Shrinkage in the Inventory
The laundry was losing linen from its inventory, which made the stock count unreliable.
Bubble Laundry rents linen to many of the large hotels in the UAE, and it was losing track of its inventory. Technowave tested RFID linen tags, then fitted readers across the laundry and designed locally built RFID gates, so every piece of linen could be counted through the washing process.
Bubble Laundry rents linen to many of the large hotels in the UAE. Hotel industry regulations set a linen's useful life by the number of washing cycles it has been through, so the laundry needs to know how many cycles each piece has completed.
Keeping that record for each piece of linen was a difficult task. The laundry was also seeing shrinkage in its linen inventory, which meant that items were going missing and the count was not reliable.
The laundry raised the problem with its software partner, New Gen, which looked for a solution and approached Technowave Group, a leading software solution provider in the Middle East with knowledge of RFID and barcode-based fixed asset tracking. Technowave took on the challenge alongside New Gen, and RFID was identified as the technology best suited to the project.
The laundry needed to know where its linen was and how often each piece had been washed, and it needed both to be accurate.
The laundry was losing linen from its inventory, which made the stock count unreliable.
Hotel regulations tie a linen's life to its number of washing cycles, and recording those cycles for each piece was difficult.
Once RFID was chosen, the Technowave team tested a number of RFID laundry tags before finalising the one best suited to linen. The work then moved on to readers and gates.
Many RFID laundry tags were tested, and the best RFID linen tag was selected. These tags were stitched into the linens.
After consultation with the laundry management, fixed RFID readers were installed at all the critical places where the number of linens was needed.
Readers were also fitted onto the conveyor belts, so linens could be counted as they moved through the process.
RFID gates and tunnels to count linen coming in and going out were available in Europe at around EUR 7,000. Technowave designed and fabricated these gates locally to reduce that cost for the customer.
The team tested many RFID laundry tags and settled on the one best suited to linen.
The selected RFID linen tags were stitched to the linens.
Fixed readers were placed at the critical points and on the conveyor belts, so the number of linens could be read at each stage.
RFID gates were installed to take the total count of linen coming into the laundry and going out of it.
The laundry's employees and management saw clear improvements once the system was running.
Employees experience extremely fast and accurate counting of the linens, which reduces their workload.
Management is satisfied with the drop in shrinkage of the linen inventory.
Keeping track of the number of washing cycles and the stages each linen has gone through is much easier and more accurate, which helps the laundry scale linen life to hotel industry standards.
Testing several RFID laundry tags showed which one held up to the linen, before the whole project depended on it.
Readers at each critical point and on the conveyor belts track linen from receipt to dispatch.
Fabricating the gates locally kept the cost well below the European equivalents of around EUR 7,000.
Accurate washing-cycle records let the business manage linen life against hotel industry standards.
Bubble Laundry needed a reliable way to count its linen and record how many washing cycles each piece had completed. Technowave combined a tested RFID linen tag, readers across the laundry, and locally built RFID gates to give the laundry that control.
Technowave Group was founded in 1999 and provides RFID and barcode-based asset tracking across the Middle East and India. Its solutions are designed to track and manage assets and reduce losses for organisations in different industries.
Technowave designs RFID and barcode tracking, from tag testing and reader placement to the gates and software that keep the count accurate.
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