How can I sort goods during the washing process?

Whether it concerns retrieving “strange” items in a pile of organisation-specific items, usage and/or stock management of linen or returning residential laundry; the demand and development with regard to process management, registration and knowing what it in circulation is taking flight. Laundry services are becoming better in improving, expanding and refining processes. 

In order to work intricately, using RFID chips in garments is increasingly common. This supports collection, distribution, laundry and sorting processes. It is becoming the new normal.

How do you best organise residential laundry?

To help informal caregivers, residential laundry is increasingly outsourced to in-house or external laundry services. But how do they make sure it is returned to the right people? Traditionally, all garments were returned in laundry bags with a laundry note or laundry nets. To keep the laundry together, it stays in the laundry net during the washing process. Alternatively, the number of items per laundry bag is counted before washing and then sorted manually before returning to the respective owners. When using laundry nets that go into the laundry machine unopened, a lot of time is required for ironing and pressing, since all items are in the same bag and go through the same programme, regardless of washing process, colour and washing instructions. When provided with a bar code or chip, each laundry item takes its own route through the laundry process after sorting, which saves time at the end. This vouches in favour of using a chip.

Which way of working can you best use to optimally organise residential laundry, without losing track of what needs to be returned to who in the process?

For years, integrating a barcode in the clothes of residents was common practice. Upon arrival at the laundry service, clothes are registered (sometimes manually) with a scanner, before going through the washing process. 

More recently, the use of RFID chips was introduced. High Frequency (HF) RFID chips were still (manually) scanned piece by piece, but already a bit faster and does not need to be scanned as close to the label as is the case with bar codes. 

Nowadays, the Ultra High  Frequency (UHF) RFID made its appearance. With this technology, clothes can be scanned quickly and in bulk. The entire laundry bag with laundry is registered in one move. In both types of RFID, invoicing can be linked to the method of scanning data.

A subsequent step is to track the location of clothes, duvets and operating room garments in the distribution, collection and/or washing process, regardless of whether they are customer or organisation specific or property of the laundry service.

This way, you always know what is in circulation, what needs to be restocked and what has been in possession of the client or in the laundry for a long period of time.

Do you want to know more about the possibilities of RFID and the benefits that it can offer to your business or organisation? Please contact us.