Emerald Textiles
Clean and Cost-Effective Healthcare Laundry

What is the first thing that comes to our mind when we talk about quality healthcare? Most of the time, it revolves around hospitals with hi-tech equipment, highly experienced staff and doctors, world-class patient amenities, or maybe quick and responsive patient support services. But, how often do we pay attention to laundry services? Hospitals require good quality linen for various purposes such as patient gowns, hospital scrubs, lab coats, hospital towels, washcloths, and more. Although procuring premium linen is not one of the primary concerns of a hospital, it’s direct relation to patient comfort means there can be no compromises. As a result, hospitals end up spending vast amounts on their laundry bills, but the quality of service often remains dissatisfactory. With more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare laundry industry and a best-in-class team focused on exceptional service, Emerald Textiles rises to the problem by delivering on-time linen services and high-quality products. Today, Emerald’s customers enjoy superior cleanliness, service, and significant savings in the overall total cost of ownership.

Established as a startup in 2010, Emerald has come a long way and emerged as one of the largest healthcare laundry providers in California. The company has set up six plants in the U.S. and employs over 1200 personnel. A large part of this success can be attributed to the company’s customer-centric business model, whereby customer satisfaction, reliability, service quality, and community are at the core of its services. Apart from providing excellent customer service, Emerald is also keen on reducing its clients’ overall costs. “We have been successful in lowering the linen costs at our partner hospitals through efficient linen management. The Emerald team utilizes an extensive education process to assist clients with the proper usage of linen and the best way to minimize usage and reduce costs,” notes Dan Leavy, Vice President at Emerald Textiles. Emerald’s products have been designed to reduce the linen usage per patient. For instance, Emerald’s larger patient gowns and heavier bath towels and bath blankets help reduce the overall usage by patients and thereby drive down costs.

With historical records of linen usage at each hospital, Emerald uses a mechanism called pounds per patient per day to break down usage at a departmental level and benchmark it against national averages.

These statistics are shared with the end-users in each department to identify potential areas of improvement for minimizing usage and maximizing savings. Leavy explains, “If I find a thousand washcloths on a shelf, I am liable to grab a handful. But if we only stock hundred a day, the staff will hesitate to grab a big stack. By managing the par level, we can control the usage of linen at hospitals.”

The Emerald team utilizes an extensive education process to assist clients with the proper usage of linen and the best way to minimize usage and reduce costs

As an aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare industry has been facing an acute shortage of masks, gowns, and other disposable products. This needed a quick solution, and Emerald answered with innovative ways to tackle the unprecedented challenges. The company has set up new production lines for reusable isolation gowns and masks. “We changed our production cycles to overproduce all items to meet our customers’ needs during the pandemic so that they could rely on us to keep their hospitals functioning smoothly,” says Leavy.

More than offering just a commodity, Emerald focuses on partnering with its clients and building long-lasting relationships. The company strives to provide premium hotel-quality linen to ensure that patients are comfortable during their treatment. Moreover, Emerald’s fair and transparent billing systems sets it apart from its competitors. Over the years, Emerald has saved its clients large sums of money through proper linen management. To illustrate, Leavy recalls, “While working with one of the hospital networks, we assured them that we could help them save $500,000 a year. While initially they refused to buy the claim, they decided to give us a chance. We delivered on our promise and ended up saving them $500,020 in a year. In 2010, we helped our first customer to reduce their linen costs by $800,000 per year.”

Emerald plans to expand its footprint in the healthcare laundry industry by establishing two new plants in the next 12 to 18 months. The company is looking to expand its horizons and adapt to changing customer needs by providing new products and services that meet their demands.