UK
The Textile Services Association ran its flagship training Textile Services Management Course from 8 to 13 March, just prior to when the social distancing rules came into force, and was hailed by delegates as “an amazing week”.
The week-long residential course at the purpose-built Lane End Conference Centre near High Wycombe was attended by 21 delegates from a broad range of companies: multi-site and multi-national organisations to single site family run businesses and covered workwear, cleanroom, hospitality and hospital linen operations.
The course is designed to provide a broad view of how to manage a textile rental business to benefit those who are new to the sector and need an overview and for those who have been in the sector for some time but have focused on one area and now wish to widen their knowledge. The delegates represented new and existing managers from a wide range of job roles including account management, production, operations, transport and product development.
From the welcome and course orientation session on the Sunday afternoon the course delivered a high intensity week with very long days covering topics such as, leadership, sales and marketing, human resources, health and safety, finance, procurement, laundry equipment, wash chemistry, production management, engineering, resource management, environmental issues, logistics and finally customer service.
The sessions were diverse in their delivery with plenty of interaction, discussion group tasks and some added fun along the way.
Over the week, course managers David Kinson and Lisa Ottley were joined by 19 different presenters all of whom gave freely of their time. David Stevens TSA CEO commented: “The overall course score matched the 2019 figure which was our highest ever so I would firstly like to thank all the presenters for taking the time to prepare & deliver their material. To bring together so many presenters on their given day at a set time illustrates how much we, the TSA, the presenters and the sector as a whole believes in this course and the benefit it brings to the delegates, who are our leaders of the future.”
The Murray Simpson Delegate of the Week Award is part of the legacy of the popular and well respected former TSA CEO to provide financial support from a fund set up in his name through which all the delegates were able to benefit. The delegate voted on whom in their cohort should receive it, the votes were counted, and the award was presented to Adam Keatinge from Johnson Service Group Hotel Linen Division (PLS).
• These are just some of the many comments that were made by the delegates at course-end:
• “Thoroughly enjoyed all week and have taken a lot away from this course.
• “Fantastic experience, learnt the fundamentals and given me the realisation that the industry is a perfect fit for me.”
• “Brilliant course, amazing week!”
• “Great course, great people, loved it!”
• “Very good course, better than expected, great group of people.”
• “It’s been a fantastic experience."
