Under the growing trend of unmanned hotels and unmanned stores, can the first "smart laundry" that combines IoT technology be developed in Taiwan? The "Smart Unmanned Store Quick Expansion System" developed by Chen Hong IoT Corp., a startup in the Startup Terrace Linkou, integrates IoT and the public transportation system to offer innovative smart laundry and ironing services. Can the innovative service bring new ideas and opportunities to the traditional service industry? It is worth the wait.
Yi-Min Wei, General Manager of Chen Hong IoT Corp., and his father witnessed the transformation and change of the laundry market in Taiwan. "In the early days, many laundry services were offered mostly in communities or factories. All it needs to open for business is two employees (usually a couple), a commercial washing machine, a dryer and a dry cleaning machine, and a space of 66 m2”. Back then, there were many coin laundries. However, due to the excess capacity of the traditional laundry factories, and the offshoring of the manufacturing industry, jobs that rely on the washing of employee uniforms for large companies were disappeared.
Partner with Traditional Laundry Operators and Focus on the Laundry and Ironing Market
Having this opportunity, Yi-Min Wei, with a background in information management, developed an automatic laundry unmanned store quick expansion system to create a laundry shared ecosystem that combines with traditional coin laundries, or laundry factories that were greatly impacted by the offshoring of industries. The system was also developed jointly by a group of disabled people with laundry and cleaning skills from the Syin-Lu Social Welfare Foundation. Unlike the conventional unmanned coin laundry, Chen Hong IoT Corp. is focused on the market that requires ironing of clothes, i.e., laundry and ironing services for shirts and suits, owing to the huge business opportunities for office workers.
Since the targeted market is office workers, smart unmanned laundry cabinet must be installed nearby daily commuting routes, such as in MRT stations, near bus stations, or in large communities. The users first sent out laundry request to the laundry factory through the app, place the clothes into the designated laundry bag with magnetic buckle, and then drop them into the nearby laundry cabinet when commuting. The logistics company contracted with the laundry factory will collect the clothes from the laundry cabinet and sent them to the laundry factory for cleaning. Once the clothes are cleaned, the logistics company will bring them back to the laundry cabinet and a notification for picking up will be delivered to the users via the app. The entire procedure may seem complicated, but in fact, it is safer and more convenient than traditional coin laundry.
Yi-Min Wei said that IoT laundry service has once become popular in the market of Taiwan and China; however, it failed to become mainstream. The reason is that IoT laundry requires self-built logistics, which is too expensive to maintain. Furthermore, the logistics cannot carry out acceptance check on the spot, and consumers need to cooperate with the schedule of the logistics, making the operation limited. Chen Hong IoT Corp. has developed the designated laundry bags with magnetic buckles and unmanned laundry cabinet to solve the above-mentioned problems, expecting to bring IoT laundry back to the market.
Patented Magnetic-Buckle Design of the Laundry Bag Solves the Problem of Missing Laundry
"Sending clothes to an unmanned laundry facility indeed will have safety concerns." In this regard, Chen Hong IoT Corp. has installed surveillance cameras in the patented laundry cabinets to monitor the dropping process of clothes. In addition, a patented magnetic buckle is used to record the operations of the entire process. This idea actually came from Yi-Min Wei, who likes jogging. By adopting the working principle of a pedometer and combining it with a magnetic buckle, the number of times that a consumer closes the laundry bag will be recorded by the magnetic buckle. When the laundry bag is delivered to the laundry factory, the factory can tell whether the clothes inside the laundry bag is send directly from the customer based on the number of recorded by the magnetic buckle.
Shared Profit Model, the Smart Platform Received Attention from Japan
The patented design of the "Unmanned Self-service Smart Laundry" has revolutionized the traditional self-service laundry market. During the international exchange event held in the Startup Terrace Linkou this year, the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry particularly visited the facility, and showed great interest. However, for any innovative service that defies the market, the convenience of end users must be considered. Therefore, Chen Hong IoT Corp. integrated with property management to develop a smart life service platform, cultivating the market with a shared profit model.
Yi-Min Wei, a former employee of ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), a network communication company, and currently an assistant professor at a university, likes marathons and has long devoted himself to public welfare. Although his motivation of entrepreneurship is to revitalize the traditional laundry industry, he also hopes that smart laundry services can help disadvantaged groups. Currently, the services are under trial operation. Chen Hong IoT Corp. is based in the Startup Terrace Linkou and partnered with the Ciyou Sheltered Workshop of the Syin-Lu Social Welfare Foundation to provide laundry services. In the future, Chen Hong IoT Corp. will expand its business in China and countries around the world.
Innovative and smart laundry and ironing services combined with the public transportation system, driven by urban demand, may one day become a service that people rely on in life, similar to using Airbnb to find a rental house when traveling abroad, or using UberEat when ordering food delivery. Yi-Min Wei looked forward to the day when people would think of Chen Hong IoT Corp.'s smart laundry service if they want more efficient laundry and ironing services.
Figure 1：The smart unmanned self-service laundry cabinet developed is located in the Startup Terrace Linkou, providing laundry and ironing services for office workers in and nearby the area.
Figure 2：Yi-Min Wei, General Manager of Chen Hong IoT Corp. won the award in the innovation application competition of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Written/Photographed by: Startup Terrace Editorial team