Who needs room keys??

This one is from Nick.

Who needs a room key when you can get into your room with your mobile phone?   This is a technology which is going to become more common in the future.  You don't need to make keys, it's 'greener', guests don't have to go to the front desk--there are all sorts of implications.

OpenWays is being tested at a few Holiday Inns.  What implications do you think this has for the hotel of the future?

Lean Principles at Palm Beach Restaurant

Palm Beach Restaurant is located at One Fullerton in Singapore.  They were having quite a bit of problem with porcelain bowl breakage primarily because they were stacking too many bowls in their cabinets.  They used lean principles to figure this out, and then did some simple things to change their kitchen and storage design.

Result:  major drop in breakage.  Other restaurants (i.e. Red Box Karaoke) have used similar principles with great results.  For more information, please see this story.

Lean Principles in Health Care

OK, this isn't a hospitality example, but it's a great use of lean principles.   A hospital in Washington State is using lean principles to keep their medical supplies in order.  This has improved quality and their ability to make sure they can have the right equipment available for patients.

 
Take a look at this NY Times article!

Some other interesting iPad applications

Here are some interesting iPad applications that Alex Sigeda (MMH 10!) sent me:
http://www.thetransitcafe.com/site/the_wrap/archives/2010/07/ipad_takes_the_1.php



The opportunities for streamlining processes with this and other mobile technologies are really amazing.

Automated Wardrobe at Resorts World Sentosa (Singapore)

This example is more for their internal operations:


With thousands of crew members from the Casino, Universal Studios, restaurants and hotels, Resorts World Sentosa has installed the automated wardrobe system in order to facilitate the retrieval of the crew members' uniform.

Every crew member will be allocated 1 slot where they hang their uniform in the clothing bag. The bag (the blue one on the left) has a microchip installed. The uniform has a microchip sewn onto the uniform as well. This microchip is unique for all crew members and is linked to their employee pass.

When they need to retrieve their uniform, they will go to the door and punch in their password and scan their card. The system then recognises the employee pass and password (which is linked to the microchip) and the coveyer belt will move the entire rack of clothes and the correct clothing bag will stop right at the door. The door then automatically opens for the employee to retrieve his uniform, change into it, and put his own clothes in the clothing bag.

When they knock off from work, the same procedure follows so that they could retrieve their own clothes to change into.

As their uniform has the microchip sewn into it, after it has been washed, the wardrobe department just has to scan the uniform to locate the conveyer belt it belongs to and hang it back onto the rack.

Each wardrobe department has at least 5 doors so facilitate the hundreds of people who start/finish their shift at the same hours.