UniFirst Corporation’s new industrial laundry facility in Nashville, TN has been awarded ISO 9001:2000 certification for the quality management systems it has in place for the cleaning and servicing of its customers’ work apparel and for providing them with facility services products. The plant received the distinction this past June, less than a year after opening its operations.
Founded in 1936, UniFirst is a provider of workplace uniforms and protective clothing to businesses, large and small, within a range of industries throughout the U.S. and Canada.
UniFirst general manager, Neal Merlis, said earning the ISO 9001:2000 certification required the new laundry facility to document all its workflow processes in exacting detail—-from those used to evaluate suppliers to those dedicated to controlling computerized wash formulas to those put in place to gauge customer satisfaction.
“Our primary business objective is to provide our customers with only the best service possible, along with great looking, image enhancing workplace uniforms and facility services items,” said Merlis. “Being awarded this highly prized certification underscores our commitment to that objective.”
During the course of the certification process, Merlis said all of the laundry facility’s 110 employees learned that “providing only the highest quality is really a win-win situation for them and for our customers.”
UniFirst CEO, Ronald Croatti, noted the ISO certification was awarded following an in-depth, two week quality audit by Perry Johnson Registrars, a certifying authority. Croatti added that UniFirst maintains 151 servicing facilities throughout North America and the company’s goal is “to ISO certify all of them within the next five years.”
The industrial laundry operation in Nashville joins a growing list of UniFirst facilities that have been awarded the ISO certifications. To date, a total of 22 UniFirst or subsidiary facilities have been ISO certified.
