Vending Machines Aren’t Just for Snacks

                  It is most common for people to associate vending machines as only serving food and drinks. However, more and more we are seeing vending machines that have a variety of uses besides dispensing food. Businesses are understanding the value of convenience and the ease with which products can be stored and delivered in non-food vending machines. Vending machines also provide a secure location for items and easy tracking and inventory information.

                  Companies are learning that vending machines help them get their products in front of their possible customers sooner. A recent Small Business Trends article titled “Vending Machines Aren’t Just for Snacks Anymore” noted that companies are selling jackets and headphones out of electronics vending machines in airports. Vending machines help companies go to their customers rather than on relying their customers coming to them. In addition to airports, schools and universities are becoming popular places to place non-traditional vending machines.  These machines can help travelers that are missing something they want for their trip or a student who needs a piece of technology for class.  Fitness centers are also great places to reach a target market through automated dispensing. Just like in traditional snack vending where location is important and a business profits when they can take their product to where people interested in their product already are.

iVendTech Satellite Machine

                  Organizations are also learning how vending machines are efficient and cost effective ways to get necessary supplies to their own employees. Businesses can use vending machines to track supplies, so they know exactly who is taking the supplies, and can limit how many workers can take. Employees can also take supplies 24/7 and do not need to wait on anyone else to access what they need. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions had been very successful helping hospitals dispense and sort their scrubs and other medical supplies. IDS also has helped fire departments track and dispense emergency supplies. Improved inventory management with vending machines is helping organizations save money and better serve their workers.

             We will let other companies get customers snacks and drink. We are proud to be on the cutting edge of automated inventory management systems helping businesses save time and money. Helping companies develop automated retail plans to reach their target market is important to us. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions is excited about the future of vending and the growing awareness and opportunities to vend non-food items. Do you have an idea of something you would like to vend but need helping making it happen? Contact us today at 1-877-771-4446. We would love to learn how we can serve you!

The Value of Saving Time

The end of the year is a good time to look back and evaluate how it went. Years can be broken up into financial quarters, which can be broken up into weeks and then into business days. Spending moments during the day doing unnecessary tasks can snowball into to large amount of wasted time over the year. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions works to save you time, which can save you money and add value to your business.

IDS has tools to help companies eliminate time and money waste by tracking supplies, securely dispensing materials and reducing administrative costs. By eliminating tedious time consuming work IDS products give you more time to spend working on more important parts of your businesss. We take pride in our asset management systems and have seen them help many different types of businesses. Contact us to find out how we can help you save time and money for your business.

How iQ Technology Keeps Your Inventory Safe

 

Discover the power of iQ Technology, the innovative inventory and tracking software system used by all IDS equipment!

The world as we know it is changing every day. Machines are being equipped with technologies our own parents could have only dreamed of – and controlled dispensing equipment is is no exception. Very few platforms can combine all of the operations of a supply room from secure, self-service access to supplies for employees to real-time inventory visibility and full accountability for management, like like iQ technology does. This inventory software system offers countless benefits both to company management and its employees. Managers have access to the information they need at their fingertips and customers customers enjoy a more convenient, personalized experience.

iQ Technology has the potential to transform your organization one supply at a time. You inventories are now secure and easily monitored, as our software effortlessly accounts for all goods dispensed with up-to-the-minute accuracy. Say goodbye to the overwhelming, time intensive task of manual inventory counts from your supply closet: iQ Technology has arrived to optimize and streamline your inventory management process.

How do these inventory tracking vending machines and lockers work, you ask? By combining these key features into one, easy-to-use system:

  1. Cloud-Based Brain:   iQ Technology is a web-based software system, so you can manage your dispensing machines from any operating system and/or mobile device! You now have 24/7 access to your data: all you need is an internet connection.
  2. Multi-Machine Management: With iQ Technology, you can now track and manage as many machines as you’d like! No matter where your machines may be located, you can now pull reports, see real-time inventory, generate pick lists and more.
  3. Secure Transactions: All information and transactions are 100% encrypted: no credit card data is stored at any time in the machine, ensuring your customer’s safety and removing your liability
  4. Real-Time inventory Views: Real-time dispensing info would be impressive enough, but iQ Technology takes it a step further: you can also track inventory in your supply rooms and delivery trucks! That means your complete product chain can be tracked for reordering and, in the case of perishable products, expiration status. iQ Technology is truly a 360 degree solution!
  5. Alerts: Notifications about machine info can be send via email, pager, or mobile device to let you know about expiring products, power loss, and more.
  6. Powerful Reporting: iQ Technology’s impressive reporting abilities are diverse and easy to use. Usage reports, re-stock lists, inventory position and additional management reports can be generated and printed online.

 

Want to learn more about iQ Technology and how it can transform the way YOU do business? Contact IDS today.

