RFID technology has multiple development opportunities for the hospitality sector. From luggage tracking to room keys are possible thanks to this system.
By: Glenn Withiam*
One might think of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags as related to packet distribution systems, but RFID will present an increase in applications for the service industry. In a keynote at QUIS 12, which is the global service improvement conference held at Cornell University, MIT Professor Sanjay Sarma explained the potential for RFID for both goods and services. Professor Sarma has been involved in the development of RFID which is currently priced modestly enough for a wide application.
For retailers of goods, the uses of RFID appear to be relatively straightforward. Each unique RFID tag can be affixed to a product at the time of manufacture. With a label reader it can be read at a distance, even when the products are in packaging or boxes in distribution centers or warehouses.
The main concept is to supply the right inventory to the right store at the right time. By labeling each individual product in inventory, companies can track exactly where their products are located in the distribution chain. Currently, this is a task that involves quite a bit of personnel and is subject to considerable errors, as well as deliberate misappropriation of inventory. In addition, the distribution process has a high level of inefficiency. To ensure that there are no shortages, sellers keep a considerable inventory in reserve, which represents high transportation costs. RFID offers the opportunity to have greater control of distribution logistics.
Multiple applications
Hotel and service businesses can use such technology to help improve operations and reduce costs. Inventory tracking is only one of the uses of this technology, as it can be used to locate and identify any product, or person, when an RFID tag is placed on the person.
Hospitals are an example of one of the operations that uses RFID. They can actually use RFID to track patients moving around the system, as well as record the use and location of equipment and the delivery of pharmacists. Likewise, if a restaurant manager had an RFID tag on each product, they would have a permanent, real-time record of all inventory.
Although you may still want to perform a visual inspection inside the cellar, the deputy manager performing such an inspection may do so more efficiently. Shortages or over-inventories would be quickly identified and this would allow the chef, for example, to make the necessary changes to the menu.
Professor Sarma also suggested ways in which RFID could be useful in hotels (what he calls "smart infrastructure"). In addition to having an automatic inventory count, the professor imagines the use of RFID readers for "smart trucks", baggage tracking and employee registration. One might even think of using RFID sensors to identify water leaks, to check HVAC and utility controls, to program heating activation and cooling by occupancy and to program the activation of corridor lights in the presence of an RFID or to have the automatic operation of blinds and curtains.
When a guest can check in or open a guest room by swiping a cell phone or credit card through a reader, we're talking about the use of RFID. Casinos have applied RFID to identify guests' gaming preferences.
Guest keychains could have RFID, so many of the "smart infrastructure" events could take place. In reality, baggage tagging could be very useful for airlines and hotels, so that better control and identification of luggage is achieved while moving throughout the system.
Although most of today's applications seem to end up in the back room, Professor Sarma reminds us that once we have a technology available, we find ways to use it and it changes the way we do things. In reality, cell phones (and now smartphones) have changed the way we behave. RFID has the potential to also reformulate the distribution system for packaging goods distributors and we will undoubtedly find other ways to use it to improve service processes and eliminate errors.
* Director of Publications for the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research.
