Category: Business

Vending Machines for Universities

Posted on by John Van Horn

College campuses are places that have really benefited from product dispensing. Students do not always have the time or ability to travel to a store to get the supplies and products they need. In many instances college students will pay for convenience of purchasing items on campus rather than making the effort to go buy them somewhere else. It is hard to say no to an item you need that is right in front of you.  Intelligent Dispensing Solutions has helped schools benefit from the growing numbers of non-food vending machines on college campuses. IDS clients include the University of Michigan, Oklahoma University and UCLA.

“We were looking for a way to get the easy grab and go items out 24/7 in a campus environment,” said Erin Ranville, Computer Showcase Sales Manage at the University of Michigan.

Electronics, headphones, batteries as well as phone chargers and stationary are being sold in school vending machines. Stanford University is using vending machines to sell more personal products like ‘morning after’ pills, condoms and Advil.

College vending machines work around the clock, never need a break and do not require a salary. Machines from IDS are a great way to take the products directly to the consumer. Our machines can accept many different forms of payments and identification access.

Customer Spotlight: Hunt Regional Healthcare rolls out IDS’ ScrubTrak system to curb scrub loss

Posted on by John Van Horn

 

Before 2017, Hunt Regional Healthcare relied on a manual system for checking out and returning surgical scrubs. The system was simple. Scrubs were kept in a cabinet. Physicians, nurses, and techs checked them out when needed.

But recently, leadership at the Greenville, Texas-based health system, which includes Hunt Regional Medical Center and several ancillary facilities, noticed an alarming trend with their approach.

“Human error is inevitable,” says Ryan Madewell, director of environmental services for Hunt Regional Healthcare. “We were losing scrubs faster than we should have been.”

Scrubs can be easily misplaced, and — with no way to keep track of the inventory — simple errors add up quickly for hospitals. Over time, lost scrubs contribute to higher costs and lost productivity.

Leaders at Hunt Regional Healthcare were ready to make a change. After a smooth installation, including a quick email to staff,  IDS’ ScrubTrak system was implemented. Just a few months later, Hunt was enjoying cost savings, and happier employees – who are now able to find the sizes they need when they need them, and prevent infection and cross contamination by having disposal machines across the property

With an easy transition process and obvious benefits, Madewell looks to expand IDS’ scrub machines throughout the hospitals and into more departments.

Would you like to save thousands of dollars by reducing shrinkage of scrubs or other linens and textiles while improving productivity in your organization? If so,  a supply dispenser from IDS may be the answer.

 

Find out more about how you can save thousands of dollars annually!

IDS’s New Website!

Posted on by John Van Horn

We’re excited to announce that our new website is live! The new site boasts a friendly user interface with easy-to-navigate menus. We redesigned our website to make it easier for you to find the information you are looking for, fast. The site is compatible with desktop as well as mobile devices in order to keep you updated in any circumstance.

Whether you work in Office and Tech, Consumer Products, or anywhere in between, you are sure to easily find the solution to your controlled dispensing needs on our state-of-the-art, easy-to-use website.

We have also launched a Savings Calculator, located at the bottom of every page. This convenient tool is designed to show you just how much you can save using IDS’ Automated Dispensing Solutions.

Check out our new website at: www.idsvending.com.  We hope you like our new website – please feel free to leave your feedback on our Facebook or Twitter.

Do you know how to use our savings calculator?

Posted on by John Van Horn

We’ve recently launched a Savings Calculator, located at the bottom of every page. This convenient tool is designed to show you just how much you can save using IDS’ Automated Dispensing Solutions!

Let’s get started!

First, you’ll need to enter your name, email and phone information.

Now once you’ve done that, you’re going to want to hit ‘Next’.

Once you’ve hit next, you’ll be taken to this screen:

Now is where we get to the good stuff! Enter your product information here and find out how much you can save with Intelligent Dispensing Solutions.

Sweet! You just saved $14k annually!

It’s eye-opening to quantify in dollars the amount of waste your organization may be incurring due to untracked supplies and unaccountability. But, don’t despair, calculating savings with IDS opens an opportunity for your company to easily and immediately achieve savings with vending inventory control systems!

Check out our new website at: www.idsvending.com.  We hope you like our new website, please feel free to leave your feedback on our Facebook or Twitter.

Top 4 Complaints Office Managers Hear Every Day

Posted on by John Van Horn

Office managers have the unique task of toeing the line between helpful coworker and strict supervisor. While the role and duties of an office manager varies from organization to organization, the crux of the position is the same: to ensure that all employees are equipped to perform the tasks they were hired to do – while keeping them happy with their work environment. According to a Gallup Poll, 24% of workers are “actively disengaged” at work, meaning they dislike their work environment.

Identifying the top 5 common office problems that you, the office manager, will most likely hear within a week of beginning your role is important; once you know the potential issues you’ll have to solve for your employees you’re one step ahead of the game in keeping them happy!

 

PROBLEM 1: “I feel like I’m being micromanaged!”

SOLUTION 1: We understand the importance of tracking logs being kept to monitor office supply takeouts, but what if there was a way your employees could get what they need without feeling like their day is being ruined by processes? With our solutions, there is. IDS makes it easy for all inventory to be tracked while removing the need to put your employees through an excruciating process (not to mention expensive production downtime!)

 

PROBLEM 2: “My computer mouse/keyboard/webcam keeps breaking!”

SOLUTION 2: IDS’s office supply vending machines solve this problem by allowing employees to retrieve new keyboards, mouses, and other office peripherals on their own – without involving IT. This solution also grants you more insight into what supplies are needed and which are extraneous.

 

PROBLEM 3: I can never find batteries when I need them!