What Can You Store in an IDS 12-Door Locker?

The IDS 12-door Locker is a unique dispensing apparatus, conceptually similar to a vending machine while providing the next level of service: dispensing larger inventory like laptops, backpacks, and kits. This system is a more efficient way of tracking inventory usage, and provides another level of security for these items.

Some additional features of the locker include optional LED lighting to illuminate your offerings, optional re-charging adaptors for stored tech items, and personalization options (i.e. choose a single color for your machine, or customize the locker with your logo and colors! Speak to a representative about this option).

This machine is incredibly versatile! Here are some of the ways to use this supply locker and the types of items that you can store that could benefit your company.

 

HOTELS:

  • Blankets
  • Games
  • Breast pumps
  • Blenders / Small Kitchen Appliances
  • Books

SCHOOLS:

  • Laptops
  • Notebooks
  • Tablets
  • Projectors
  • Textbooks
  • Uniforms

HOSPITALS:

  • Med Kits
  • AEDs
  • BioHazard suits
  • Blankets
  • Pillows
  • Bedpans
OFFICES:

  • Laptops
  • Equipment
  • Medical Kits
  • Kitchen Appliances
  • Recreational gear (games, video game equipment, ping-pong rackets)

RESTAURANTS:

  • Flatware sets
  • Medical Kits
  • AEDs
  • Centerpieces
  • Coloring books / Crayons

BEAUTY PARLORS:

  • Nail drying kits
  • Waxing kits
  • Spa gear
  • Bathing suits
  • Robes
  • Haircut capes

The possibilities are truly endless! Speak to a representative today to learn how a IDS 12-door Locker can benefit your business today. We offer financing options as well as leasing opportunities, so please be in touch with us to make this a reality for your employees and customers. Strongly considering the IDS 12-door Locker? Check out the technical specs this locker requires onthis page.

iVendTech – How a Vending Machine In Your Office Can Benefit Business Travelers

IDS Office Supply System is the answer to a simple desire of many businesses: We want to vend & track supplies for our employees. It proves there are no limits to intelligent dispensing. Now everything from ballpoint pens to keyboards can be dispensed from this versatile machine.

An IDS office supply vending machine offers many benefits like the ability to place products where they are needed 24/7 while reducing or in some cases eliminating office supply cabinets and drawers. Everything is secure and trackable letting you concentrate on your core business and not on keeping track of your supplies.

An employee arrives at an office that is not their home office and is in need of IT peripherals to accomplish their work. Examples might be a laptop power supply or security dongle. An on-demand electronics vending machine would allow the user to procure the item quickly.

An Employee can go to the machine and input their employee ID or swipe their ID card at the machine to initiate a dispensing session. The machine then sends ID/PIN to the server for authentication and restriction information is retrieved from the database (restriction information is based on departmental limits or other criteria as desired). If the employee is validated the dispensing session continues, otherwise the dispensing session terminates.

Tracking of products is easy. Transaction information is sent to the database including: time and date, account, site, machine, product(s) dispensed, and employee name or ID.

For office supplies and IT management we highly recommend that you check out the iVendTech site and features.

Vending Machine For Office Supplies Opened in a Library

There are few things more irritating than needing something to write with and not having it. Whether you’re an office worker getting ready for that big presentation or a student getting ready to take that test, nothing quite matches the sinking feeling in your stomach when you reach for your trusty pen and can’t find it. If certain companies have their way, however, this is one problem that society will never have to face again. A number of IT office supply vending machine options have recently made their way into the world and are yielding incredibly positive results.

The Penn State Bookstore

Seeing a vending machine on a college campus is certainly nothing new. College students have been using them for quick snacks in between classes for decades. However, Penn State University recently took a bold step to make sure that students didn’t just have access to all the salty and sweet snacks they want, but also to all of the office supplies they could ever need.

Penn State University installed two such vending machines on its campus that are packed with the types of necessities that you CAN’T eat. These library vending machines are filled with notebooks, headphones, calculators, pens and other miscellaneous office supplies, taking “convenience” to a whole new level.

From the student’s perspective, the benefits are clear. If they get to the library and realize they forgot their notebook, they don’t have to rush back to their dorm – they can just buy a new one. From the University’s perspective, they’ve also unlocked a brand new revenue stream at the same time. It’s the type of situation where everyone wins.

iVendTech | A New Versatile Approach to Office & IT Supply Asset Management

iVendTech is just one example of an office and IT supply solutions provider that is paving the way in this regard, taking the concept of the vending machine for libraries to an incredible new level. Not only do iVendTech’s solutions help to provide all of the important supplies people need at a moment’s notice, but they also offer additional benefits by way of features like will-call lockers, real-time reporting, inventory management and control capabilities and more. All transactions from the notebook vending machine are recorded, allowing people to experience a more deeper level of insight into their inventory control than ever before. These real-time analytics can also help them make more informed purchasing decisions based on buying patterns, trends and more.

