DUI Inc., a specialized industrial laundry business, located in a 22,000 square-foot space in Guayama, is reaffirming its commitment to help reduce waste in Puerto Rico with their reusable medical clothing.
The company first established itself as a small laundry business in a 2,000 square-foot location in Aibonito in 2002, when DUI Inc. Owner Carlos Bonilla purchased it from its previous owner for approximately $17,000.
“We started in Aibonito because I had the opportunity to buy a business. I decided to buy the assets of that little dry clean and eventually I eliminated the dry clean and turned it into something industrial,” he said.
The company currently has its manufacturing plant in Guayama, where Bonilla invested about $125,000, to cater to some 400 customers on a weekly basis in six different routes across the island.
“The pharmaceutical industry has been using fabric for a long time, and more and more these products were replacing disposable products, and when the disposable market was introduced in Puerto Rico, it served as an alternative to reducing costs,” said Bonilla.
When evaluating the market, the owner identified discomfort from patients that wore paper garments, as well as the increasing waste problem that was arising in Puerto Rico, and so he looked into businesses that integrated fabric garments successfully.
“We also introduced the concept of comfort to give you a better service and believe me, with these services and competition, people also seek to give the best and distinguish themselves to give the best to their patients,” said Bonilla.
“I came from the pharmaceutical industry as an industrial engineer, and I worked for more than 10 years in controlled environments and that type of industry where I already knew that uniforms were used and that kind of thing. I didn’t expect to see this as a business, but I was looking to take it on,” said Bonilla.
DUI Inc. provides medical garments that can be reused, as well as the service to disinfect them to the pharmaceutical industries, the health sector, either private clinics or public ones, such as hospitals.
Due to the company´s ability to grow and surpass challenges, on May 6, 2023, Bonilla was given the “Small Business of the Year” award, as part of the National Small Business Week awards that was hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s District Office in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as News is my Business reported.
“We’re experiencing growth, we’re experiencing new opportunities, and I feel like I’m getting opportunities like never before and the business is growing again,” said Bonilla.
“We will continue carrying out projects to improve the operation and add value in such a way that we’re ready to support the industry and the industrial sector and the health sector in which we work because we believe that it will continue to grow,” said Bonilla.
