For many businesses such as retail, supply chain and even laundry management, it is important to keep track of items coming in and items going outs. Asset management finds great application here and various technologies are available that can help with item-level tracking and accurately track where each item is.
In the business of laundry management, the problems are also related to item-level tracking and keeping an accurate record of clothing items, linens coming in and going out. If the items weren’t to be washed, I would suggest that barcodes or QR codes are the easiest and cost effective solutions. Also, with barcodes, there is an issue with the scanning as it requires clear line of sight to be scanned and the scanner has to be placed quite close to the barcode label.
The need of RFID in laundry management
Radio Frequency Identification, with acronym RFID, is a wireless, short-range communication technology which allows wireless transmission of data. When you tag a laundry item with an RFID tag, you can identify and track the said item with the help of an RFID reader. The tag is encoded with a certain unique ID and that ID is associated with a client with names of the client and contact details and billing amount etc.
Laundry business is where a lot of orders come in from various private and govt. entities and individuals. And for running a successful and efficient laundry business with lowest consumer complaints, use of technology becomes absolutely necessary. Managing linen and not losing certain apparel needs robust counting and RFID can help with that, reducing the human-errors to minimum.
As it turns out RFID also saves costs when it comes to managing laundry as it allows businesses to have fewer people and felicitates automation. Businesses can install RFID fixed readers at entry points and exit points and keep a record of every consignment movement.
How to Implement an RFID Laundry Management System
For successfully implementing an RFID laundry management system, there are several steps that a Laundry business can follow. Just like any other business, you need to assess your needs and choose the right RFID tag, reader, antenna and software system. Various UHF RFID Laundry tags such as UHF RFID PPS Button Laundry Tag, UHF RFID Fabric Laundry Tags, UHF RFID Taffeta Laundry Tags, and Flexible Silicone RFID UHF Laundry Tag are some of the most useful laundry tags that provide best results.
These tags can be sewn into the linen or attached to the garment with the help of label tagging barbs.
Here are four stages to implementing an RFID laundry management system-
Determine your needs and requirements
Firstly, identify the specific needs and requirements for the laundry management system. It includes determining the number of garments and linens to be processed, the type of inventory management system required, and any specific features or functions that are needed.
Install RFID hardware and software
Secondly, install RFID tags on all garments and linens while ensuring that RFID tags are washable and don’t cause any harm to the garments. Also install the necessary hardware to read the tags such as RFID readers, antennas, and software to process and manage data from the RFID tags. For a large facility, RFID readers must be installed at entry and exit points.
While selecting the RFID tags, read range and frequency range is also very important. While HF RFID is good for close read-range, and overcomes interference, UHF RFID has higher read-range but interference issues are there.
Integrate RFID system with laundry software
Integrate the RFID system with laundry software to provide a complete laundry management system. It ensures seamless operations such as managing inventory, tracking garment movement throughout the laundry facility, automating sorting and washing processes, and providing detailed reports and analytics.
Train staff and test system
Lastly, train staff on how to use the RFID system and associated software, and conduct testing to ensure everything is working correctly. Start by testing the performance and reliability of the system, and make the necessary adjustments to improve performance. Check if the read range of RFID readers and tags is up to the mark and reads without failure.
Please note that these stages may vary depending on the specific needs of the laundry management system you want to implement, but it provides a general overview of the process.
An efficient laundry management business needs technology to reduce labor and labor costs. Use of RFID technology to manage laundry operations provides an efficient and cost effective solution as it eliminates human errors and streamlines the entire laundry operation leading to enhanced customer satisfaction.
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