InvoTech`s – Garment Inventory Management System

Manages Uniform Departments
• Comprehensive Yet Easy to Use
• Saves Time & Money
•
16530 Ventura Blvd., Suite 603
Encino, CA 91436
(800) 820-2111
[email protected] www.invotech.com
InvoTech’s – Garment Inventory Management System
GIMS™ manages all aspects of the uniform department:
•
Employee assignments of uniforms,
lockers and conveyor slots
•
Daily pick-up of uniforms, including
loaners
•
All cleaning activity including automatic
billing by department
•
Purchasing new uniforms and
automatically adding them to inventory
•
Selling items to employees or charging
them for lost garments
•
Managing repairs and alterations, and
tracking the repair history of garments and
seamstresses and tailors
InvoTech’s GIMS™ is specifically designed to automate uniform room operations in hotels, casinos,
theme parks, sports arenas and stadiums. For over 15 years, InvoTech has been the world leader in
inventory tracking within the hospitality industry. GIMS™ is used by more than 300 high-profile
properties in 10 countries around the world to control and manage employee uniforms.
The success of GIMS™ directly results from InvoTech’s mission and philosophy of being a service
company that integrates quality systems tailored to the needs of our clients. Our quality service sets
us apart and provides us with an unequaled understanding of uniform department operations. Since
our inception, InvoTech has listened to our clients, and we have continuously enhanced GIMS™ to
reflect their growing complexity and ever-changing needs.
The result is the most comprehensive, the most sophisticated, and the easiest-to-use approach for
managing all aspects of the uniform department – GIMS™-SE, Version 7. The flow and operation of
GIMS™ mirrors the various activities of the uniform department. In essence, GIMS™ has been
designed by uniform department managers for uniform department managers to greatly improve their
efficiency, their control, and the information they are able to obtain.
Key Benefits
GIMS™ takes all the guesswork out of uniform department management.
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Assures correct uniforms are available for employees when they arrive at work
•
Keeps track of which uniforms are assigned to employees and ensures all garments are
returned when employees terminate
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Automatically assigns loaner garments and monitors their return at the end of the shift
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Manages all cleaning activities and tracks cleaning turnaround time
•
Automatically audits outside cleaning bills and accurately charges laundry expenses to
departments
•
Monitors productivity of uniform department staff and helps managers adjust staffing based on
activity levels
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Reduces new purchases by knowing exactly what uniforms are on-hand at all times
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Greatly improves productivity of the staff and dramatically reduces the amount of time spent
processing uniforms, dealing with employees and gathering data
Attractive ROI
The improved information and efficient processes derived from GIMS™ brings about substantial
reductions in operating expenses and labor costs. Savings occur in four areas:
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Reduction in Purchases – knowing what to buy, when to buy, and how many to buy of each
size eliminates wasteful spending and excess inventory.
•
Improved Labor Productivity – record keeping and garment processing are automated,
saving time and resources. Utilization of uniform department staff is optimized.
•
Lower Cleaning Expenses – cleaning activity is monitored by GIMS™ and excessive
cleaning by employees is eliminated. Billing errors from outside vendors (both quantities and
costs) become a thing of the past.
•
Elimination of Losses – GIMS™ provides full accountability at every level, from employees to
vendors. GIMS™ ensures that all garments are returned from employees and the cleaners.
The value of missing or unreturned items can be charged to the responsible party.
Payback in 1 Year
GIMS™ Features
RFID Chips or Barcodes
GIMS™ utilizes specialized, permanent barcode labels or RFID chips attached to each garment to
track the movement and usage of garments and to establish accurate inventory values and specific
location and accountability of all items.
The RFID chips utilize 13.56 MHz frequency and allow for the simultaneous
processing of multiple items. This capability greatly reduces and can even
eliminate labor for many daily tasks while dramatically increasing the accuracy of
the information. The RFID chip can be re-used when the garment to which it is
attached wears out and is discarded.
The pre-printed permanent barcodes will last the life of the garment. With
proper application, the pre-printed permanent barcode will not fall off, and they
will not fade to the point that they are unusable. These qualities ensure data
accuracy, which is critical to obtaining maximum benefits from GIMS™.
Processing Cleaning
InvoTech’s attention to details and the integration of labor-saving equipment has made
GIMS™ the most popular system on the market.
RFID Drop Chute
Multi-read RFID equipment greatly reduces or even
eliminates labor when handling cleaning transactions.
Employees can simply deposit their soiled garments in the
special drop chute and GIMS™ will read all their items
instantly. Loaners will automatically be unassigned and all
items will be checked-in for cleaning. Alternatively, a
table-top antenna can be used to read multiple garments
at one time.
For processing clean garments coming back from the
laundry, InvoTech can install vertical antennas. As
multiple garments pass by the antenna(s) they are read
and “returned” from cleaning automatically.
GIMS™ has an RFID counter that shows how many items
were read in each batch and the total amount scanned.
Each batch, therefore, can be easily checked for
accuracy.
