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UniFirst

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UniFirst Corporation
Company typeUniforms
NYSE: UNF
IndustryUniforms
FounderAldo Croatti
SuccessorRonald Croatti
Headquarters
Wilmington, Massachusetts
,
United States
Area served
United States & Canada
ProductsUniforms, Protective Clothing, & Facility Services
RevenueIncrease $ 1.2 Billion (2012)[1]
Number of employees
11,000
Websitewww.unifirst.com www.unifirst.ca

UniFirst Corporation (NYSE: UNF) is a publicly traded company based in Wilmington, Massachusetts, United States, that supplies uniforms, protective clothing, career wear, and facility service products with more than 11,000 employees and over 200 service locations in the United States, Canada, and Europe.[2][3]

The Company operates more than 220 total facilities throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, including customer service centers, nuclear decontamination facilities, cleanroom locations, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants. UniFirst projects its revenue for the financial year 2012 to be $1.3 billion.[4]

History

File:Aldo Croatti - Founder of UniFirst Corporation.tif
Aldo Croatti founded UniFirst in 1936 as National Overall Dry Cleaning Company.

1936 - National Overall Dry Cleaning Company was founded in Boston, Massachusetts by Aldo Croatti,[5] focusing on cleaning the coveralls of workers in area factories and heavy-soil businesses.

1969-1982 - Expansion went beyond the Northeast area, acquired businesses in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Maryland. Opened new Plants and Branches, and converted many existing Branches into full-service Plants. In 1972, the Company changed the name of all operations to Interstate Uniform Services Corporation.[6]

1983 - As Interstate Uniform Services, undertook Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange, Stock Symbol – IUS.

1984 - Company name changed to UniFirst Corporation. Stock Symbol for NYSE trading changed to UNF.

1985 - Opened the Company’s first specialized Cleanroom facility in Nashua, NH.

1986 - Acquired Texas Industrial Services and Unitog of Canada, Ltd. – adding 32 facilities in TX, NM, OK, and throughout Canada. Acquisitions increased business volume by more than 33% to $85M in annual revenues. Ronald Croatti became Chief Operating Officer (COO).[7]

File:Corporate Hdqrtrs-FLAGS-jpeg.jpg
UniFirst Corporation Headquarters in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

1980's - UniFirst was featured in the non-fiction book A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr, due to its part in the class action lawsuit over groundwater contamination in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s.[8] The residents alleged that Unifirst, along with two other firms, had released pollution that had leaked into the water supply, and that this was a cause of increased instances of leukemia in the town. UniFirst settled with the residents without going to trial, for a sum of one million dollars.[9]

2011 - The company was the 19th largest clothing manufacturer in the United States.[citation needed] UniFirst featured in an episode of the reality television series Undercover Boss.[10] After Undercover Boss aired, UniFirst implemented a number corporate policy and procedural changes as a result of the experience.[11] UniFirst was also a recipient of the sixth annual Performance Award, presented by the Premier Healthcare Alliance.[12] Apparel magazine, the leading resource for global apparel executives, once again ranked UniFirst as one of the nation's Top 50 apparel companies for 2011, based on its overall performance and financial management.[13]

2012 - UniFirst converts all plants to utilize only “green”, biodegradable wash detergents, tests new all-electric delivery vans for fleet., and surpasses the 250,000 mark of business customer locations each week.[14]

Products and Services

UniFirst supplies uniforms and protective clothing, as well as restroom and cleaning products such as mops, air fresheners and soap.[5] It also has three subsidiary companies: Green Guard, UniTech Services Group, and UniClean. Green Guard is a corporate supplier of first aid equipment;[15] UniTech provides laundering and decontamination services to the nuclear industry;[16] and UniClean supplies clothing and services related to cleanrooms.[17][5]

Green laundering

UniFirst Corporation utilizes only the latest generation of environmentally friendly “green” laundry chemicals in its hundreds of industrial laundry operations throughout the United States and Canada. These biodegradable detergents are made from renewable sources that are free of phosphates, nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) and ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), which have been found to alter the oxygen and metallic levels naturally found in the environment.[18] The Company has won a variety of awards for its environmentally friendly laundering processes from several state Water Environment Associations. The Missouri Water Environment Association, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of water resources throughout the state, gave the Company a top “Gold” award for “outstanding achievement” in water safety.[19] In Austin, Texas, the Water & Wastewater Utility Special Service Division presented UniFirst its Excellence in Pretreatment award for maintaining “a properly designed, operated and maintained pretreatment system” that continually passes unannounced sampling inspections. In addition, Houston’s Industrial Wastewater Service awarded the Company a Gold Award for “enviro-friendly” water treatment processes. UniFirst also received similar awards from the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia, the Kansas Water Environment Association in Topeka, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities in North Carolina. Exelon, one of the nation’s largest nuclear power providers, presented UniFirst its Environmental Leadership Award for its “lengthy record of [processes and] services that are environmentally responsible, safe and of superior quality.”[20]

References

  1. ^ "Revenue for UniFirst". Wikinvest.
  2. ^ "About UniFirst". UniFirst. Retrieved April 07, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  3. ^ "UniFirst Declares Regular Cash Dividends". The Street. January 11, 2011. Retrieved April 07, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ "UniFirst Announces Financial Results for the Third Quarter and First Nine Months of Fiscal 2012". MarketWatch. Retrieved Jun 27, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c Laurie Pasiuk (30 April 2006). Vault Guide to the Top Business Services Employers. Vault Inc. pp. 111–112. ISBN 978-1-58131-402-1. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  6. ^ "UniFirst Locations". Google Maps. Retrieved Unknown. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ "Executive Profile: Ronald D. Croatti". Bloomberg Businesseek.
  8. ^ Elisa Bergslien (15 May 2012). An Introduction to Forensic Geoscience. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 437–438. ISBN 978-1-4051-6054-4. Retrieved 7 April 2012.
  9. ^ Marshall, E (1986). "Woburn case may spark explosion of lawsuits". Science. 234 (4775): 418–420. doi:10.1126/science.3764418. ISSN 0036-8075.
  10. ^ Dishman, Lydia (January 07, 2011). "Undercover Boss: How UniFirst Keeps Margins Up on Uniforms Without Losing Its Shirt". CBS News. Retrieved April 07, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  11. ^ Beggs, Bruce. "UniFirst CEO Puts 'Undercover Boss' Lessons to Use". American Laundry News. Retrieved FEBRUARY 22, 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  12. ^ "2011 Awards". Premier Healthcare Alliance.
  13. ^ "UniFirst Named a Top 50 Company by Apparel Magazine". PR Newswire. July 20, 2011.
  14. ^ "UniFirst Goes All 'Green' on Detergents". Textile Rental Services Association of America. Retrieved Apr 13 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ "Green Guard". Green Guard. Retrieved April 08, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  16. ^ "UniTech Services Group". UniTech Services Group. Retrieved April 08, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  17. ^ "UniClean Cleanroom Services". UniClean. Retrieved April 08, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  18. ^ "UniFirst Goes All 'Green' on Detergents". Textile Rental Services Association of America. Retrieved Apr 13 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ "Industrial Safety Award" (PDF). Missouri Water Environment Association.
  20. ^ "UniFirst Wins Awards for 'Green' Laundering Processes". American Laundry News. JANUARY 12, 2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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