After RFID chips had become commonplace on pallets of goods in wholesale and retail, the following question arose in the laundry industry: To what extent could RFID chips help to save environmental resources such as water and energy in laundries? RFID chips should also be used in the laundry industry to further optimise production and logistics. Specially manufactured microchips were therefore sewn into bed linen, tablecloths and towels for test purposes. These new "flat linen" chips contained data about the respective item of laundry: owner, fabric, environmentally friendly washing instructions etc..

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, the IZT took part in the practice-oriented project "Automated green laundry" as part of the Industrial Collective Research Programme (IGF). The aim of the project was to research the use of RFID chips in flat linen for laundries. In its sub-project, the IZT focussed on the integration of this specific RFID application into an intelligent technosphere, the environmental benefits that can be achieved in laundries, the influence of RFID chips on textile recycling, user acceptance, the transfer to other textile products and resource-economic issues. The IZT sub-project was carried out in close co-operation with the Saxon Textile Research Institute in Chemnitz and various industrial partners from the fields of weaving and sewing textile production.

With this strongly industry-orientated research and the close interlinking with concrete technology development, the IZT has turned its attention to an industrial sector that has received little attention to date. The textile industry and the laundry sector are highly relevant both in terms of innovation and for German mechanical and plant engineering. The high efficiency pressure for the economical use of water, energy and washing-active substances, as well as the increasing logistical link with textile services for commercial customers, is exemplary of the requirements for a sustainable industrial location. The use of intelligent solutions from the field of information and communication technology can play a key role here if it is possible to embed them as precisely as possible in the procedures and processes of production, logistics, resource management and recycling as well as the services offered and if the social acceptance of the users is also taken into account.