Vertical Antenna
Table-top Antenna
When using barcodes, GIMS™ has special counters displayed
when scanning items in for cleaning or when receiving items
back from the cleaner. This assures an accurate count of all
garments scanned. Specialized barcode scanners minimize the
amount of time required to process all the garments to and from
cleaning.
Whether RFID chips or barcodes are used:
• Daily processing is accelerated
• Human error is eliminated
• The integration of specialized equipment with the unique
software design of GIMS™ make it all possible
Processing Employees
GIMS™ makes it easy to process various transactions dealing with employees. In fact,
employees can be automatically added to and deleted from GIMS™ with the optional Human
Resources Interface.
GIMS™ displays exactly which garments
employees should have for their particular
job along with which garments already
have been assigned. On one screen, users
can assign or unassign a garment or can
record which garments employees pickedup. On the same screen, users can issue a
loaner or a one-for-one garment.
Transactions are validated automatically by
the employee with use of InvoTech’s
Signature Capture Terminal. Disputes are
eliminated, and all records are kept within
GIMS™ without the use of paper reports or
index cards.
.
Purchasing
GIMS™ prevents unnecessary purchases. Guesswork is eliminated and labor-hours
associated with purchasing decisions are dramatically reduced. Information regarding each garment’s
usage and age, including its number of cleanings and the number of persons wearing each garment,
is automatically maintained by GIMS™. The sizes worn by each employee is also recorded. GIMS™
ensures inventory numbers are accurate and immediately reconciles to its automated physical
inventory count.
•
Generate requisitions & purchase
orders quickly and accurately from predefined lists
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Maintain department budgets and
debit appropriate departments for
purchases
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Garment count and value
automatically added to inventory when
items are received
•
Manage purchases for specific
employees
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GIMS™ can interface with most
property-wide purchasing systems
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Monitor all transactions by type
over time
•
Establish productivity standards
based on transaction levels and
FTE’s
•
Track activities by user to assure
correct policies and procedures are
followed
•
Paperless processing – all
information can be emailed or
exported
•
Monthly Summary report helps
managers monitor and report on
trends in department activities and
inventory levels over time.
Productivity
Special Features of GIMS™
GIMS™ has a number of special features that saves labor-hours and ensures data integrity. These
tools make GIMS™ unique compared with other systems and allow users to perform otherwise
difficult and time consuming tasks routinely and quickly. Some of these features include:
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Deleting, unassigning and merging multiple garments at once
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Taking physical inventories by area
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Redefining and relocating garments instantly
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Multiple manufacturers for same garment
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Separate prices for each manufacturer and size of
garment
•
Managers control each user’s access rights to all
functions and activities in GIMS™
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Tracking non-tagged items to employees and to and
from cleaning
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Maintain both a barcode number and/or an RFID
number for each garment – useful for those
transitioning from barcodes to RFID
•
GIMS™ is available in a multi-property configuration maintaining inventory control for each
individual property and combined inventory information for efficient purchasing and transferring
of garments between properties
Software Interfaces
Several optional interfaces are available with GIMS™. The interfaces directly link GIMS™ to other
internal systems such as Human Resources, Purchasing, Payroll and Accounting. This capability
greatly improves productivity throughout the organization and assures accuracy of all uniform related
transactions.
In addition, GIMS™ links to and automates
conventional conveyors and the most popular
automatic uniform distribution systems. Such
systems eliminate labor associated issuing
uniforms to employees.
The Laundry Interface connects GIMS™ to
laundries (inside or outside) and automates
cleaning activity and billing. Laundries can
automatically sort and match garments for
employees. The uniform department can eliminate
scanning items back from the cleaners.
Management Information
All actions within the uniform department – whether they be assigning garments, lockers,
or conveyor slots to employees, adding or deleting inventory, processing cleaning, altering or
repairing garments, etc. – are recorded by GIMS™ and are verified on the screen. That information
and more is readily accessible in the Reports section of GIMS™.
More than 125 different reports detailing all
aspects of uniform department operations are
provided. The Information Wizard also allows
users to create their own reports.
Reports are grouped for easy access to the
information needed. Specific reports within a
selected area are shown on the right side of
the screen. Most reports have special filters
to easily get at the information required.
Work smarter, save time, improve
decisions – that’s what GIMS™ Reports
are all about.
What InvoTech Provides
InvoTech is a service company that integrates its proprietary software with the right mix of
technology, equipment and supplies to fit the needs of each of our clients. We gather information
about the operations, including as needed on-site fact-finding visits. We then can propose the most
cost-effective solution including:
• Database customization
• Specialized equipment and supplies (RFID or barcode)
• On-site installation of software and equipment (including tuning and configuration)
• On-site training of staff and managers
• On-site assistance with grand openings
• Coordination of GIMS™ with existing internal
procedures of other departments
• 24/7/365 technical support and software
maintenance
Minimum System Requirements
Microsoft Windows XP or Vista
3 GHz processor
1 GB RAM
5 GB HD free space
Microsoft SQL Server
• Free, periodic software enhancements
Visit our website at www.InvoTech.com, email [email protected], or call (800) 820-2111.