Laundry firm goes hi-tech with uni tie-up

Commercial laundry business Fishers has launched a project with a Scottish university to capitalise on its hi-tech bed linen and towels.

The Cuper-headquartered firm, which washes, dries and irons two million pieces of linen each week, currently fits all of its top-of-the-range bed linen and towels with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. This enables both Fishers and its customers to keep track of all textiles.

Its “knowledge transfer partnership” with the University of Strathclyde aims to enable the company to capitalise on the analysis and interpretation of the “big data” generated by the Rfid-tagged products, improve its strategic planning skills around textile purchasing, improve the specification of the bed linen and towels, and help the firm to develop its intellectual property.

The two-year project is being co-funded by a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Scottish Funding Council. The UK’S knowledge transfer partnership programme is run by agency Innovate UK.

Michael Jones, managing director of Fishers, said: “We’re committed to innovation, both to keep our customers ahead of the game and to ensure that Fishers can continue to provide the best service possible for those customers.”

Aylin Ates of the University of Strathclyde added: “We are honoured to be collaborating in this highly innovative KTP project with our industrial partner, Fishers. Strathclyde Business School takes a great deal of pride in delivering impact to local businesses.” 0 Michael Jones is the MD of Fife-based Fishers