Tag: custom vending machine

Satellite Storage Solutions

Posted on by John Van Horn

While looking at the Intelligent Dispensing Solutions website, you probably noticed our Office Supply Systems and might have thought, “That looks great, but my workplace uses items that won’t fit in a vending machine.” No need to worry, IDS has you covered!

If your business requires employees to use equipment that would be too large to fit into a vending machine on a daily or weekly basis, IDS offers solutions to expand your inventory management. Satellite systems connect to your main units and allow you to dispense large packaged or irregularly shaped objects. These satellite system storage solution office supply vending machine functions like lockers with glass fronts that are opened by the ID or card mechanism that you would normally use to dispense an item from your main unit. A benefit to these satellite systems is that the locked doors can be reopened and items can be put back in if you are in need of safe and secure places to store items when not in use by employees.

These machines are perfect for retailers, hospitals or other locations with medical supplies, gyms and more!

Smart Vending Software

Posted on by John Van Horn

A great vending machine will have more inside than just products to dispense. As a vending machine manufacturer that is constantly working to deliver creative and innovative solutions in various industries, Intelligent Dispensing Solutions knows that the parts and software that run a smart vending machine determine how successful the machine will be.

To ensure that your Office Supply System from IDS functions properly and gives you the tools you need to monitor your machine, we have developed IQ Technology. This software allows your machine to provide benefits to both machine operators and machine patrons; making it easier to manage the machine and inventory and to customize vending experiences for customers.

Our IQ Smart Vending Machine Software is able to offer complete transaction security whether you use a PIN code, bar code, mag stripe, PROX card or other ID systems by encrypting data and not storing security information. The web-based interface of this software creates an efficient way to manage multiple machines from any location and also includes mobile tracking and alerts to stay informed on any issues that may arise with your machines. IQ Software also includes guaranteed delivery verification sensors that will ensure a successful dispensing for every transaction.

New York Fashion Week’s Recycling Machine

Posted on by John Van Horn

New York Fashion Week is one of the fashion industry’s largest events of the year and there is no shortage of cutting edge clothing and designers pushing the limits and boundaries of fashion. For three days during the week-long celebration, a unique vending machine made an appearance, dispensing t-shirts that are definitely more than what meets the eye.

The organization Plastics Make it Possible arrived at fashion week with a truly unique custom vending machine that dispensed a free t-shirt to anyone that “paid” by putting a plastic bottle into the machine. While a creative way to encourage recycling, this may seem like an odd exchange for a t-shirt. The differences between the plastic bottle that patrons inserted into the machine and the t-shirt they received from it aren’t that different though.

The t-shirts from this machine were designed by Allison Parris and were made from recycled plastic fabric! Intelligent Dispensing Solutions loves to see creative vending machines used to promote great causes like this. The t-shirts are made with recycled plastic bottles that are cleaned, melted and stretched into a fine thread. The result is a soft, woven fabric that can be made into lots of different kinds of clothing, including stylish graphic t-shirts!

Retail Vending Technologies

Posted on by John Van Horn

Vending machines are much more versatile than they were in the past. With new technologies that are becoming more widespread and compact, vending services are evolving from traditional snack and drink vending with coin payment systems to sophisticated POS, or point of sale, systems and retail vending machines that create new interaction, marketing and sales opportunities for businesses. This is especially true in the retail industry, where traditional brick-and-mortar stores are trying to find more ways to connect with digitally-connected customers and online e-commerce sites are attempting to create physical footprints and ways to interact with customers in tangible ways.

A technology that is helping this process along is the use of QR, short for Quick Response, codes. These matrix bar-codes can already be found on anything from business cards to billboards and even on the packages of many items sold in vending machines. For retailers, these QR code vending machines give consumers with smart-phones an easy opportunity to connect with their websites, send text messages to enter contests, or even contact vending machine operators about service issues or questions.

By scanning the code with their phones, customers are immediately directed to take an action with their phone and these actions are often simple and very valuable to businesses. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, as a vending machine manufacturer is always looking for new and innovative ways to incorporate these technologies to help your vending business.

30-Year-Old Custom Vending Machine

Posted on by John Van Horn

To most of our readers, it is not a secret that Japan is home to many of the world’s greatest and oddest vending machines. With over 5 million machines currently operating in the country, there are bound to be interesting innovations and unique machines.

Custom vending machines usually incorporate cutting-edge new technology or new mechanisms that allow them to do things your average vending machine would not be able to. Sometimes though, the simplest solutions are the best and a great idea is all you need to make something average stand out.

A very popular Japanese dish is curry and rice. This isn’t something your average snack machine could vend, but a small, red machine in a vending machine establishment in Japan dispenses hot servings of ready-to-eat curry and rice. The interesting thing about it is that this great vending “innovation” has been operating for almost 30 years!

The Japanese curry and rice vending machine serves vacuum-sealed packages of curry and rice that are kept warm inside the machine and the machine is operated by the man that personally grows the rice used in the machine. To ensure its freshness, the operator replaces the rice in this Japanese dispenser several times per day. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions applauds this vending entrepreneur for his commitment to delivering a unique and quality product!

