RFID asset tracking — know what you have, where it went, and whether the count you're billed on is right.
We deliver asset tracking as a turnkey systems integration project: the site survey, the item census, tag selection, the tagging work itself, read points, software integration and staff training — handed over working. Not a box of tags with a manual. Live projects today in hotel linen management and internal warehouse and stores control.
Looking for the other kind of "asset"? This page answers where is it, do we still have it, who has it. If your question is is this machine healthy and how long will it last — vibration, temperature and current on motors, pumps and rotating equipment — that is asset & condition monitoring. Different question, different technology, and plenty of operations need both.
Two problems we are solving right now.
Hotel linen management
Linen is one of the largest consumable capital items a hotel owns, and it disappears three ways: theft, misplacement, and disputes with the laundry over what was actually collected and returned. The last one is the interesting one, because you are billed per piece on a count you did not make.
RFID tags sewn into each item make both sides count the same way. A full cage can be read in seconds rather than unpacked and counted by hand, so reconciliation stops being an argument and becomes a record. Along the way you get the numbers nobody has today: loss rate by floor and department, wash cycles per item (so linen is retired on evidence rather than on appearance), and true par levels instead of the ones written down when the hotel opened.
The tags survive the environment: industrial laundry tags are typically rated for 200+ wash cycles, with premium types independently tested past 500 cycles at 95 °C while keeping their read range — through detergent, bleach, extraction and pressing.
Internal warehouse & stores
Every store has the same two gaps: what the system says versus what is physically on the shelf, and who took the thing that is no longer there. Both are usually discovered at stocktake, months after they mattered.
With RFID, a stocktake that took days takes minutes — a handheld reader sweeps a rack and reports what is present, missing and unexpected. Goods in and goods out get recorded at a portal without anyone typing. Tools and equipment get a custody record, so "who has the torque wrench" has an answer. And the fixed asset register — the one finance depends on and nobody can verify — becomes something you can actually audit against reality.
Tag selection matters more here than anywhere: metal and liquids interfere with UHF, so tools, drums and racking need tag types and mounting chosen for the surface, not a generic label.
The same pattern applies wherever items are numerous, valuable and mobile — hospital linen and equipment, uniform pools, returnable containers and crates, and logistics stock. The full scenario map, industry by industry, is in our RFID applications guide.
Vehicle & gate automation →
Trailers and fleets identified automatically at the gate — direction detection, boom control, and a yard register that writes itself.
RFID reader prices →
Real list prices for handheld and fixed readers, what a complete read point costs, and the SDK clause to demand before you sign anything.
Laundry & linen tracking →
Wash-proof tags, trolley counts in seconds, and per-item laundry billing you can independently verify.
RFID stocktakes →
Why the count that takes minutes changes the operation — cycle counts, source tagging, and where the economics actually work.
Turnkey means the tagging is our job too.
Most RFID disappointment traces back to the same place: someone bought hardware and inherited a project. We are a systems integrator, so the scope is the whole thing.
- Survey and item census. What is being tracked, how many, where it moves, who handles it, and what the current count is actually based on. This step usually produces the first surprise of the project.
- Tag selection. The environment decides: industrial laundry tags for linen, on-metal tags for tools and racking, ruggedised labels for cartons and crates. Read range, wash resistance, chemical exposure and mounting method are engineering choices, not catalogue choices.
- The tagging work. We tag the population — or train and supervise your team through it, whichever fits your operation — and build the item register as we go. This is the step most suppliers leave with you, and the step that decides whether the system is ever accurate.
- Read points. Fixed portals where items cross a boundary (goods in, laundry dispatch, store exit), handheld readers for counting and searching, and tunnel or conveyor reads where volume justifies it. Read points define what the system can see, so where they go is a design decision made with you.
- Software and integration. The asset register, movement history and reconciliation reporting — integrated with your PMS, ERP or stock system so it is not another island of data someone must retype. Export in open formats, always.
- Training and handover. The people who scan, receive and reconcile, trained on the actual system, plus the routine that keeps it alive: who counts what, how often, and what happens when the numbers disagree.
Four things a straight supplier should tell you.
- RFID is not GPS. It tells you where an item was last read, not where it is right now. That is usually enough — knowing linen left the hotel and never came back is the whole point — but if you need live position on a moving thing, you need a different technology, and we will say so.
- Physics is not negotiable. Metal reflects and liquid absorbs at UHF frequencies. A tag that reads perfectly on a cardboard box may read poorly on a steel tool or a full drum. This is solvable with the right tag and mounting; it is not solvable by hoping.
- The system decays without a routine. If nobody reads at the portal, nothing is tracked. The discipline is the product as much as the hardware is, which is why training and the counting routine are in our scope rather than in a footnote.
- Do not tag everything. Tags cost money per item, so they belong on what carries value, walks off, or has a custody question. Tagging low-value consumables to be thorough is the fastest way to make a business case fail. We will help you draw that line honestly, including where it means a smaller project.
RFID asset tracking — common questions
Do you do the asset tagging, or only supply the equipment?
We do it. addanode delivers asset tracking as turnkey systems integration: survey and item census, tag selection, the physical tagging and register build, read-point design and installation, software integration and staff training. You can also have your own team do the tagging under our supervision if that suits your operation better — but the project does not end at a delivery note either way.
What does RFID asset tagging cost?
It is driven by four things: how many items, which tag type the environment demands (a laundry tag and an on-metal tag are not priced alike), how many read points and of what kind, and how much integration your existing systems need. We quote a written cost band after a site survey rather than a price per tag, because a per-tag price hides the two costs that actually decide the outcome — tagging labour and read-point design.
Can RFID tags survive industrial laundry?
Yes — provided they are laundry-rated tags, not general-purpose labels. Industrial laundry tags are typically rated for 200 or more wash cycles, with premium types independently tested beyond 500 cycles at 95 °C while retaining read range, through detergent, bleach, high-speed extraction and pressing. Tag construction matters: thermoplastic types hold up better than standard polyester or silicone under repeated hot washing.
How is RFID better than barcodes for stocktaking?
Barcodes need line of sight and one scan per item. UHF RFID reads many tags at once, at a distance, without seeing them — so a cage of linen or a rack of stock is counted in seconds rather than unpacked and scanned individually. That difference is why RFID turns a multi-day stocktake into a walk-through, and why it makes frequent counting practical instead of annual.
Will it integrate with our PMS or ERP?
That is the intent — asset data that lives in its own portal creates a second version of the truth and a retyping job. We integrate the register, movements and reconciliation into the system your team already works in, and your data stays exportable in open formats. Which integration route makes sense depends on what your system exposes; that is settled during the survey, not promised beforehand.
What is the difference between asset tracking and condition monitoring?
Asset tracking answers where an item is and who has it, using tags and readers. Condition monitoring answers whether a machine is healthy and how long it has left, using vibration, temperature and current sensors. They are different questions with different hardware — a hotel needs the first, a mill needs the second, and a large plant usually needs both for different asset classes.
Start with a survey, not a quote for tags.
Tell us what you are trying to stop losing — linen, stock, tools — and we will tell you honestly whether tagging it pays back, and what the project would actually involve.