ETSA News

Interview with Luke Simpkins the CEO of the Laundry Association Australia, on the ETSA Awards

 

Luke Simpkins, the CEO of the Laundry Association Australia, is the ETSA Judge for the Customer Experience Excellence Award a new award category created for the 2^nd ETSA Awards to be showcased in Prague.  Luke Simpkins has been CEO of the Laundry Association Australia (LAA) since October 2021.  Prior to joining the LAA, he had worked in equivalent roles in cattle production and irrigation farming.

From 2007 to 2016 he served in the Australian Parliament as a Member of the House of Representatives.  Luke was a commissioned army officer for 15 years, a member of the Australian Federal Police for two years, and he represented Australia in the sport of rowing. ETSA reached out to Luke to discuss what being a judge for the ETSA Awards meant and how he views the awards shaping the future of the industry.

Question: How has being a part of the ETSA Awards judging panel impacted your view of the overall textile industry and textile service value chain?

In an operating environment of increasing costs, often made higher by government policy decisions driving regulations and controls, there is an increasing need for a stronger customer service focus.  Our sector must understand the full range of our costs, the origins of our cost increases, and the ability to communicate information to our customers about those increases.  The sector must be considerate of the needs of our customers through outstanding customer service, whilst also ensuring that the customer understands why our costs are being passed on, in higher prices.  A great relationship with our customers can help to ensure that the impact of government decisions and regulations, becomes better known to the ultimate consumer.        

Question: How do you envision the future of the textile services industry within the context of Europe's evolving relationship with work and industry and what role do you see awards like ETSA playing in that future?

It's important for the maintenance of high professional standards in our sector, that competition should focus on quality and reliability of our service delivery, rather than unrealistic price competition.  The initiatives being generated out of an increasing European government focus on climate and sustainability policies, undoubtably add to unavoidable costs on our sector.  A customer service focus, incorporating quality cleaning and reliability standards are where the competition focus should be.  Through the ETSA awards, a focus on such key areas is the way to achieve customer goodwill, rather than trying to drive down prices, thereby reducing the capability of laundries to modernise and drive innovation and efficiencies.      

Question: What are some of the biggest challenges you believe companies are facing today, and how can awards like ETSA help address or mitigate them?

Our businesses should just be able to get on with providing high standards of hygienic cleaning and quality service to their customers, but instead, significant extra government intervention and regulations are driving up our costs, which increases the costs on our customers and then flows through to the public in terms of costs of living and therefore inflation. 

Given most of our businesses have little direct contact with the public, the increased cost of living impact, driven by cost increases often associated with government policies, isn't attributed back to governments by the people.  This is one of the greatest challenges for our sector, that the voters/consumers don't see their costs of living negatively impacted by their own governments.  The public are more likely to blame businesses for the increased costs, with governments not bearing any responsibility or accountability for their decisions.  This highlights the need for peak bodies to work with our customer representative bodies to try to convey a message to the public regarding our increased costs.  Once the public understands the part governments pay, we may then see more realistic public policy making that will address sector challenges in costs and inputs.  In particular, these include, but are not limited to energy, transport, equipment, labour, insurance and regulatory costs.    

Question: In your opinion, what long-term effects do these awards have on the standards and practices within not only the textile services industry, but adjacent industries as well?

Fundamentally I believe that our businesses are run by smart people that truly understand all aspects of their business and the relationship with customers, their suppliers and other stakeholders.  That being said, I believe that ETSA awards serve, and will continue to serve to focus our businesses on the highest standards of business processes and customer service.  These awards also provide an opportunity for credibility and recognition of excellence beyond our sector, in terminologies that other sectors and governments can relate too.  This serves to encourage an accurate belief that our sector operates with the highest professional and ethical standards, providing confidence in the sector as a whole.