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Resort Uses RFID to Track Uniforms
Fallsview Casino Resort will track up to 40,000 garments as they are assigned to staff members, laundered and then returned, using InvoTech's UHF RFID and conveyor solution.
By Claire Swedberg
Aug. 29, 2011—This week, employees at the Fallsview Casino Resort, located in Niagara Falls, Canada, are sewing ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification tags into tens of thousands of garments comprising employee uniforms, as part of a system that will provide visibility into the cleaning and reissuing of the outfits to workers, as well as automating a portion of that process. The solution is slated to be taken live next month (see RFID News Roundup: Fallsview Casino Resort Selects RFID to Track Uniforms).
RFID readers located in the facility's laundry area will track when each uniform is sent to be cleaned, along with the time of laundering and when that garment is ready for reuse. Conveyors will transport the clean uniforms to locking windows outside the laundry area, to be picked up by the resort's 3,500 restaurant, hotel and casino workers at the beginning of each shift. Not only will this improve the efficiency of providing staff members with uniforms, but it will also allow the resort to manage how often the garments are laundered, and when they need to be replaced.
Fallsview Casino Resort is the latest customer to employ the GIMS UHF-RFID tracking system, provided by California uniform and linen efficiency technology firm InvoTech Systems. The GIMS solution consists of UHF tags sewn into each uniform, as well as readers and software to manage data from those devices. The resort has initially purchased 40,000 of InvoTech's Fujitsu Frontech North America rubber-encapsulated labels for this purpose. Each tag, according to Jeff Welles, InvoTech's VP has a unique ID number that is linked in the GIMS software to the particular type of item, as well as its laundering history.
The resort's solution also includes Impinj Speedway Revolution readers, along with AN720 and AN480 antennas from Motorola Solutions, for tracking uniforms' locations. What makes the system unique is the use of the RFID system with conveyor technology, from White Conveyors, that operates with the GIMS software to provide employees with their uniforms without the need for assistance from co-workers.
At the time that the new tags are attached, a staff member utilizes an Impinj reader to interrogate each tag ID. The reader is wired to the resort's back-end system, where InvoTech's GIMS software stores the tag's unique ID. A worker then uses a drop-down menu to select which type of item it is—such as a shirt, jacket or trousers—as well as its size, and to enter a stock-keeping unit (SKU) number.
Uniforms are then assigned to specific employees. As each staff member receives his or her uniform, the garment first passes over a reader antenna built into a counter, and the recipient's name is input into the system. From that point on, that worker will continue to use that specific uniform, and as each shift ends, he or she can simply drop the soiled garment down a chute.
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Aug. 29, 2011—This week, employees at the Fallsview Casino Resort, located in Niagara Falls, Canada, are sewing ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) radio frequency identification tags into tens of thousands of garments comprising employee uniforms, as part of a system that will provide visibility into the cleaning and reissuing of the outfits to workers, as well as automating a portion of that process. The solution is slated to be taken live next month (see RFID News Roundup: Fallsview Casino Resort Selects RFID to Track Uniforms).
RFID readers located in the facility's laundry area will track when each uniform is sent to be cleaned, along with the time of laundering and when that garment is ready for reuse. Conveyors will transport the clean uniforms to locking windows outside the laundry area, to be picked up by the resort's 3,500 restaurant, hotel and casino workers at the beginning of each shift. Not only will this improve the efficiency of providing staff members with uniforms, but it will also allow the resort to manage how often the garments are laundered, and when they need to be replaced.
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| Upon picking up a laundered uniform at the beginning of each day, a worker first presents his or her proximity card to a reader situated at one of four "U-Pick-It" doors (there is one conveyor per door), located outside the laundry area. |
Fallsview Casino Resort is the latest customer to employ the GIMS UHF-RFID tracking system, provided by California uniform and linen efficiency technology firm InvoTech Systems. The GIMS solution consists of UHF tags sewn into each uniform, as well as readers and software to manage data from those devices. The resort has initially purchased 40,000 of InvoTech's Fujitsu Frontech North America rubber-encapsulated labels for this purpose. Each tag, according to Jeff Welles, InvoTech's VP has a unique ID number that is linked in the GIMS software to the particular type of item, as well as its laundering history.
The resort's solution also includes Impinj Speedway Revolution readers, along with AN720 and AN480 antennas from Motorola Solutions, for tracking uniforms' locations. What makes the system unique is the use of the RFID system with conveyor technology, from White Conveyors, that operates with the GIMS software to provide employees with their uniforms without the need for assistance from co-workers.
At the time that the new tags are attached, a staff member utilizes an Impinj reader to interrogate each tag ID. The reader is wired to the resort's back-end system, where InvoTech's GIMS software stores the tag's unique ID. A worker then uses a drop-down menu to select which type of item it is—such as a shirt, jacket or trousers—as well as its size, and to enter a stock-keeping unit (SKU) number.
Uniforms are then assigned to specific employees. As each staff member receives his or her uniform, the garment first passes over a reader antenna built into a counter, and the recipient's name is input into the system. From that point on, that worker will continue to use that specific uniform, and as each shift ends, he or she can simply drop the soiled garment down a chute.
