The regalia logistics service,RF Regalia , employing the latest RFID technology, was extended to seven laundry outlets of Vogue Laundry Service and Souvenir Center of the University with a comprehensive logistics and inventory control system. All outlets were fully equipped with RFID devices so that graduates may return conveniently their regalia suits to any of these outlets after attending their congregation ceremony in November 2007. The use of RFID technologies allows seamless synchronization among the records of regalia suits at the outlets and those in the University.
"RF Regalia, a deployment of RFID technologies for regalia management, was the first large-scale application to track regalia operation from ordering, delivery and logistics through a point-of-sale," said Prof S.C. Cheung, Director of HKUST's Cyberspace Center and RFID Benchmarking Lab.
"Co-developed with our partner Schmidt RFID, RF Regalia deployed the latest RFID technologies that conformed to the latest EPC standard. It streamlines the overall regalia handling process streamlined, making it more convenient and efficient," said Prof. Cheung.
"With this project working with Campus Services Office and CyberSpace Center of HKUST, we demonstrated how a retail service outlet fully equipped with RFID at the item level can facilitate a logistics process," said Mr. Matthew Man, General Manager of Schmidt RFID.
"RF Regalia is designed to be user-oriented. It provides users with regalia logistics services, intelligent monitoring and detailed information about the availability of different size of regalia and their accessories in the outlets," said Mr. Man.
All academic regalia suits were RFID-tagged. Unlike traditional barcode systems, RFID reader can now identify numerous RFID tags within a couple of seconds. Tags are designed to suit objects of any shapes, sizes and to survive stringent cleansing procedures.
Most importantly, tags can even be detected accurately with random orientations inside the metallic storage racks. To start with, all academic regalia (not for caps & hoods) are firstly stitched with the specially designed RFID tags before checking out in 2007. Each tag identifies a regalia suit and a graduate. Therefore, the inventory of regalia can be duly updated. Graduates who have not returned their regalia suits can also be easily located. Besides,RF Regalia allows the Campus Services Office to work out the expenses and payment statement for the laundry service with the company.
With the launch of the internet-based graduation service system in 2002, graduates can place and check their regalia order at home before the date of congregation. After congregation, graduates may return their regalia suits to the Souvenir Center of the University, or to designated laundry shops in Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New territories. A reliable RF Regalia system, which enhances the efficiency in handling flow of regalia suits across the storage area, laundry shops, and graduates, is crucial to the effective management of regalia.RF Regalia were well received by HKUST graduates. It greatly reduced the processing time of regalia collection at the outlets. Moreover, graduates did not need to complete lengthy forms manually at the outlets any more when they returned their regalia suits.
HKUST has been studying the deployment of RFID technologies to streamline regalia logistics and outlet services since 2006. HKUST has determined to leverage its edge of item-level tag data to deliver a user-oriented experience. This intensive study covers a variety of applications, which include:
Regalia pick-up and return
Fixed readers tracking real-time outlet floor inventory
An intelligent mechanism monitoring showing complementary regalia choices or accessories
Smart Shelves with monitors indicating available regalia size and style choices
RFID-enabled point-of-sale terminals delivering efficient checkout and back office management
Back-office regular or real-time inventory management among different outlets
RFID Benchmarking Lab herein expresses special thanks to Schmidt RFID for their full support in the middleware, hardware and logistics support in RF Regalia's the development and deployment.
