January 9-11, 2025, H World Group continuously held two successful activities entitled “Equipping Linen with Chips through the City”, arousing common attention in the laundry industry, especially those from global linen laundry factories.
History of H World Group
H World Group was established in 2005. It is a world-famous hotel management group and one of the fastest-growing hotel groups in the world. According to the latest rank posted by American magazine HOTELS in 2024, H World Group ranked 5th in the top 221 global hotel management groups in 2023.
In 2010, H World Group was successfully listed on NASDAQ. In September 2020, H World Group achieved a secondary listing on the Mainboard of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In January 2020, H World Group completed the wholly-owned acquisition of Deutsche Hotels Group (DH), Germany’s largest local.
These activities focus on upgrading the linen in the H World Group’s hotels.
Traditional Laundry Mode
Currently, the competition in the hotel laundry industry is very fierce. Customers have higher requirements for the service so linen management is crucial.
In the traditional mode, each link of linen circulation relies on manual or simple manual data transmission, which makes it easy to detect the quantity difference and loss.
Also, it is impossible to track the number of washing and damage in real-time and is easy to lead to excessive washing and overdue use of linen, which increases the cost and damages the reputation of the hotel.
❑ In terms of cost, the labor cost of some laundry plants accounts for 30%-40% of the total operating cost. Sorting and quality inspection consume a lot of manpower so it is difficult to ensure washing quality, turnover efficiency, and life.
❑ In terms of digitalization, many small and medium-sized laundry factories do not have perfect IT systems so it is difficult to give customers digital reports and connect with the hotel group platform, which may lead to an elimination crisis.
RFID Linen Program
H World Group hit the pain point directly and launched the initiative “Equipping Linen with Chips through the City” that is, the RFID linen program.
❑ Benefits
In real-time tracking and batch inventory, RFID technology scans linen 90% or more faster than manual. Although it is difficult to achieve 100% accuracy, path tracking can ensure the accuracy of the data. There is no need to align the label, the key station layout reader can accurately locate the linen, and the distribution accuracy is 100%. In terms of reducing loss and mistakes, automatic check-in and out of the warehouse and security gate equipment can warn against unauthorized outflow.
The scheme can extend the life of the linen, finely collect statistics of washing and damage information, help judge the time of replenishment or scrapping, and optimize the process according to the data to balance cleaning and loss. For customers, washing records are presented in real time to enhance satisfaction and brand value.
❑ Procedures
The implementation of RFID linen project steps are rigorous.
● Choose chips and linen.
● Pick high-temperature-resistant, waterproof, anti-corrosion RFID tags
● Choose fabrics that are washable and easy to insert into the chip
● Select the corners or seams as embedding locations and fix them with a sewing machine or hot pressing process (small batch test first.)
● The RFID system selection ( Buying a mature third-party system is conducive to data interoperability and competitiveness when docking with the platforms of large hotel groups.)
❑ Automation and Digital Intelligence
In terms of automatic transformation of the folder, automatic sorting equipment is set up at the back end of the folder. The linen is stacked and packed according to the linen information. If quality classification is required, multiple conveyor belts work with induction equipment to improve sorting accuracy.
Washing information is imported into the MES system, according to which machines and manpower are scheduled. An electronic display board is set up on-site to display progress, which is conducive to process optimization.
Data intelligent management uses data for intelligent scheduling and accurate billing.
❑ Data Analysis
Mining the value of data and strengthening cooperation with hotels are also key. Use data to predict linen life, optimize costs, provide real-time information to the hotel platform, improve service levels, and build competition barriers.
There are, of course, implementation challenges. People should:
● train employees to adapt to the new equipment system
● set up assessment incentives
● Build a strong data security line
● reserve interface development and maintenance fees.
Conclusion
H World Group’s campaign is an opportunity for the laundry plant to move towards digital intelligence and unmanned. Global laundry factories need to follow H World Group’s pace and do a good job of connecting all links in order to break through in the competition and achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement goals. All practitioners should seize the opportunity to create a new chapter in the industry.
Post time: Jan-30-2025