Hilton Hotel in Saudi Arabia Achieves 99% Linen Accuracy with Acube RFID Linen Management System
About Client
An eminent Hilton Hotel in Saudi Arabia collaborated with Acube Infotech for implementing an RFID based system for managing linens in the hotel. The management of thousands of bed sheets, towels, pillow cases, bathrobes, and other linens had become difficult because of manual counting and loss of linens at various locations within the hotel.
The RFID based Linen Management System was designed by Acube Infotech to provide a solution to the above problems faced by the hotel.
The Challenge
This particular hotel, similar to most hospitality businesses, relied on manual methods for tracking the movement of linen throughout housekeeping, laundry, storage, and external laundry facilities. This was not only inefficient in its own right but created inefficiencies in the form of manually counting linens, mismatching actual versus recorded inventory levels, and misplacing linens on an ongoing basis. In addition, it made tracking linen lifecycles and washing cycles more difficult, leading to inefficiency and delays in housekeeping because of unavailability of linen stock. Overall, these inefficiencies led to higher costs of linen replacements owing to losses, poor visibility throughout the process of linen cleaning and washing cycles, and inefficient and lengthy inventory audits. Real-time linen tracking would help in balancing the availability of linen stocks with cost control something that is quite typical in hospitality businesses with high volume of linen turnovers.
Acube’s RFID Solution
Acube Infotech implemented an all encompassing RFID Linen Management Solution that was customized for hotels to solve end to end visibility and control issues. It entailed RFID washable laundry tags, which helped identify linens and track their entire lifecycle in a scalable way. RFID readers were fixed at key operational checkpoints for capturing automatic batch level movements of the linens, whereas RFID handheld readers were used to help facilitate faster and more accurate inventory auditing and spot checking. All the information was aggregated in an integrated linen management software system for use in decision making through real time dashboards and reports. The solution also provided automated inventory reconciliation to minimize manual errors and effort. Furthermore, the system could help track linen lifecycle and wash cycle in detail. The architecture of the solution was also geared towards future integration of ERP and PMS systems employed in hotels’ operation.
How the System Works
Linen Registration
Every item of linen is allocated a specific RFID laundry tag associated with category, size, purchasing particulars, and lifecycle.
Laundry Sorting
As clean and dirty linens go through the RFID scanners, hundreds of items get scanned automatically in seconds without the need to count them manually.
Housekeeping Delivery
Housekeeping staff gets linen carts counted accurately so that there will always be enough linen available for guest rooms.
Linen Inventory
The system continuously monitors the flow of linen from:
- Laundry
- Linen Store
- Housekeeping
- Guest Rooms
- Collection Points
- Inventory Audit
Manual audits which took hours to conduct are now done in minutes with handheld RFID scanners.
Advantages for Business
After implementing the system, the following results were observed at the Hilton hotel:
- Increased speed in linen receiving and sending
- Increased accuracy of the inventory
- Reduced need for counting manually
- Full visibility of linen flows
- Decrease in the cost of linen replacements
- Greater accountability between the departments
- Increased efficiency of inventory checks
- Increased efficiency of housekeeping activities
- Reduction of operational delays
- Better planning for linen procurement and replacements
The RFID system has been proved to increase inventory accuracy, decrease counting time, and provide better visibility of operations at hotels.
Major Features
- RFID washable laundry labels
- Bulk reading of RFID with high-speed processing
- Real time visibility of inventories
- Life cycle management of linens
- Management of wash cycles
- Loss prevention and accountability
- Inventory reconciliation
- Dashboard and analytics
- Audit reports
- Multi-location inventory management
Technologies Employed
- RFID Washable Laundry Tags
- RFID UHF Fixed Readers
- RFID Handheld Readers
- RFID Antennas
- Linen Management Software
- Real Time Reporting Dashboard
Results
With the implementation of Acube’s RFID Linen Management Solution, there have been notable improvements in operations in terms of accuracy, efficiency, and controls. There have been 99% accuracy rates in linen inventory, with manual counts being greatly minimized through automation. Audit time for inventory reduced by more than 80%. which allows for faster and more efficient audits. Total visibility of the movement of linens throughout all the touchpoints in the hotel, which minimizes the risk of linen thefts and losses. It help to increase in efficiency among housekeeping activities due to increased accessibility of linens alongside other operational efficiencies within the hotel.
Why Acube RFID Solution
Acube Infotech has developed specialized RFID systems specifically for the hospitality industry that provide intelligent asset visibility and operational automation. With the RFID Linen Management System hotels can save money, get rid of manual processes. enhance inventory management and ensure having proper linen at hand when necessary.
From managing one hotel to managing several hotels, Acube Infotech’s versatile RFID system will help any hospitality enterprise become more efficient and provide a better experience for guests.
For optimizing your hotel operations and avoiding any unnecessary inefficiencies in your linen management system, you need to go ahead and automate this process. The RFID Linen Management System from Acube Infotech provides you with a solution for real time tracking, increased accuracy in inventory and full control of the linen flow in your hotel. Regardless of whether you run one hotel or several hotels in your hospitality chain, we have a solution for you to minimize any losses, increase the effectiveness of your housekeeping and conduct smooth auditing. Contact Acube Infotech now to learn more about our Hotel RFID solutions.