These are just a few of the reasons why smart supply vending machines for offices and other contexts are so great. They take the natural benefits of the vending machine to the next level by offering on-demand access to the tools students, business professionals and others need when they need them the most. This is just another in a long line of positive steps that vending machines have taken towards becoming important fixtures in all of our lives in recent years.

Vending Solutions in Public Premises

If you happened to walk by a vending machine in a public place, you probably wouldn’t bat an eye. However, if you took a closer look inside the contents of THESE University and Public vending machines, you just may stop for a closer look. Make no mistake: vending machines house a lot more than just soft drinks and potato chips these days, as these particular solutions go a long way towards proving.

  1. Shippensburg University

Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania recently made headlines when it outfitted its campus with a vending machine stocked entirely with health-related items. Located within the campus’ student health center, this innovative dispenser caused a great deal of controversy when the university announced it would offer Plan B, also commonly referred to as “the morning-after pill.”

  1. Sacramento California

Nothing is worse than needing a roll of duct tape and not having it, but thanks to one dedicated vending machine manufacturer employees of many Sacramento government agencies will never have to worry about this again. Many vending machines have been deployed throughout the area that are stocked with industrial equipment like duct tape, rubber gloves and more.

  1. The University of Florida

Students at the University of Florida will never find themselves without a notebook, pencil or other important item in the near future. The University of Florida recently installed office vending machine options in their libraries that sell school supplies like note cards, blue books, pens, pencils and beyond.

Benefits of Vending Machines for Hospitals

The key takeaway from these vending machines is that the machines themselves can be highly customized to fit the environment they’re placed in. Take a scrub vending machine, for example. ScrubTrak is one such option that not only allows medical professionals quick access to scrubs and other important items they need to do their jobs, but it also offers an unparalleled level of functionality to businesses. ScrubTrak allows a vending machine to be stocked with multiple sizes of items, can track both purchase and returns for detailed reporting, offers insight into buying patterns to be used for more informed purchasing decisions in the future.

Benefits of Vending Machines for Office Employees and Management

 

These benefits don’t just stop at universities and hospitals, however – thanks to companies like iVendTech, office and IT employees can also get in on the action. iVendTech offers a wide range of office vending machine solutions designed to make sure employees always have access to the important office supplies they need when they need them the most. These machines also come with will-call lockers, real-time reporting, advanced inventory management and control capabilities and more.

One thing is for sure – the days of vending machines being “just” a way to get a quick snack in during the day are long gone. With innovative dispensers offering an incredible level of customization based on the environment they find themselves in, they’re taking a bold step in the direction of becoming an integral fixture in all of our lives once again.

For hospital and medical facility managers, we highly recommend that you check out the ScrubTrak site and features.

For office supplies and IT management we highly recommend that you check out the iVendTech site and features.

The Importance of Medical Supply Vending Machines in Fire Stations

When you’re a fire fighter, the costs associated with saving lives should never be your top priority. Despite that, ballooning costs are one of the primary challenges that fire stations face all around the country on a daily basis. Luckily, the tides are turning in favor of us all as medical vending machines are being looked at as a way to not only make all of the life-saving equipment necessary to do their jobs readily available at all times, but also to help curb rising costs at the exact same time.

Tulsa, Oklahoma

One example of a situation where medical supply vending machines are having a positive impact comes from Tulsa, Oklahoma, which has already begun the process of rolling out at least one EMS supply vending machine to several fire stations in the area. Fire department officials predict that this one bold move can help save between 30 and 40 percent from traditional medical supply costs for a number of interesting reasons.

For starters, all of the medical vending machines in the Tulsa area will be linked to one another via an active Internet connection. This allows coordinators and other team leaders to get a deeper sense of the products that they have on hand, how they’re being used and which items need to be readily available at a moment’s notice based on the type of real-time, actionable information that only analytics can provide. Even if an incident occurs in the middle of the night, firefighters will have instant access to any critical piece of equipment that they need.

This move is designed to not only save firefighters time, but also to help save taxpayers in the area money as well.

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions

IDS is one of the leading providers of EMT, EMS and general medical Supply Vending machines worldwide. As a company founded on the idea that traditional challenges faced by healthcare professionals can be solved with innovative solutions, the company works hard with fire stations, hospitals and similar types of facilities to address all of their needs in the most forward-thinking ways possible.

IDS’ medical vending machines are designed to empower professionals to not only keep all of the medical supplies and other products needed on hand, but also to help maintain a greater level of control over their inventory and a greater level of security over the supplies themselves at the exact same time.

