Client

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA) operates more than 200 facilities and provides health care services to more than 700,000 residents of Winnipeg and rural Manitoba. The WRHA Regional Laundry Service operates two state-of-the-art laundry processing facilities in Winnipeg and Selkirk,and oversees the pickup, cleaning and delivery of linens and garments for the entire network over a vast geographic area.

The Opportunity

As a publicly-funded entity, one of the WRHA’s mandates is to operate as cost-effectively as possible while consistently delivering excellent service. The organization needed a dedicated fleet of trucks and drivers and a complex logistics infrastructure to service over 60 of their member health care facilities and sites. However, they were worried that trying to efficiently operate their own delivery network would take the focus away from their core competency: providing excellent short-term, acute, and continuous long-term care to patients. They were looking for a solution with all the benefits of a private fleet – without the cost, complexity and distraction of running it themselves.

The Solution

The WRHA chose to partner with a dedicated fleet outsourcing partner to solve their challenge, and selected Canada Cartage as the best fit. This multi-year partnership has been instrumental in allowing the WRHA to deliver quality services at the lowest possible cost.

“The partnership, delivery fleet, and service commitments provided by Canada Cartage have grown over the past decades,” says Janice Desautels, Director WRHA Regional Laundry Services. “They’ve added more drivers and more dedicated equipment, enabling the WRHA to expand its ability to supply quality linens and garments to Manitoba’s growing health care customer base.”

Today, seven dedicated specialty straight truck units equipped with heavy-duty hydraulic rail gates perform scheduled daily deliveries of clean linens and pick-up of soiled items from hospitals, health care units, and assisted living institutions on 32 weekly delivery routes. Clean and soiled items are transported in custom-designed, portable laundry cages identified by site. Dedicated drivers are trained to avoid cross-contamination during handling, and to maintain supply chain integrity as mandated by the WRHA.

All dedicated and back-up delivery units are constructed with aluminum floors and seamless “Kemlite” fiberglass interior linings. Each vehicle is completely washed and sanitized on a routine basis to eliminate any potential for residual contamination.

A designated Canada Cartage account manager supports the WRHA’s daily requirements, coordinating drivers and equipment resources to meet the day-to-day needs of the two facilities. For changes and additional volume requirements, short weeks or long weekend surges, he provides additional specialty delivery units with properly trained operators on demand.

The impact

Canada Cartage provides the WRHA with a dependable outsourced transport solution that allows them to focus on their core business, and cuts down on unnecessary resources and expenses in a heavily scrutinized fiscal environment. The partnership has been instrumental in allowing the WRHA to expand their services without incurring the fixed and variable capital costs associated with operating a private fleet.

“They really understand the cost-sensitive nature of our operations,” says Janice Desautels, Director WRHA Regional Laundry Services. “Their robust outsourced solution allows us to meet our customers’ time-sensitive delivery requirements, and ensures any overflow requests are covered seamlessly.”

This three-decade partnership has provided concrete, measurable results for the WRHA:

  • Service consistency: A committed group of trained, dedicated drivers and the capability to seamlessly meet overflow ensure deliveries are on time no matter what the demands or conditions.
  • Complete dependability: Canada Cartage’s long history of dealing with extreme weather challenges allows them to minimize impact on delivery operations.
  • Full transparency: Both parties have a complete picture of cost, customer challenges, and budgetary expectations, creating an open environment that promotes ideas and suggestions for improved customer service and reduced expenses.
  • Easy tracking: Timely communication between dispatch, account management, drivers, and the laundry facilities ensures quick access to delivery status, anytime.
  • Time-sensitive service: Operations and dispatch teams proactively respond to any situation that may arise during the course of business.
  • Accountability: Canada Cartage provides timely and effective response and corrective action when challenges or concerns arise.
  • Long-term cost effectiveness: dedicated transportation solution with fixed-rate pricing lets the WRHA accurately forecast and create transportation budgets, and better understand how transportation-related expenses factor into their overall costs.
  • Support for expansion and growth: Canada Cartage adapts easily to changing requirements, helping transition two disparate facilities into one comprehensive service.

Customer Quote

They really understand the cost-sensitive nature of our operations.
Their robust outsourced solution allows us to meet our customers’
time-sensitive delivery requirements, and ensures any overflow requests
are covered seamlessly.

Janice Desautels, Director
WRHA REGIONAL LAUNDRY SERVICES