RFID in Uniforms and Related Services

Any commercial laundromat that has ever serviced a uniform supplier knows the difficulty of laundering and tracking every single item in a large uniform order. Therefore, RFID is also being used in uniform services to enable accurate item-level inventory control while controlling labor costs. Being able to provide reliable inventory status updates is of considerable benefit to uniform suppliers, helping to reduce garment shrinkage and optimize garment lifecycle management. Given the size of many consolidated orders, RFID-enhanced visibility can also help commercial laundries improve storage efficiency and billing accuracy, thereby increasing profitability. In addition, textile end-of-life tracking has been improved using RFID. Some of the more rugged RFID tracking solutions will last up to 200 laundry cycles, able to withstand the harsh conditions of commercial washing and drying. This allows for more efficient rag detection and textile replacement management, ensuring that textiles are discarded when they are no longer used.
“RFID-enhanced visibility can also help commercial laundries improve storage efficiency and billing accuracy.”
“Some of the more robust RFID tracking solutions will last up to 200 laundry cycles.”
Proven RFID Solutions

With RFID technology, industrial and commercial laundries can reap real-time asset return traceability and inventory management to save time, reduce costs and streamline operations. However, not all RFID solutions are equally suited to meet the needs of the commercial laundry industry. With CiLink, solution provider Century Europe offers advanced RFID technology tailored specifically for the laundry industry. The Cilink range offers proven solutions designed to provide superior support and performance and meet the different requirements of the laundry process.
The latest addition to the product line is the TexSilicon Fabric Laundry Tag with a durable design for cost-effective RFID tracking of individual laundry items. These soft, flexible, thin fabric labels provide reliable performance in high temperature, high pressure bulk laundry processes. Designed to withstand sterilizing heat and pressure, Texslicon RFID tags are IP68 rated, certified against water and chemicals commonly found in commercial laundry and dry cleaning processes, and proven to withstand up to 200 wash cycles.
TexSilicon tags generate valuable data about individual assets and are easy to use, allowing laundry suppliers to implement new business models to improve profitability. In addition, the label’s fabric and silicone design allows for personalized printing for corporate brand recognition. While some RFID tags require close-range reading, Texslicon tags can be read from as far as three meters away, enabling batch reading capabilities for fast and accurate data collection. For example, uniforms or linen can be bulk-scanned while they are in laundry bags to confirm the number of items when they are removed to reduce losses. This feature even enables laundries to charge per item rather than per pound, enabling a more profitable business model and a higher return on investment. Using CiLink RFID products and Texslicon laundry tags, commercial laundries and their customers can get affordable and specialized solutions to solve industrial laundry problems, which can improve operational efficiency, reduce losses, reduce labor costs, and improve customer satisfaction.