The document summarizes testing done to develop a new type of table linen with RFID chips glued on using "Shoe Goo" glue. Extensive washing tests were conducted at 60 and 90 degrees Celsius up to 240 wash cycles. The chips remained firmly attached even as the fabrics deteriorated. This demonstrates the glue can withstand industrial laundering processes and validate the RFID table linen solution.

1. Rajko Šrimpf, BB Six Sigma, DFSS, TRIZ Level 3, Applied Reliability, August 2014
Designed with the Acclaro DFSS 5.2 and Minitab 16.2.4.0
Second take...

2. IDENTIFY

3. Project name: RFID Table Linen For The Industrial Laundries
Project overview:
The scope of this project is to design new type of table linen with the RFID chips. This innovation allows laundries
to automate counting of the linen.
Problem statement:
Current problems with the industrial laundries is that they lease the linen to hotels and restaurant and then
count the goods by hand. Automated counting of the linen will save time and money on manpower and inventory.
Customers/Stakeholders:
The RFID chips table linen will appeal only to large industrial laundries who do hotels & restaurants and have
standard linen and of course can afford the investment into scanners and software technology needed to run the
laundry at optimum efficency.

4. Goal of the Project:
The goal of the project is to design new table linen with RFID chips for laundries, where this technology has
been put to good use for many years or so, so it‘s prowen technology.
Scope Statement:
The most important thing is not to change the product to acomodate the RFID chip.

5. DEFINE

6. Let‘s see 9 Screen regarding linen type, usage and procesing in laundries
Tunel scanner scaning linen on the conveyor belt.* Round scanner scaneing the linen in a bag.*
* Copyright Positek, http://www.positekrfid.com/

7. S-Curve of the cotton table linen
We see that we are at the end of the S-curve. The last adding feature are RFID chips.

8. Tunel washer*
Press extractor*
Dryer*
Ironer*
Standard big industrial laundry equipement
for washing and ironing of the table linen:
If I was setting up a new laundry with the standard dimension linen, I would have put on all items RFID chips, but not
napkins and sort them by sucking device. How many people sort your linen? How do you count your inventory and lost
linen?
Restaurants
Vacum sorting of the dirty
linen with the RFID tags.
Laundries in the USA do this
several years allready.
* Copyright Kannegiesser, http://www.kannegiesser.com/
Some laundries don‘t
dry table linen, they go
direct on the ironer.

9. The Future of the Laundry Industry
We have designed VOC with the CTQ regarding to the competition:

10. DESIGN

11. So last year I did part of this project, but the results we‘re not what I have hoped for. So let‘s see how well chips stick to
linen with the waterproof glue and tape at 60 degrees Celsius and 1400 rpm water extracting:
We see that 50 % chips fail before 12 wash cyclus!
2520151050
100
80
60
40
20
0
Wash cyclus to fail
Percent
50
Shape 2,48510
Scale 12,7346
Mean 11,2973
StDev 4,86015
Median 10,9884
IQ R 6,80987
A D* 3,740
C orrelation 0,963
Table of Statistics
Survival Plot for Start
Arbitrary Censoring - LSXY Estimates
Weibull
2520151050
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0,0
Cyclus
Rate
Shape 2,48510
Scale 12,7346
Mean 11,2973
StDev 4,86015
Median 10,9884
IQ R 6,80987
A D* 3,740
C orrelation 0,963
Table of Statistics
Hazard Plot for Start
Arbitrary Censoring - LSXY Estimates
Weibull
The removal rate is accelerateing.
So this was the solution with thermic tape and waterpoof glue. It failed all the
way to only 23 wahes. This is realy not the solution to use at all.

12. So let‘s use TRIZ to find fout why has the technology failed! Funny thing or so. I completley forgot about this project for a
year. Then I got inspired by a cup of coffee! You know I broke off the handle of the cup and glued it with this waterpoof
glue. And forgot about that. Few months later I was drinking on my balcony in the morning coffee from the same cup. And
then it occured to me. Why is handle after more then 20 washes still holding on to the cup? What is so different in dish
washer then in laundry washer?
So the handle is still on?

13. So let‘s do the Root-Cause-Analysis
Table linen A cup
So we have to find a glue that is strong and waterproof but still flexible enough thus preventing breaking under
force applied in laundry machine. So by the law of TRIZ there is a 95 % chance that somebody in some other field of
use allready solved your problem. But where and how? There are new developement in TRIZ like I-TRIZ, BioTRIZ and
so on. This solution was created by a classical TRIZ aproach.

