In Norway, St Olavs University Hospital in Trondheim has begun using RFID tags to improve its logistics operations and achieve operational savings of several million Kroner in its garment and laundry operations.

     St Olavs Hospital is a large modern university hospital in Trondheim, Norway. As one of the country''s top six hospitals, it provides healthcare services to over 650,000 inhabitants and also conducts medical research. St Olavs has over 7,500 employees and some 1,200 beds spread over a large site. It treats some 50,000 patients every year and acts as both a local and national centre of excellence for a very wide variety of medical conditions. 116.30.192.184 This article is copyright 2007 UsingRFID.com.

Major laundry challenge
     As a result of its size, the hospital uses over 130,000 work garments such as operating gowns, robes, trousers etc in its medical and research operations. Managing such as large number of work garments can be a major problem and cost.

     Traditionally, garments are supplied on hangers (which are bulky, difficult to handle and require lots of storage space). And a lack of real-time management data on stock levels means that stocks often run low or even run out completely, causing unnecessary disruption to operations while staff try to find the correct garment in the right size.

     Staff normally have to fill in paper-based forms to register for garments so that wards can be charged for laundry services etc., and this can waste valuable staff time and reduce overall efficiency.

RFID system design
     The challenge was to design a system that would provide real-time data on garment logistics as they move from laundry to storage cabinets in the hospital and out to the wards and individual users, and back to the laundry. Any tracking system had to be easy to use by staff using their existing ID cards and robust enough to withstand the harsh conditions of laundry processing with its high temperatures and pressures and rough treatment.

     Since the garments are stored in piles rather than on bulky hangers, the tags have to be readable even when garments are folded and stacked on top of each other. The new system also had to provide automatic re-ordering of garments when stock levels in any size fall below set levels, plus automatic logging of each ward''s garment usage so that wards can be accurately charged for their laundry services.

Finally, the system had to deliver substantial overall cost savings to the hospital - in terms of both space savings and operational savings.

System developer selected
     St Olavs Hospital chose Texi AS, also based in Trondheim, to provide consultancy and system design services based on their Texi logistics and wardrobe management system already proven in other applications. Texi are a world leader in electronic garment management systems.

     Texi proposed a system based on intelligent RFID-enabled garment closets of their own design plus RFID tags attached to each garment to meet all the Hospital''s requirements.

Early tag trials
     Trials were conducted to determine which tags had the highest read accuracy under harsh laundry conditions over large numbers of cycles, and which tags could be read reliably when tagged garments are stacked closely in piles in the closets.

     As a result of the trials, Texi found that Texas Instruments'' ''laundry tags'' had highest read accuracy and reliability of any tags tested, especially when subjected to the harsh environment of the laundry process. Their multi-read capability also allowed the multiple tags to be accurately read even when garments are stacked in piles.

Intelligent closets
     The solution proposed by Texi AS was a complete garment logistics management system that uses intelligent RFID closets and special RFID tags developed by Texas Instruments (TI). These encapsulated tags (Type RF-HDT-DVBB-N0 with 2kbit R/W memory) are especially designed for laundry operations.

     In operation, an RFID laundry tag is attached to each garment. Each tag is pre-programmed with a unique identity linked to a database holding data on garment type, size etc. Clean garments from the laundry are placed in rows of specially designed garment closets each equipped with built-in RFID antennas.

     The intelligent closets automatically read the chips on each garment and so know exactly what they contain (i.e. 35 robes size M, 59 trousers size M etc). They also detect when garments are added or removed, and the inventory continuously updated on the main hospital database in real-time. If garment stocks fall below pre-set levels, orders are automatically sent over the network to refill them to ensure garments are always available in the correct types and sizes.

Tag lifecycle
     The ruggedised TI tags remain on the garments during the entire laundry process and can withstand the very high temperatures, pressures and rough treatment found in the laundry.

     A major feature is that the tags allow bulk reading of garments even though they are stored folded and in piles. This results in major space and cost savings compared to other competing solutions where garments have to be transported and stored individually on hangers.

     To collect garments, staff access the closets using their ID cards and simply remove the required garments which are immediately and automatically registered to that employee and their ward. Each cabinet is clearly labelled with the type of garments it contains so staff can quickly find the required items. After use, staff simply return the garments to any garment bin in the hospital and the RFID tags are again automatically read and the returned garments correctly credited to the relevant ward - all without any paperwork or form filling.

Remote supervision
     A supervisor with a PC connected to the server has a complete overview of garment stocks in the many garment closets and store rooms around the hospital at all times providing improved stock visibility and logistics management.

     According to Texi, one of the main challenges was to find RFID tags that could provide high readability even when subject to the high temperatures, pressures and conditions found in the laundry processes.

     St Olavs Hospital actively participated in the development of the final solution and has already installed more than 100 intelligent closets in 10 different garment storage rooms around the site. Further expansion is also underway.

Cost savings
     The hospital management authority expects savings of over 40 million Norwegian Kroner in space savings alone, plus further on-going savings of some 15-18 million Kroner in operational costs (due mainly to more efficient data collection for improved logistics management, automated ordering, and time-savings because garments are quicker to find).

     Initial findings are that the hospital''s staff are happy with the new system because it means that garments are always available in their size, and form-filling is replaced with a simple ''swipe and go'' card that is quicker and easier to use.

 

 

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