Tailored solutions to controlling costs

Traceability is fast becoming a top priority for laundry managers. Each garment or piece of linen must be individually identified so that its progress can be tracked accurately from sorting to delivery and even during its journey to the customer.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is increasingly being used to provide such identification.

As well as monitoring the flow of work and helping to prevent losses, it can record data for inventory, management and sorting.

The technology is constantly developing. The transponders, (known as chips or tags) have become smaller, there are even types that can be used on flatwork.

They are more cost-effective and provide greater resistance to the high temperatures and aggressive environments found in the laundry.

According to market research firm Venture Development Corp (VDC), the global RFID market, across all applications, is expected to grow 30 – 35% through 2010, to exceed 5billion Euros. The fastest growing applications include supply chain (74%) and rental tracking (49%), both figures including its application in the laundry industry.

Tagsys, a specialist producer of RFID?systems, says item-level RFID tracking in textile services is still its fastest growing market. Marketing manager, Angeline Fraud says that revenue from textile services grows by around 30% each year. Tagsys is headquartered in Massachusetts, USA with offices and R&D divisions in France and Hong Kong.

Some customers are upgrading from barcode or other tracking systems but with the technology more established, many companies are now moving from low to high frequency RFID.

Tagsys has designed its RFID systems to provide solutions for each stage of the laundry process – soil check in, clean sorting, clean check out and inventory. The systems also cover customers’ sites where smart chutes and dispensers are installed to speed up inventories of soiled garments/linen and automate the distribution of clean work.

Datamars has been one of the pioneers of RFID applications in the laundry sector and it invented the LaundryChip. Marketing manager Franz Schöpf explains that laundry is an important niche market where RFID technology has proved valuable in automating processes, improving the service to customers and cutting operating costs.

The adoption of RFID varies from country to country. Europe is seen as a strong growth area for developing laundry applications.

Schöpf predicts that RFID will find applications in more sectors of the laundry market. The flatwork market is opening up with the introduction of multi-read applications and smaller chips. Social and demographic changes are creating opportunities in the nursing and care homes sector.

Fraud at Tagsys believes that RFID technology can complement and co-exist with barcodes, as visual identification is still a requirement for item-level tracking. However, although both technologies carry product data, she says that RFID tags are more resistant and rugged than barcode labels.

Fraud adds that barcodes have no read/write capability, unlike RFID tags, which are read/write devices and can have information added to them. “Most importantly, RFID systems can read several tags at once, speeding the processing of both soiled and clean items.

Tagsys’ tunnel antennae can read the entire contents of a sealed bag of linen/garments in a few seconds and without opening the bag.

Schöpf agrees and says RFID has proven its benefits over other forms of track and trace solutions. It can read bags of soiled textiles as they enter the laundry. Operators don’t have to touch contaminated or soiled textiles, so “foul and infected” textiles can be identified safely and quickly.

Both Datamars and Tagsys are expert in high frequency (HF) technology, designing and implementing HF RFID systems since the 1990s.

Tagsys has installed systems for identifying and managing textile rental items for industrial and hospital laundries.

If there is a lack of real-time management data, stocks can run low or even run out completely, causing unnecessary disruption to operations while staff try to find the correct garment in the right size.

The challenge facing RFID suppliers is to provide real-time data on garments and linen as they move from laundry to storage cabinets in the hospital and out to the wards and individual users and back to the laundry. The tracking system must be easy to use and robust enough to withstand harsh laundry processing.

“The use of RFID chips allows laundry operators to automate tasks such as check-in, sorting and check-out, which wasn’t possible with barcodes,” says Fraud. It also allows hospital garments and workwear to be distributed via automatic dispensers. She says any textile handling operation can be automated with 100% reliability. “The return on investment in an RFID system is guaranteed and always leads to significant labour savings and drastic reductions in customer complaints.”

The flatwork market is providing more opportunities. Tagsys has systems that identify and track bed and table linen throughout the laundry process, helping eliminate the losses of high quality linen.

Multi-read RFID technology makes the inventory process faster and more efficient by reducing the risk of error. Tags can be sewn on to bed or table linen and are scanned by either fixed or mobile readers, which can be set to read the tags in specific configurations.

Tunnel antennae, such as Tagsys TS400, can be mounted over conveyors to read bags of linen as they go through. The tunnels deliver 99.9% accuracy for bags of 50 – 100 tagged items at conveyor speeds of 20 to 30cm/s.

Datamars reports increased demand from established textiles customers who now want to expand their use of the technology.

“As fully vertically integrated RFID provider, we have a proven track record of supplying customised solutions,” says Franz Schöpf.

“We support our existing customer base around the world on their already implemented systems and will discuss ways to generate additional benefits for them.” Datamars also helps them to find extra applications where RFID could give them a competitive advantage.

Fraud at Tagsys says that RFID tags and readers are just part of the solution. The company has developed e-connectware, a suite of centralised administration tools.

It allows IT departments to manage installed systems from RFID hardware to application software.

The various details collected by the readers can be saved to a database and then integrated with other services such as sorting and billing systems.

Tagsys has also introduced the Ario 370L-HL, a button-style RFID tag for care home and hospital markets. It is small enough for personal garments and can be sewn manually or by machine.

The company’s Smart Cabinet SC400 for folded garments provides medical units with a secure and automated method of tracking, dispensing and collecting uniforms.

The Tagsys Smart Chute SCH400 is said to offer a read accuracy of 99.95%. It can be mounted on walls and is used by hotels, casinos, and healthcare units to collect and inventory soiled garments.

Datamars has introduced Orion, its “next generation” high frequency LaundryChip, which is designed to withstand up to 50bar, making it suitable for use in most flatwork laundry processes.

This 15mm chip is shaped to reduce the risk of damage to textiles during ironing. It is heat and chemical resistant and complies with ISO156693 standards.

The Orion is the latest addition to Datamars’ portfolio which includes transponders, readers and antennae. The company’s smallest and thinnest chip, the PersonalChip, has been developed specifically for use on residents’ clothing in nursing and residential homes.

Datamars has also introduced an RFID sorting system, IntelliSort. This provides a sophisticated sorting and sequencing system at a price affordable by mid-size laundries.

Garments can be read from a distance of up to one metre and at speeds of 180 items/minute with 99.7% accuracy, says Datamars.

This combination of speed, accuracy and read range permits sorting and sequencing while the garments remain on standard or long-neck hangers.

This feature is normally associated with high-end systems that use special microchipped “mother hook” hangers. It also avoids garment compaction without requiring expensive controls to allow accurate spacing.

For the future, Fraud at Tagsys sees the hospitality business, medical units and nursing homes as areas where applications will increase. She also believes that there will be more RFID equipment installed at end-user sites as well as at those of their laundry supplier.

Schöpf at Datamars also agrees that there will be greater demand for textile tracking.

“We see a huge potential for RFID in the laundry industry over the next few years, especially the growing flat linen and care homes market sectors. Both represent huge potential for RFID solutions.”

He adds: “It is clear though that tailored solutions are needed to ensure that laundry managers derive as much benefit from RFID as rapidly as possible.”