After establishing presence in the market, it’s a major task for any company to sustain, consolidate and expand further. For this, the business strategy varies from one company to another and so is the industry vertical. This is a different ballgame for Advanced Laundry, a division of Abu Dhabi-based Advanced Facilities Management, as the laundry major is keen on building its own brand image for making it numero uno in the Capital. Perhaps, this initiative is first-of-its-kind in the domestic laundry segment.

Rayu Priolkar, General Manager, and Mohamed Yehia, Business Development Manager at Advanced Laundry, are busy with charting innovative business strategies on how to add values addition to the existing services. Speaking to Clean Middle East, Rayu, said: “We’re in the process of building our own brand in the laundry business. This is part of our efforts to make our company number one in UAE. Our ability to grow, innovate and deliver superb laundry service. Our primary financial goals are to maximize earnings and cash flow keeping customer satisfaction in mind.”

“As part of branding exercise, we’re working on several aspects. Major chunk of our business comes from hospitality sector. We aim to capture 70 per cent of laundry business from this segment in the near future. Towards this objective, we’re planning to open retail outlets in next one year in Abu Dhabi City. Considering the local projected growth rate of 60 per cent during the next three years, our company will reach targeted revenues mark by 2016. As part of the expansion plan, we are planning to cover aviation, Military base and carpet cleaning sectors also,” adds Yehia.

With capacity spanning over 48 tonnes of clothes per day, Advanced Laundry has a sprawling laundry services facility of 30,000 sq. ft on Hameem Road, the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

While the hospitality sector represents the largest portion of our customer base, other customers include those from the commercial, retail, military, cleaning and catering companies.

“We are working on taking the Management contract of laundries from the hospitals. We are simultaneously planning to open new separate facility for serving hospitals,” explains Yehia.

“At Advanced Laundry we understand industry demands and provide time-bound and high quality service. This coupled with our experienced and trained staff, state-of-the -art equipment, technology, facility, capacity and expansion capabilities is what makes us one of the leading laundry companies in UAE and our services are second to none. We provide end-to-end cleaning services, while ensuring all textiles and garments maintain their quality, we achieve our goals with enthusiasm simply because success is our passion” adds Rayu.

Agreeing that pricing is under pressure as the market is becoming more and more competitive, Yehia said: “We are providing high quality services at competitive prices and this enables us to compete in the market. Pricing is playing an important factor in clinching business contracts. However, ultimately quality service matters to keep up the business volume. Moreover, Abu Dhabi is a growing city. Sectors such as hospitality, construction are registering encouraging growth rates. This will result in good demand for laundry services.”

The UAE accounts for major business potential in the cleaning segment of the Middle East. The UAE government is keen on standards in the Tourism, health and hygiene segment and working with different organisations on this. Advanced Laundry is more proactive in participating such awareness campaigns. Rayu strongly feels that these initiatives from the Government will spread the awareness about cleaning and hygiene aspects. We are active participants of Abu Dhabi Plan 2030 which is aimed at developing a global capital city and support the government’s vision of building the city of Abu Dhabi as an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable community, as well as, a regional hub of business and industry. “We are actively participating in clean awareness campaigns. We are already green. We use recycled water, environment friendly chemicals and recycled plastics. Of course, participating and sponsoring green and clean initiatives will add to the branding also,” said Rayu.

“Beginning from October 2011, the laundry now reached to the capacity utilisation level of 10 tons a day. It’s focusing on hotels, retail and military segments. Advanced Laundry provides free pickup and delivery service for customers with dedicated fleet of vehicles and people. Our headcount at the facility is over 80 and all team members are well trained on using the equipment,” Rayu claimed.

“We train our people on the latest technology-enabled equipment. There are certification institutes on laundry in US and UK, but unfortunately we don’t have such institutes in UAE and India. We have reasonable experienced and trained people to work at international quality standards. We are ISO 9001-2008, ISO 14001-2004 and OHSAS 18001-2007 certified company” said Rayu.

For the first time in UAE, Advanced Laundry introduced ‘Shrink Wrap’ machine for packing the finished clothes and it gives a quality look to packed items.

“The new generation institutional textile care plant providing total cleaning solution of international standards for laundry and dry cleaning to the customers. Advanced technology in key areas of production, high productivity, environmentally responsible and energy efficient services, and maximization of capacity with highest quality standards. Establishing best practices for laundry industry most suited to UAE. Results through people: Promoting best talent” Rayu Concluded.