Earning Your Vending Treat

Posted on by John Van Horn

There have been a lot of new marketing campaigns that feature custom vending machines lately. The latest entry into the vending-for-marketing game is Strongbow, an English cider company. Strongbow’s new campaign, entitled “Earn It.” is all about earning your tasty beverage. The campaign focuses on people performing difficult tasks and competing in difficult sporting events, such as tough mudder competitions, cricket, football and stand up comedy.

To translate this sense of competition and the requirement of earning your can of cider to their vending machine, Strongbow created an interactive machine that uses kinetic monitoring systems to track users’ movements as they aim their bow and arrows at a target down a field on the screen. The machine was placed in one of the UK’s busiest train stations and attracted a large number of participants that often were so excited about the motion-tracking technology or hitting the target with their virtual arrow that they forgot to pick up their prize: a free can of Strongbow.

Kinetic software and motion-tracking technology has become popular with a lot of consumer products within recent years. Video game systems have incorporated the technology and made it a fairly common thing in many households. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions has seen some pretty great uses of this technology in interactive vending machines lately and is excited to see what is next!

Last-Minute Makeup Machine

Posted on by John Van Horn

Custom Vending MachinesYou’ve made it through the airport’s security, miraculously arrived at your gate on time, and even have enough spare time to enjoy your victory with some relaxing. After visiting the nearest cafe for the largest container of coffee they can legally sell, you rummage through your carry-on bag to triple-check that you have everything you need.

While searching for your favorite magazine, you start noticing all the things you forgot to pack in your early-morning rush! Luckily, airports are well-equipped with custom vending machines that stock just about everything you could need on your flight.

Recently, San Francisco cosmetics company, Benefit, launched a new vending machine to help travelers that grabbed everything but their lipstick, eye-liner or almost anything else you’d find in a makeup bag. Their new “Glam Up & Away” machines have makeup on-the-go available at JFK airport and airports in Austin and Las Vegas. These beautifully bright-pink makeup vending machines vend 30 of their most popular products to help travelers look their best.

These machines are a great blend of creative design, marketing gimmick and very useful products!

Have you seen any creative vending machines lately? Intelligent Dispensing Solutions is always on the lookout for new and innovative uses of vending technology!

Instant Vending Satisfaction

Posted on by John Van Horn

Vending MachinesNot too long ago, facial recognition by machines and computers was something that only existed in sci-fi movies and laboratories. Now, facial recognition software is being integrated into personal computers, communication devices, security systems, retail stores, and even vending machines!

A coffee company named Douwe Egberts set up a custom vending machine in the O.R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa that dispensed coffee for exhausted travelers. Using facial recognition software, the machine was able to detect when a potential customer yawned in front of the machine and automatically dispensed a hot cup of Douwe Egberts coffee.

Now that’s instant satisfaction! Being able to incorporate the latest technological innovations into vending machines is what helps the industry evolve and stay relevant and interesting. While this particular application of facial recognition software was used as a marketing gimmick, the same technology could be used in traditional vending machines to recognize customers and make suggestions based on previous purchases, greet them with a custom message or interface, or give them access to a specialized facial recognition vending machine for medical supplies or other inventories.

Check out the video posted by the coffee company on YouTube, demonstrating their solution to red-eye flights! Make sure to contact us at IntelligentDispensingSolutions.com with any custom vending machine ideas!

New Report Examines the Life of a Vending Machine

Posted on by John Van Horn

Intelligent Dispensing SolutionsNo matter what you do or where you live, chances are you use a vending machine multiple times a week (or even multiple times a day!). While we all love our respective vending units, chances are we don’t often think about the creation and general lifecycles or how long of these vending machines that we depend on almost daily last. With this in mind, the folks over at The Motley Fool recently posted a new report titled “The Life of a Vending Machine,” which examines the resources that go into our favorite custom vending machines.

The article is accompanied by a video interview with Coinstar CEO Scott Di Valerio, which can be seen below. For those not in the know, Coinstar is one of the biggest names in the dispensing industry, as their coin-collecting machines have given way to the Redbox and Rubi devices that are used by customers everywhere. The interview provides valuable insight on the ever-changing nature of retail, and how the initially high investment of custom vending machines can eventually give way to big profits in today’s market.

If you’re feeling inspired by Coinstar’s success, why not start your own story? Our vending machine manufacturers are ready to build a product that will take your business to new heights. Talk to us today.

Custom Vending Machines for Summer Boardwalks

Posted on by John Van Horn

Intelligent Dispensing SolutionsSummer has made its official start as of last weekend, and now is a better time than ever to make a refrigerated vending machine a part of your business.While just about any type of vending machine will do well when surrounded by customers soaking up the sun, your vending unit will do especially well if you have the luxury of being near a beach area. Beach boardwalks are always full of exciting attractions, so why not make your beach vending machine one of the most alluring?

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions prides itself on providing near-endless possibilities, and that goes double if you’re lucky enough to operate on a boardwalk. While the thought of a “beach boardwalk vending machine” instantly conjures up imagines of classic drink and snack machines, it could be so much more. Think of the products that beach-goers typically go after, like summer clothing, goggles, float devices, and sand toys. While these goods might have never been associated with beach vending machines in the past, we can help you vend them automatically to all types of customer bases!

All types of people plan on hitting the beach this summer seeking the most fun experiences of the season. With the help of our beach boardwalk vending machines, you can provide service on the beach like never before!