By integrating Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags into uniforms, linen and terry, and using a variety of RFID reading equipment, the Uniform Manager and the Linen Manager provide significant labor savings in the processing of these items.
Fujitsu RFID DatasheetWhat is RFID?Why RFID Asset Tracking?Linen Manager and RFIDUniform Manager and RFIDSupported RFID HardwareBarcodesWhat is RFID?
Radio frequency identification, or RFID, is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify individual items. There are several methods of identifying objects using RFID, but the most common is to store a serial number that identifies an item on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag). Unlike Barcodes, RFID does not require line-of-sight. Radio frequencies are used to communicate between the tag and reader. This means that an item can contain its label, its unique identification, on the inside.
RFID tags have been around since the 70s but only recently have the cost per tag become low enough to allow the usage of RFID tags in applications to track Linens and Uniforms.
Also, new developments in UHF tag technologies have extended the tags read range from 12 inches to more than 6 feet with a substantially higher read rate and with greater accuracy.
Why RFID Asset Tracking?
1. Increases control, traceability of high value assets
2. Facilitates operational efficiencies through improved business processes
- Factor of ten reduction in inventory operations
- Allows track/monitor points not previously feasible
3. Ongoing cost savings through
- Inventory reduction
- Reduction of lost or stolen assets
It has been said that “Software is the ‘Secret Sauce’ that makes RFID successful.”
Linen Manager and RFID
The Linen Manager Software employs the new UHF RFID tag, the latest advancements in RFID technologies on the market today. Because of the extended read range of this tag, there is now a real and practical solution for a property’s linen management needs.
As a result, it is now possible to get complete accuracy in tracking linens and terry to your Laundry and back – eliminating the disputes and losses that are so prominent today.
In addition, The Linen Manager Software introduces to the Housekeeping Department a tool that provides the following benefits that were never available before:
1. Asset visibility from purchase to rag-out
2. A reduction of linen & terry purchases
3. Accurate Methods of stocking linen closets
4. Elimination of labor intensive monthly inventories
Now, by just reducing the par levels you currently carry, the funds are available to purchase this system without requiring it to be a budgetary item. It’s simply a matter of reducing current and on- going purchases to lower your par levels by .5 to 3.5 and the system pays for itself in less than one (1) year and saves substantially for every year thereafter.
Uniform Manager and RFID
The Uniform Manager has been designed to use RFID technology to increase the productivity in the uniform department. For example, a laundry chute can be equipped with an RFID reader, allowing the system to automatically know which soiled garments the employee has dropped off for laundering. When the clean garments are returned from the cleaner, the entire rack of garments passes through an RFID portal, and the system is automatically updated.
The Uniform Manager software, through the use of this new RFID tag, can reduce labor in the following ways:
1. Less time and effort involved in processing new uniforms
2. Eliminate handling of soiled garments
3. An increase in employee productivity
4. Streamline many accounting procedures including purchasing, receiving and billing
Supported RFID Tags and Readers
RFID Tags
For usage in uniforms and linens, we recommend "washable" RFID tags, which are specially sealed and durable enough to survive high temperature laundering. Fujitsu's UHF RFID Tag WT-A511/A611 meets those specifications. It is a flexible and durable UHF RFID tag used for commercial and industrial textile applications. Additional specifications are as follows:
UHF technology can read hundreds of tags simultaneouslyUp to 6 foot reading distanceConforms to "ISO/IEC 18000-6 Type C"Cost efficient solution with exceptional durability for washing, drying, dry cleaning, and ironingSmall, soft, flexible material ideal for textiles, clothing, garments and accessories
Fujitsu Frontech North America, Inc. www.fujitsufrontechna.com
RFID Readers and Antennas
Impinj products perform accurately and reliably, with built-in capability to adapt to changing and challenging environments. Impinj has earned a reputation for having the best technology in the industry, created by innovators who have consistently ancticipated, met, and overcome challenges deemed by others as too difficult, while setting new industry standards for quality and reliability.
Handheld RFID Reader
The Convergence CS101 Handheld RFID Reader is a UHF EPC C1G2 handheld RFID reader with industry leading read range and read rate performance to enable ultra fast inventory of cases on pallet, warehouse shelves, moving vehicles, and other tagged items in business processes where fixed reader class performance is required in a portable device
Excellent read range: 7 meters open space, 7-11 meters indoor confined space with AD431 tags
High read rate: typical 150 tags per second for selected Gen2 profiles (peak at 400 tags/s)
Country specific versions in terms of frequency bands
Choice of vertically linear polarized or horizontally linear polarized
Ruggedized design: Drop Test 1.5 meters on 6 surfaces, IP65
