UniFirst Receives Performance Award from Premier Healthcare Alliance

Honored for 'exceeding expectations' and operational excellence

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Jun 20, 2011, 01:05 ET

WILMINGTON, Mass., June 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- UniFirst has announced that it is a recipient of the sixth annual Performance Award, presented by the Premier Healthcare Alliance.

Premier is one of the nation's largest Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO), helping 2,500 U.S. hospitals and more than 75,000 other healthcare sites -- such as nursing homes, ambulatory care centers, and home health agencies -- realize savings and efficiencies by negotiating competitively priced contracts with top quality vendors. The alliance has contracts with more than 800 suppliers to service its members, and UniFirst is amongst the top 5% to receive this year's Performance Award after quantifiably "exceeding expectations" for four successive calendar quarters.

As an official contracted supplier, UniFirst provides Premier members with "full program management services" for scrubs, shirts, pants, lab coats, smocks, mats, mops, and microfiber cleaning products. UniFirst's services include regularly scheduled laundering of apparel and microfiber cleaning products, professional pressing and finishing, garment repairs and replacements, custom garment personalization and tracking, and on-time inventory supply and deliveries.

"It is imperative for (healthcare operations) to operate in the highest quality environment at the best possible cost, and UniFirst has been able to support alliance members in doing so," said Mike Alkire, Premier Purchasing Partners President. "We're proud to recognize UniFirst as a top performing organization."

UniFirst President and CEO Ron Croatti said the Premier award is a result of the many customer-centric programs and processes his company has in place to ensure customer satisfaction, "including our inventory controls and item tracking technologies for accurate deliveries; our computer-controlled laundering and service processes that produce hygienically clean work apparel, and our highly trained customer service teams assigned to each account that are tasked to respond quickly and efficiently to any customer needs."

Croatti added, "Our company was founded on the principle of providing the best workwear and facility products and services possible. So this award is particularly gratifying because it helps validate that we're fulfilling our business mission."

About UniFirst

UniFirst (NYSE: UNF), a North American leader in the supply and servicing of uniforms, workwear, and protective clothing, outfits more than 1.5 million workers each business day. UniFirst also offers Facility Service programs including floor mats, mops, and restroom products. For more information, contact UniFirst at 800-455-7654 or visit www.unifirst.com.

SOURCE UniFirst Corporation