SOLUTION 3: We live in a wireless world, and IDS recognizes the important of giving your employees easy access to batteries. Without machines, no one needs to go digging through a supply closet just to find a set of “double As”

 

PROBLEM 4: “I’m getting behind on my work”

SOLUTION 4: Because our electronics vending machine, featuring an elevator lift for fragile objects, makes it so easy for employees to get the equipment they need quickly, IDS keeps your workforce operating efficiently. This increases your bottom line not only by reducing down time but also by allowing your employees to continue providing timely service to your customers.

 

Custom Vending Machines are on the Rise

Posted on by John Van Horn

Companies looking to cut costs without hurting their customers’ experiences may turn to industrial vending machines, which are growing in popularity even through recent challenging economic times.
Industrial vending machines contain products employees use to do their jobs, like safety equipment, first aid kits and even materials to manufacture products. Employees can then access these items via the vending machine rather than a stock room. This eliminates the need to hire a team of people to oversee the stock room and monitor who checks out what materials.

The machine tracks which employee takes an item, the quantity and when it was taken, creating accountability. According to a report on The Street, this helps companies reduce supply consumption by as much as 50 percent. This results in a more efficient work environment and some pretty hefty savings.

Industrial and office custom vending machine solutions, like those offered by Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, do not have to require the use of money to access materials. Large companies can program the machines to dispense materials using employee ID cards or pre-assigned identification numbers. This kind of technology provides real, workable solutions for the modern businesses.

If you’re in need of a custom vending machine for your facility, give us a call at 1-877-771-4446. We will help you find the right solution for your business.

Mikey, Hershey’s, and the School Vending Machine

Posted on by John Van Horn

school vending machineSchool vending machines have Hershey bars, which to my youthful palate were a divine, luscious reward for a day spent among the munchkins and societal rejects who constituted the population of my school. When I felt those creamy chocolatey squares melt on my tongue, I would get excited, which was, now that I think about it, largely a reaction to sugar, and I would energetically seek my lone friend Mikey.

Mikey had a rat tail. He wasn’t the most popular kid in school but because his mom had left him when he was younger and his dad was never around he was well-respected. Mikey wasn’t a chocolate guy per se, but he knew that when I ate chocolate I became a kind of Mr. Hyde.

Together, we snuck into the girls’ bathroom and made gross farting sounds when we heard the door open, we climbed out of windows into areas of the school marked no trespassing, and we generally did whatever we weren’t supposed to do. Finally Mikey was expelled for lighting  a cherry bomb in the boys bathroom. I lost my only friend. But that didn’t stop me from eating those Hershey bars from the school vending machine once 2:30 rolled around.

Tapping Vending Machine Soda Cans

Posted on by John Van Horn

When I get a can of Coke from the office vending machine and it’s cool with condensation and I can just imagine the taste of that caramely sweet brown drink running down my throat refreshing me for all time, I give it a little tap with my fingernail on the top. But, people have pointed out to me that this does nothing. They’re right.

I like the way it sounds though. And, it’s easy to believe that it will prevent the soda can from fizzing uncontrollably and spilling over the sides and getting my hands all sticky. But, it’s an old wives’ tale. It doesn’t do a gosh-darned thing.

But, that doesn’t keep me from doing it. And when people tell me, why do you do that, it doesn’t make a difference, I say I don’t care. I like to hear it. And I’ll tap it for them to hear, making sure it’s really quiet and the only sound is my fingernail going tin-tin-tin. And, I’ll crack it open and take a long slug and give a refreshed ahhh and they’ll look at me and I’ll look back with a crazy eye that says don’t tell me how to drink my vending machines soda.

Custom Vending Machines and The Need for Fewer Choices

Posted on by John Van Horn

I was coming out of a restaurant with my girlfriend in a hip part of town and I saw a custom vending machine. It was filled with bike supplies, spare tubes, patch kits, wrenches and the like. How convenient, I wondered, with so many bikes in this part of town, right under the bridge, surely this bike vending machine gets lots of business. What a great idea. I had never seen a custom vending machine like that before.

That you could put anything in a custom vending machine and watch it sell, goodness willing, really blew my mind. If I had my druthers I’d put literature in custom vending machines. I’d place them in airports and train stations and doctors offices — shorts stories and novels by Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Chekhov. Classics, you know. When you give people too much choice, it’s overwhelming. Give them ten or twenty choices and they can eliminate what they don’t like and choose what they do.

In the meanwhile I guess I’ll be on the lookout for other vending machines, ones that are there for me when I need them. And when I really need them, they’ll be there, because that’s how fate works.If not, I’ll take my business elsewhere, and probably be overwhelmed with choices.

Custom Vending Machines and The Need for Fewer Choices

Posted on by John Van Horn

vending machineI was coming out of a restaurant with my girlfriend in a hip part of town and I saw a custom vending machine. It was filled with bike supplies, spare tubes, patch kits, wrenches and the like. How convenient, I wondered, with so many bikes in this part of town, right under the bridge, surely this bike vending machine gets lots of business. What a great idea. I had never seen a custom vending machine like that before.

That you could put anything in a custom vending machine and watch it sell, goodness willing, really blew my mind. If I had my druthers I’d put literature in custom vending machines. I’d place them in airports and train stations and doctors offices — shorts stories and novels by Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Chekhov. Classics, you know. When you give people too much choice, it’s overwhelming. Give them ten or twenty choices and they can eliminate what they don’t like and choose what they do.

In the meanwhile I guess I’ll be on the lookout for other vending machines, ones that are there for me when I need them. And when I really need them, they’ll be there, because that’s how fate works.If not, I’ll take my business elsewhere, and probably be overwhelmed with choices.