14. So we need:
• good glueing propertis between textile-glue and plastic-glue,
• need to be waterproof and high temperature water resitant,
• flexible to compensate on the forcers applied on glue,
• extremly durable against wear and tear,
• cheap solution.
I have conducted Function Orietated Search on internet and found an interesting solution used in other kind of industry:

15. Skate-boarding? Who, where?
It‘s not on the board, but it is in the shoes of yungsters. The brand new shoes get torn apart in few weeks if you have a son
that skates non-stop. The shoes can be repaired with the special glue called: Shoe Goo, and does a very nice job.
I used this glue on the left. It did prety well. There are also special treatment of the glue to
spread it easily on the surface. Use ice cubes to spread the glue evenly and glue does not stick
to the ice. I have also tested the glue regarding the time to get strong. I takes about 15-20
minutes for the surface to harden enough so we can manipulate the textile and not be afraid
to stick it to other goods in the box. Then I conducted a test if the glue to harden needs the
flow of the air. I glued the simple coin on the fabric, waited 15 minutes and put it in the
plastic envelope. I sealed the end. After 24 hours, I took the coin out of the envelope and the
glue sticked perfectly. I couldn‘t get it out of the textile.

16. OPTIMIZE

17. So with the new solution I started testing the washing. The goal was to test wash as much as possible to see at what stage the
glued chips fall off the linen. Then do Accelerate Life testing to go trought many temperatures. I have decided to test till 240
cyclus to prove the worth of this solution. I have conducted tests at 60 and 90 degress Celsius at 1400 rpm water extracting in
laundry machine. So first test after 20 wash cyclus. I used 16 chips at 60 degress and 14 at 90 degress Celsius.
I have also used different type of fabric, left table linen, right a cloth. All the info and test are stored on disk with the
pictures of every single chip and the whole chip setup on every 20 washes. So, I have put my trust on this glue. On
the next slide you see what happens after extensive washing testing. I also predict that the high quality table linen
will tear apart in much later and do much more wash cyclus than a cloth. The table linen was top quality used in
German and English large laundries.
90 degrees Celsius 60 degrees Celsius

18. So let‘s see washing cyclus of the cloth with the 16 chips
100 washing cyclus 60 degrees Celsius
None of the chips fall off. On the left you can close look on the chips glued. Up the first 3
left position are of prevoius glue testing wich were left empty for the washing trials.

19. 160 washing cyclus at 60 degrees Celsius
None of the chips fall off. But the washing cyclus tear up the fabric.

20. 181 washing cyclus at 60 degrees Celsius
So the fabric is destroyed. All chips are still glued on the fabric. Much tearing bellow.
Torn fabrics, but chips are still on it.

21. So let‘s see washing cyclus of the table linen with the 14 chips
100 washing cyclus 90 degrees Celsius
None of the chips fall off. No tearing of the fabric yet. One the left are close ups of the
glued chips. They hold on to the fabric.

22. 180 washing cyclus at 90 degrees Celsius
None of the chips fall of. Much tearing of the fabric. Under two close ups you can see that
fabrics is being destroyed by progressive washing cyclus.

23. 240 washing cyclus at 90 degrees Celsius
None of the chips fall off. Table linen is completly destroyed. On the left close ups of chips
and under them torn fabric.

24. VALIDATE

25. To wrap it up:
1. A cloth at 60 degrees Celsius was completly destroyed after 181 washes. So no further testing was done.
2. A table linen at 90 degrees Celsius was torn apart and I ended washing at 240 cyclus.
3. So the chips can hold on up to 240 and above wash cyclus.
4. The question is, what type of linen is washed at laundry 240 times? It gets destroyed and is of no use after that. You can
not serve your customers with linen with holes and other tearing.
5. Table linen of Alpine quality hold on up to 140 cylcus at 90 degrees Celsius, the competition much less.
6. So it is proven, the glue technology can witstand progressive washing even at high temperature and belive me, no
laundry throws their money on high temperature. They all wash at lover set-ups.
7. At 240 cyclus, yes you can get chips with brute force out of linen, but who washes for that long?
8. At 140 cyclus they hold on the glue very strong.
9. I tested only washing, it has yet to be tested at press-extractor, dryes, ironers for flat linen and tunnel dryers for clothes.
10. The real point is that you can cheaply add RFID chips to the linen, glue is not expensive. I have tested it. First you glue,
wait 15-20 minutes, than you can manipulate the goods, but it takes a day to regain full strenght-even fully packed with
no flow of air.
11. No Accelerated Life Testing was done, since none of the glue on the chips failed.
12. No product is needed to be redesigned at all.
13. I have put my heart and soul on 2.5 month of testing to prove my point.
14. All information and pictures for every washing are stored in jpg and minitab files, so the progress of the project has been
fully documented.