Chances are the next time you visit a doctor’s office or outpatient clinic anywhere in America’s Mid-Atlantic region, Nixon Uniform Service and Medical Wear will have you covered— if only in a freshly laundered patient gown.  Founded in 1967 as a dry-cleaning business, the company entered the textile rental market in 1969 and quickly evolved into business-to-business textile management services. Today, as the market leader in medical wear and linen service, Nixon is the largest and fastest growing textile rental company in the Mid-Atlantic.

The company provides, launders, and delivers a complete line of medical apparel (lab coats, scrubs, and patient gowns), towels, sheets, and other reusable products. What’s more, the company’s commitment to quality is evident throughout its operations, from its state-of-the-art “medical only” processing facilities that comply with OSHA regulations to its proprietary Customer Service Response (CSR) program.

From its corporate headquarters in New Castle, DE, and facilities in Edison, NJ, Beltsville, MD, and Richmond, VA, Nixon’s 70-vehicle fleet, along with dedicated Route Service Representatives (RSRs), serve 250 weekly routes and over 4,500 customers from New Jersey to Virginia.

However, by 2005, Nixon’s prudent management suspected that the company’s rapid growth might be leaving them exposed in other ways, specifically in terms of rising costs in their transportation operations.

With a company the size of Nixon, measuring the actual costs of routes was very difficult. That’s where Territory Planner™ made an initial difference in Nixon’s bottom line. Impressed with its capabilities, the company purchased Territory Planner from UPS Logistics Technologies and implemented a complete reconfiguration and optimization of their delivery territories.

“Internally, we were looking to balance our routes and route days in terms of volume,” notes Nixon’s President, Jason Berstein. “More importantly, by creating geographically-based routes, we were able to position our RSRs, as well as supporting service managers and territory sales managers, to develop even stronger relationships with our customers.”

By optimizing their standard route operations with Territory Planner, Berstein says that Nixon realized a higher level of customer service. “Now, customers that require multiple deliveries during the course of the week can be serviced by the same RSR, where previously that RSR may have shifted from territory to territory throughout the week,” he says. “This in turn has led to greater customer satisfaction. Our customers prefer to have fewer people involved in their account and more personalized, one-on-one service.”

Several years after implementation, Nixon is continuing to experience incredible results from the use of Territory Planner. “Payback for us was almost immediate—tighter geographically based routing territories reduced fuel and fleet costs,” adds Lee Beup, Nixon’s Marketing Director.

Additionally, customer satisfaction levels have reached an all-time high as the result of the investment RSRs can make in their territories. Beup agrees, “We use Territory Planner more frequently now and perform more surgical re-routes; accommodating our business growth by carving off sections of existing routes to make new routes. This has resulted in the creation of denser routes for our service personnel; their days are shorter and more balanced and they can spend more time with their customers. As a result, job and customer satisfaction levels have increased.”

When asked to give advice to colleagues that do not have a routing and territory planning solution, Beup was adamant, “It does not matter what process or system you are currently using, when it comes to optimizing route structure, Territory Planner will produce better results. Not only will you be able to improve route structure quickly, Territory Planner will more efficiently maintain your territories. This stability goes a long way in improving customer satisfaction and accommodating business growth.”