These are just a few of the reasons why EMS supply vending machine options are playing such an important role in fire stations and other facilities all over the world. As technology continues to advance and companies like IDS continue to push the envelope in terms of things like security and control, it is truly exciting to think about the form that medical supply lockers and similar solutions will take in just a few short years time.

College Campus Offers Emergency Contraceptive Plan B Via Vending Machine

Biomedical vending machines are becoming increasingly common in healthcare settings around the country, the Student Government at the University of California in Santa Barbara are taking Medical vending machines to a higher level. As explained by Nathan Rubbelke, student government leaders at UCSB have approved the purchase of a medical contraceptive vending machine that will dispense condoms, lube, tampons, pregnancy tests, and the morning-after pill, Plan B. However, this action raises a few interesting questions, and students need to understand how this machine will sexual health on campus.

What Triggered the Installation of the Plan B Vending Machine?

College life is hectic, and accessing items for reproductive health can be challenging for students. Although many of these items are accessible through the Health and Wellness program at UCSD, students need a way to access these items on weekends. This medical vending machines will provide access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which is excellent for students who may not be able to access in-office resources do to work or school schedules.

Without the machine, students who have unprotected sex early in the weekend, such as Friday night, would be unable to obtain Plan B from Student Health until Monday. By installing this machine, student government leaders also seek to resolve another problem. On occasion, nearby pharmacies and Planned Parenthood may run out of Plan B, and students need to have access to the contraceptive as soon as possible.

Is This the First Time Plan B Has Been Offered Through a Pharmaceutical Vending Machine?

In 2010, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania installed a similar vending machines with the purpose of dispensing Plan B on campus. Little interest centered around the vending machine for two years, but the Food and Drug Administration began to look into the matter in 2012. Eventually, the FDA declined to take any action on the matter, and the college continued to sell Plan B from the vending machine.

What About Opposition to the Pharmaceutical Vending Machine?

There are opponents to the dispensing of Plan B in a vending machine. In fact, the president of the Anscombe Society at UCSB has expressed severe criticism over the very idea of installing a pharmaceutical vending machine with contraceptive items. While this sentiment emphasizes the group’s focus on maintaining sexual purity, students are already accessing Plan B through other measures, and this vending machine will simplify the needs of UCSB’s students who have been in the situation of finding an after-hours option for contraception.

The face of the pharmaceutical vending machine industry is changing. Once, mild pain relievers, mouthwash, and simple over-the-counter medications were available in vending machines. Now, female students can take a stronger role in ensuring their reproductive health with a medical vending machine, such as those designed by Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, to access over-the-counter Plan B when other means of obtaining the medication are unavailable.

Prescription Drug Vending Machine Brought on Campus

Over the last few years, you’ve no doubt gotten used to the fact that vending machines are no longer just a source for soft drinks and salty snacks. You’ve probably purchased at least one electronic device from a vending machine in an airport, or have at least seen someone do so. You’ve maybe even used a DVD vending machine or gotten your morning paper in much the same way. Now, providers are taking things to the next level by offering prescription dispenser units and other medical vending machine options.

Arizona State University’s Prescription Medication Vending Machine

In 2014, Arizona State University became one of the first educational institutions in the country to install a prescription dispenser on campus. Located in the Health Services Building, this unit was designed to help both make sure that people had quick and easy access to the medical supplies that they needed and to increase efficiency within that organization at the exact same time.

The medical vending machine was designed to fill the medical prescriptions of both students and university employees at a moment’s notice. By using a voucher with identifying information that itself is tied to a very specific code, any doctor could prescribe medication to a patient that could then be picked up at the vending machine within 24 hours.

This advancement couldn’t have come at a better time, too, as the pharmacy at Arizona State University closed just a few weeks prior. Thanks to the prescription dispenser, people were able to continue getting the service they needed without transferring to other pharmacies or seeing any other type of negative impact at all.

At its launch, the prescription medication vending machine offered the 50 medications that were most commonly prescribed to students on campus. Based on the type of software that the machine was powered with, this could change on a regular basis as trends did. If a new medication were to creep into that top 50, it would be added to the list and something that was less likely to be prescribed would be removed.

UCapIt

UCapIt is just one example of a company that is offering controlled access pharmaceutical dispensing options to healthcare organizations around the world on a daily basis. UCapIt solutions are armed with state-of-the-art software that allows not only for instant recording whenever a purchase is made, but also for things like detailed reporting, the tracking of who has access to which types of supplies, advanced inventory management capabilities and more.

This is just one example of the many ways that medical vending machine technology is positively impacting the lives of people all over the world on a daily basis. For students at Arizona State University, they found the process of filling a prescription was easier than ever before. It’s easy to picture a time not too far from now where these types of medical vending solutions are rolled out beyond college campuses and are located in drug stores, pharmacies and other locations across the world.