USC Deploys RFID Furniture Inventory System to Optimize Furniture Management
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The University of Southern California (USC) deployed an RFID system to track the location and status of 60,000 pieces of furniture and appliances. Previously, these inventory counts were usually carried out by temporary workers during the summer.
Leo R. Boese, special projects manager for the USC Office of Housing, said that thanks to this Virginia-based technology company Simply RFID providesRFIDsystem, schools can know the location of assets and reduce error rates. The school says furniture moves frequently and often is no longer where it should be. By using hand-held RFID readers, employees can know when, how often, and where the furniture is being moved. In this way, the school also reduces over-purchasing caused by lost furniture.
USC is a private school in Los Angeles. The school has 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students, most of whom live in dorms, suites and apartments. These places are equipped with chairs, tables and beds, and the apartments are additionally equipped with refrigerators and other furniture and appliances. Previously, school housing office staff would go to each room at the start of school to take a furniture inventory and record what was missing or in need of repair. Often, an inventory will reveal a lot of missing furniture.
In 2011, the school partnered with Simply RFID to deploy the RFID system NoxVault, which uses passive UHF RFID tags with built-in Avery Dennison AD-223 inlays, Convergence’s CS101 handheld reader, and a Simply RFID’s NoxCore data management software.
In the summer of 2012, USC hired six temporary workers to attach RFID tags to all assets and enter data from those assets into NoxCore software. In total, they flagged 63,943 assets for chairs, sofas, refrigerators, and bed frames, Boese said. At the same time, the software also assigns a unit number to each object.
Beginning in the fall of 2012, the school began equipping housing health and safety inspectors with CS101 readers. These inspectors come into rooms every semester (usually during the holidays) to check smoke detectors, appliances and electrical plug status. Now, they also need to use RFID readers to read asset inventory information. The reader can read 90 tags per second at a range of 20 feet.
After entering the room, the inspector uses the handheld device to select the room number, read the room furniture tag and compare it to the furniture list. When an item is found missing or abnormal, employees can mark it in the software.
Boese said that after a period of research, the school found a way to use RFID data and filter out unnecessary information.
During the 2013-2014 school year, the school began collecting data on the longevity of specific furniture. That way, Boese says, schools can source products that have a longer lifespan. Thanks to these longevity data, schools can also make purchases before furniture is about to break down.
Boese said the project is expected to pay for itself within three years, based on the labor savings.
RFID technology is the most useful mobile asset management tool, Boese said, and it’s not so useful for tracking items that don’t move frequently. He added that the school shared the results of these projects with other schools. The Office of Public Safety is planning to deploy RFID technology monitoring equipment.
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