How RFID Technology is Elevating Business Asset Tracking and Management

Radio Frequency Identification technology, commonly known as RFID, has started to scale into the operational systems of a wide variety of companies that have a need to accurately track multiple assets in large volumes.

The real-time information that is capable through this wireless technology can help companies reduce costs, enhance manpower time and efficiency, increase accuracy, and improve overall production performance.

The technology is enabled using RFID tags (attached to inventory or equipment) and an RFID reader, which receives and broadcasts information. These RFID readers have the ability to scan multiple tags at the same time, assuring fast and accurate inventory auditing and management as the errors and mistakes of manual inventory keeping are immediately eliminated.

One of my roles as Chief Operations Officer for Kinetic RFID, an innovative provider of asset tracking technology to the hospitality industry, has given me first hand experience to how RFID technology can impact operations processes, and a company’s bottom-line.

Let’s look at hotels and the hospitality industry. One of the largest expenses within these venues is the cost of towels, sheets and related linens. The ability to manage linen loss as it circulates around the hotel, leaves the property for laundry servicing and returns presents a huge challenge. Linen losses and depletion in inventory negatively impacts budgets and revenue, and can also disrupt the customer experience through inefficient allocation of items. By automating the process with the placement of an RFID chip on every towel and piece of linen, manual errors are eliminated and linen inventory can quickly and precisely be tracked and audited in real-time throughout the hotel.

When the tracking of assets is automated with RFID technology, a hotel or any business immediately benefits from access to the live information about the location and movement of each and every asset. Instant audits will show managers exactly where an item is at any given time, which also helps reduce loss through theft. It also guarantees accurate distribution of each item to its proper place.

The level of accuracy that RFID is bringing into company asset management is immediate and indisputable: optimization of operational systems and ROI through stabilizing losses and large-scale replacement costs.

You can get more information on RFID technology and processes at KineticRFID.com

Motivating Employees and Maintaining a Healthy Work Environment

Many employers struggle to find ways to motivate employees that do to require a lot of time or money. There are many options depending on your business and your resources, but here are some super easy was to help your employees feel more motivated, appreciated, and willing to work.

• Create a nice atmosphere. Your employees will spend a lot of their waking hours in the office building so you need to make is as comfortable as possible.  Keeping employees comfortable goes a long way in making them happy and productive.
• Brighten up wall space. Use the walls of your office and building in an effective manner. Post announcements, community events, local sales and discounts, or motivational posters on the walls. Staring at blank walls all the time can be so boring so brighten up the place some.
• Use food as incentive. Don't underestimate how having smaller breaks throughout the day can motivate people to work and make their work time more productive. Also using food in seminars and training can go a long way, too, in getting employees involved and keeping them motivated.
• Recognize employees individually. If an employee has gone above and beyond their job or if they have done wonderful work, you need to take the time to recognize them on a personal level. Stop by and congratulate them, or ask them to your office to praise them in person.
• Recognize employees for group work. Just as it is important for individuals, groups need to get a word of praise when they do a good job. For any and every department, you need to make time to say a special word of thanks to the hard working teams in your business.
• Create social events. Having a few times during the working year for special social events can really help people relax, get to know each other, and have some fun. People are more excited to get involved and work together in the office when they’re on good terms outside of the office.
• Keep attitudes in check. This goes for the attitudes of the employees as well as the customers. Sometimes the customer is not always right and you should stand behind your team when they are doing their job and suffering from the undeserved attitude of impossible-to-please customers.
• Consider your approach. Whether it’s delivering bad news, reprimanding employees, or any other task you face involving your employees, your approach can make all the difference. Take the time to consider how you are approaching the situation before you say or do anything.
• Evaluate difficult employees quickly. One of the most important things to do when faced with a difficult employee is to act quickly. Often you will be faced with complaints or a crisis that must be addressed immediately, such as someone falling asleep on the job or not performing up to standards.
• Choose employees and establish teams wisely. The personality and character traits of your potential employees also need to be carefully examined before you hire them. You should have a list of the desired character traits in mind so you can easily evaluate whether or not an employee is a good fit both for your needs as well as a good fit for your company culture.

Whether you have five employees or five hundred working for you, apply these simple yet powerful principles into your management plans and you'll soon see how more effective your business can be.