Linen Supply: Dyan Troxel, HandCraft Linen Services, Richmond, Va.
An RFID inventory-management system is often used for healthcare linen management at ambulatory and primary care practices, including uniforms and lab coats, customer-owned goods (COG), and other services such as mops and floor mats.
Each item is outfitted with a radio-frequency identification microchip and label. When scanned, the item-specific serial number is transmitted to a computer program. These scans allow commercial laundry specialists to review the data collected and to offer cost savings.
RFID technology improves operational efficiency: The RFID scans with 99.9% accuracy. With each scan, whether at the commercial laundry plant or by a handheld scanner at your facility, you can be assured that your inventory is being tracked for you. These data points can tell you how much linen you are using, giving you a long-term picture of your facility’s needs and fluctuations in use.
RFID technology can decrease costs: You can create customized inventory-tracking reports that identify your usage and trends, allowing you to adapt to your facility’s linen and uniform demands. These reports give you the information needed to eliminate excess inventory that you are paying for or to increase your inventory as your facility grows so that you will not run out.
Making these adjustments, as part of a cost analysis, helps you better predict your monthly linen costs.
RFID technology can reduce losses: The RFID program can prevent losses by helping you pinpoint the source of losses faster. This allows you to create contingency plans to eliminate these costs and save money. The transparent process eliminates hidden fees and mitigates missing items.
RFID technology is safe: RFID chips are non-ferrous (meaning that they do not contain any iron or steel) and are non-magnetizing (meaning they do not create a magnetic field nor are affected by magnetic fields), rendering these chips completely safe for use in healthcare settings and for patients.
There are many benefits of using a healthcare linen-rental service with an RFID inventory-management system. Clean linen is delivered in a timely manner, and medical practices do not have to pay for the full cost of linen supplies or the cost of operating an on-premises laundry. There is no concern about where to store a surplus of linen for just-in-case situations, and there is no risk of supply-chain shortages.
Innovations like RFID eliminate the manual tasks of linen inventory so medical practices can focus on patient care.
Chemicals Supply: Sampson Linus, Ecolab, Woodbury, Minn.
Explaining the benefits of RFID to your C-suite and customers can be very impactful when you focus on the tangible improvements it brings to your operations. Highlighting these key points is important because the benefits of RFID in industrial laundry are significant.
Enhanced Efficiency
The use of RFID tags allows for real-time tracking of linens and garments, which significantly reduces the time spent on manual sorting and inventory management.
RFID technology allows for quicker processing of items by scanning them in bulk instead of individually, thus speeding up the entire laundry process.
Improved Accuracy
RFID helps reduce human errors in tracking and sorting, making it possible to identify and process items correctly.
Real-time data is able to provide accurate information about inventory levels, usage patterns and the life cycle of items.
Cost Savings
The need for manual labor is reduced by automating inventory and tracking processes, which lowers operational costs.
RFID can be a significant cost-saving factor for preventing theft and loss of items.
Enhancing Customer Service
Faster processing times result in faster turnaround for customers, which improves satisfaction.
Customers can always know the status of their items through real-time tracking, which is transparent.
STRATEGIES TO REDUCE INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION COSTS
Conduct a cost-benefit analysis. Analyze the long-term savings and efficiency gains compared to the initial investment to demonstrate ROI to stakeholders.
Begin small and expand to a larger scale. Start with a pilot project in one department or location to assess the system and highlight its benefits prior to a comprehensive rollout.
Determine which tags and readers are appropriate. Passive RFID tags are typically cheaper than active tags, so I prefer to use them because of their affordability. Identify RFID readers that correspond to your design concept.
Vendor negotiation. If you plan on a large-scale implementation in the long term, you can save money by negotiating better pricing with vendors.
Take advantage of the infrastructure that already exists. By integrating RFID with your current systems, you can reduce additional technology interphase costs.
By presenting these benefits and strategies in a clear manner, you can assist your C-suite and customers in comprehending the value of RFID technology and simplifying the investment decision.
Click here to read part 1 with ideas from equipment manufacturing and consulting services experts.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
