ELIS

The challenge

There are many different types of linen from hotels, hospitals, swimming pools and linen rental companies. The traditional sorting method is not only labor-intensive and time-consuming, but also entails a series of losses and potential risks. Due to the diversity of the business, many items are missed each year during the laundry process, resulting in considerable losses for the company. For some customers, such as hospitals, due to cross-infection awareness, the number of sheets to be washed cannot be easily counted, leading to commercial disputes with customers when the sheets are handed over.

In addition, it is difficult to effectively monitor the washing process, washing times, stock status and classification of each piece of laundry, which not only risks missing certain items, but also prevents the minimum safety stock for each type of laundry from being guaranteed in good time. As a result, the smooth running of operations and the management of the business are affected.

The solution

To solve these problems, Chainway equips Elis with its RAIN RFID (UHF) reader for intelligent linen management. First, an RFID tag is sewn onto each piece of linen. Laundry staff, using the Mobile computer C72, scan the UHF tags on the linen to capture data on flows such as receiving, transferring, sorting, putting away and counting linen stocks.

At the same time, detailed data for each process is collected automatically and uploaded in real time to the central system via wifi. This enables laundry managers to know the status of each stage of the laundry flow in real time, including wash times, wash costs, the quantity of linen rented and the expenditure of each customer. Deployment of the C72 reader with its self-developed RFID module enables visibility of laundry management and provides real-time data for strategic business management.

The impact

The C72 automatically identifies linen and supports bulk data collection, replacing manual identification, thus significantly improving sorting efficiency and accuracy. Work that used to be carried out by several employees over many hours can now be done by a single person in just a few minutes, considerably improving work efficiency and reducing linen sorting labor costs.

Thanks to the C72, employees can accurately count laundry cleaning times, and the data is uploaded to the system for further analysis, making it possible to effectively predict the lifespan of each piece of linen. The laundry employee can then plan ahead for linen replacement, to ensure sufficient stock levels, reducing replenishment time due to lost or damaged linens.
During the warehouse check-in and check-out process, the Chainway C72 UHF RFID reader can be deployed to collect real-time linen data. This simply helps Elis to achieve inventory management visibility with great efficiency.

Finally, the perfect combination of Chainway C72 and its application software enables efficient tracking of information relating to each piece of fabric and the corresponding responsible person. When fabric is misplaced or lost, managers can trace the time and position of the last disappearance using RFID. This system effectively reduces the risk of loss and theft, avoiding unnecessary economic losses.