A large sign in the new Alsco Uniforms plant in Surrey, BC, near Vancouver, exhorts employees to reach for greatness with the in-house slogan “Growth is Our Water.” If your goal is business expansion, then the Surrey plant has all the tools staff need to deliver on that promise: from advanced technology to efficient, energy-saving equipment for processing textiles, all in a safe and aesthetically pleasing environment.

Formally opened last September, the adjective “beautiful” isn’t one that leaps to mind when describing a typical commercial laundry. But the Alsco Uniforms’ Surrey plant is anything but typical. Located about 25 miles southeast of its former location in Vancouver, the new plant covers 62,000 square feet (5,759 square meters) on a 4.5-acre lot, with a professionally landscaped exterior. Inside, it’s spotlessly clean and airy with high ceilings and cooling pipes near workstations. There’s also ample use of vertical space with a large mezzanine area for garment storage/sortation. The plant is currently processing 250,000 lbs. (113,398 kg.) per week, says General Manager Dan Barnetson, and volume is growing briskly. “The last five or six weeks have been really good,” he says. Sales are up 9% in the first quarter and new customers—including outpatient medical clients—are finding the Surrey plant works for them. “We’ve added some new healthcare business, a couple of rather large healthcare accounts,” he says. “We’ve always kind of felt that it was a part of our market that we didn’t have. So now we’ve increased that.”

While Canada’s healthcare system is nationalized, private parties also pursue opportunities in specialty areas with clinics providing physical or massage therapy, plastic surgery and other treatments. The clinics must certify with government officials through the Canadian Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgical Facilities (CAAASF). In its pursuit of these clinics for rental scrubs, gowns and flatwork, Alsco Uniforms Surrey benefits from the fact that the new plant is expected to certify to TRSA’s Hygienically Clean Healthcare standard later this year. While the plant isn’t currently doing any hospital work, the clinic business is a natural because it’s comparable to their route-based industrial-uniform business.