The international Alsco Uniforms company has grand-opened a huge new laundry facility in Surrey, resulting in a shorter commute for many employees.
The high-tech, 62,000-square-foot plant can process more than 300,000 pounds of laundry per week including uniforms, linen, floor mats, mops and more, on former farmland on 88 Avenue, off 130 Street.
"We've been in operation for about a year now, since last September," said Dan Barnetson, general manager. "It was just a natural choice for us to come to Surrey, for a few reasons."
From a heritage building in Vancouver's Olympic Village area, the company moved to a brand new building in North Surrey for all that sorting, washing, drying, ironing, folding, hanging and shipping.
"Ideally, we would have probably liked this plant to be even a little bit bigger," he added, "but the City of Surrey, they have some regulations for a certain size of building on this size of lot, close to four and half acres of land. It works great for our needs, just a little bit more storage would be nice. I'm sure everybody can appreciate that."
A grand-opening event was held Thursday, Sept. 19, with dozens of the plant's 93 employees in attendance including sales, service and production.
"It's been excellent coming out here, and it's been really easy to find good people," Barnetson said. "In Vancouver it was really hard to have people, hire people, we were always looking for people there, but when we moved out here, you know, probably half, or more than half, of our production staff already lived here."
The well-automated plant has cut into employee numbers, however.
"With the move to Surrey, we went from 57 production workers down to 34, with the automation we have here," Barnetson noted. "That definitely allows us to be a little bit more competitive and more efficient and compete in the market, a very competitive market."
Inside the plant, a huge tunnel washer cleans efficiently with automation, and individual air-conditioning units keep employees cool in the hot ironing station.
Near the rear loading dock, a huge tank holds waste water. "Surrey hasn't quite caught up with their infrastructure yet so we can only release so much waste water into the city's sewer system," Barnetson explained. "So we have to store it here and then release at night as well."
A fleet of 30 trucks helps serve Alsco's 1,500-plus customers in the region, from Chilliwack to Pemberton.
Founded in 1889, the American Linen Supply Co. (Alsco) is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Alsco operated in Vancouver as Nelsons before rebranding in the 1990s.
"We work with a lot of large food facilities including restaurants and food processors," Barnetson said, "and also a lot of industrial business as well including the Port of Vancouver, Seaspan Shipyards. We process a lot of chef coats, coveralls for automotive busineses, towels and linens, and we're really set up for garments."
