Kildare – the company employs around 270 staff and runs a fleet of over 40 vehicles based in four locations. It supplies over 40% of hospitals in Ireland and a large number of hotels, from independents to groups.


At the onset of Joanne’s new role, the hospitality sector in Ireland closed due to COVID-19 and Celtic saw its business reduce by 60% overnight. Two of the three plants were shut down and around 170 employees temporarily laid off and availing of the States’ wage subsidy scheme. On the healthcare side of the business, however, it was a different story.


Fortunately, dealing with healthcare was already second nature from a chemical and risk analysis standpoint. Joanne explained: “The laundry was already fully set up to manage this type of product, operating to RABC EN14065 standard. It was more the change in the mix of product that was the challenge. We experienced a 70-80% increase in scrubs in the first lockdown and a 120% increase in early 2021.


“There was also a need to source additional product to ensure a continuous supply to our healthcare customers, and with the added complication of Brexit we had to be several steps ahead all the time. There is no scope for error: if hospitals need supply you can’t say no, it’s a life-or-death situation.”


Due to an increase in hospital admissions, the laundry needed to operate seven days a week for the whole of December, including Christmas Eve. It’s not just linen


16 | COMMERCIAL LAUNDRY


supply that needs managing, it’s the staffing. Under normal working practices there’s more flexibility, but interactions and staff movement have to be limited with COVID working protocols in place.


Joanne stated: “We deal with COVID-infected linen every day. The value of the service industry is often overlooked but this pandemic has shown just how much it is the backbone of the economy, and effective laundry provision is critical in fighting the current pandemic. Dealing with foul and infected linen is high risk, people forget that.”


Prior to the pandemic around 13% of linen handled required special processing; in this third lockdown it’s now up to 42%, all of which needs to be washed twice. Managing plant machinery and productivity is all unpredictable and dependant on what’s happening day-to-day in the hospitals. Joanne and her team keep in touch daily with their hospital clients.


Every aspect has to be managed and, with restricted access in hospitals, it’s hard to ensure product is being returned and that the right linen mix is available when needed. Celtic rent and process all their own product, which is a substantial investment and product must turnaround to be viable.


Currently the hospitality business is only ticking over for essential workers. Laundry is processing 40/50k pieces per week from the normal 800/900k pieces of linen in high season, with an overall capacity of 1.3m pieces per week at Wexford and 350k pieces per week at Naas. Percentage- wise, the business has dropped by 55%.


However, lockdowns have created massive challenges in supplying linen on a stop-start basis for hospitality clients. At the end of June last year when Ireland came out of lockdown, requirement rose from 50k pieces to 400k pieces in a week, then shut back down a short time later. Trying to get linen back to prevent soiled items from being destroyed is an additional concern.


To manage these rapid changes, Joanne relies heavily on partnerships and has built a strong network with suppliers and customers. Celtic work with hospitality sector groups to plan as much as possible, and flexibility is the key. The relationship Celtic has with its logistics provider, Solve Logistics, is crucial in these current times where supply is being turned on and off and normal operating regimes become unviable.


Another critical relationship is with the laundry’s chemical and equipment provider. Celtic has worked with hygiene specialist Christeyns Technologies Ireland since 1999, initially for the supply of chemicals for its healthcare plant, and then three years later for hospitality. Christeyns has invested heavily in the business, providing not only chemicals but water treatment equipment and cost- effective energy solutions as well as training.


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