Tag: inventory control

13 Year Old CEO Hopes to Bring His “RecMed First Aid Kits” to Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

EMS supply vending machines configured to dispense a first aid kit on demand is the brainchild of 13-year-old CEO Taylor Rosenthal. Rosenthal’s company, RecMed First Aid Kits, was developed after a conversation with his parents who are both medical professionals and an opportunity presented by an entrepreneurial class at Opelika Middle School in Opelika, Alabama.

The kits contain basic medical supplies that could be useful to treat minor injuries on the sports field. Antibiotic sprays, bandages, adhesive tape, gauze pads and other first aid supplies come neatly packed in a clear plastic zippered case. Rosenthal has witnessed the need for such kits first-hand. “I mean I see it all the time…kids getting hurt at the ball fields playing baseball or something…and parents just go crazy…”

Rosenthal is working with The Round House Startup Space in Opelika to bring his dream first aid supply vending machines to fruition. According to Kyle Sandler, founder of The Round House, Rosenthal is a particularly devoted, hard-working CEO. Sandler had to essentially kick the teen out of the startup space to send him home on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday at home with his family.

Sandler also remarked that Rosenthal’s age affects how he views vending machines. According to Sandler, “… since he’s 13 and not 25… he’s more used to Redbox… so we made a couple of calls and now we have a computer-aided robotic vending machine in the works…” Eco ATM and RedBox have come on board to help Rosenthal get his product to market.

While sports fields were Rosenthal’s initial inspiration for the RecMed First Aid Kit vending machines, he doesn’t see athletic complexes as the solitary market for his product. He believes that anywhere families gather for recreation would present a feasible marketplace. He is already in talks with Six Flags Amusement Parks officials to places RecMed first aid vending machines in the parks to deal with the minor cuts and scrapes that young children are so prone to.

Rosenthal advanced to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy regional semifinals in Boca Raton in May 2015.

Source:

http://www.wltz.com/story/29172406/opelika-teen-competing-in-the-young-entrepreneurs-academy-regional-finals

What Happens if you Ban Bottled Water on a College Campus Vending Machine?

Posted on by John Van Horn

If you’re on a college campus and are frantically running from one building to another to make it to your next class on time, it’s natural to want something to drink to quench your thirst. You may turn to the nearest school vending machine as a solution thanks to the efficiency and convenience that it brings to the table. What if you wanted a nice, cold bottle of water from the vending machine and were only greeted by sugary sodas that you had no interest in? What if this was the result of your college campus taking the unusual step of banning bottled water altogether? What would happen next?

A new study published by the American Journal of Public Health seeks to understand the effects of banning bottled water. According to the study, restricting access to bottled water on college campuses actually statistically increases the consumption of less healthy beverages. Another side effect is that the ban increases the amount of plastic waste that a college campus has to deal with at the same time.

The study, which is appropriately called “The Unintended Consequences of Changes in Beverage Options and the Removal of Bottled Water on a University Campus,” closely tracked vending machine activity after the University of Vermont banned all bottled water sales on its campus. Not surprisingly, other unhealthy alternatives to water saw a 25 percent increase in sales almost immediately. At the same time, there was an astounding 8.5 percent increase in the total amount of plastic waste that then had to be dealt with by university officials.

Ironically, the purpose of the University of Vermont’s ban was not to spike the sales of sugary drinks at all. College officials report that they originally just wanted to encourage students to bring their own reusable water bottles that they could then fill with tap water from drinking fountains located all over campus. The university even went to the trouble of retrofitting 68 water fountains across the area to make it more convenient to use them with reusable water bottles, making it all the more interesting that the opposite effect seems to have occurred.

The International Bottled Water Association has long maintained that the restriction of bottled water will absolutely lead to the increased consumption of less healthy beverages and increased creation of waste that must then be dealt with. Thanks to the AJPH, these findings have been confirmed in a way that is difficult to argue with. For many people, the choice between cold, healthy bottled water and an unhealthy soda alternative isn’t really a choice at all.

Sources: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=The+Unintended+Consequences+of+Changes+in+Beverage+Options+and+the+Removal+of+Bottled+Water+on+a+University+Campus

Redefining The Retail Experience

Posted on by John Van Horn

The very nature of the retail experience has been changing dramatically over the last several years. Even as recently as 15 years ago, you essentially had one option if you wanted a particular item – you left your house, got in your car and drove to the nearest appropriate store. The Internet changed all that and made it easier than ever to get items delivered right to your home with no car trip necessary. Now, a new type of vending machine solution is poised to take things one step farther by offering a huge range of different items that you wouldn’t normally find in these machines.

When you think about vending machines and the products inside them, you probably call to mind images of potato chips, soft drinks and candy. Items like designer handbags, cupcakes and children’s toys probably don’t fit your mental image of what a vending machine is capable of. The city of Toronto is working hard to challenge your perception, however, by installing a wide range of high tech machines around the city.

Deluxe vending machines are already popping up all over the Toronto area stocked with items like novels, beauty products, clothing and more. These items are strategically located in some of the busiest areas of the city, making them ideal for both tourists and residents alike.

These types of innovative retail vending machine solutions are truly taking the automated retail experience to the next level. In addition to the fact that they’re already starting to sell the types of items that you wouldn’t normally expect to find in a vending machine, they’re also playing music and even the latest Hollywood blockbuster in an attempt to attract the attention of everyone who passes by.

The retail experience is one that is in a constant state of flux that started with the advent of the Internet. Now that innovative vending machine solutions are automating the retail experience even further, it will be truly interesting to see what consumer shopping looks like five, ten or even fifteen years from now. Intelligent Dispensing Solutions will be there inventing and reinventing along the entire process.

Source: http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/05/08/how-a-new-breed-of-vending-machine-is-poised-to-take-on-retail.html

Secure Dispensers for Office Supply Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

Vending machines have long been one of the best ways to get a wide range of different products to consumers in a quick and efficient manner. Because of the automated nature of these solutions, however, security was always a primary concern. A vending machine representative or service technician isn’t necessarily going to check a particular unit every day, so it could be quite awhile before anyone even realizes that theft has occurred. Now, one industry leader is taking things to the next level by offering vending machine solutions with a focus on security above all else.

Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, a leading vending machine manufacturer and provider for both operators and businesses around the world, has released a new line of automated office supply vending machines into the marketplace with a major emphasis on security. These machines track office supplies by letting customers log in with their own user IDs and passwords to make a purchase. This adds a bold new level of accountability to the equation, as each purchase is always tied to a specific person. Management can then view these detailed records to help see who is participating in what types of activity at a moment’s notice. Keeping track of inventory and making sure that a machine stays secure has truly never been easier.

IQ Technology leverages the power of the cloud with inventory tracking to help provide an efficient solution that is intently focused on security at the same time.

IQ is an Internet-based software system, which means that business owners and vendors can access important diagnostic information about a particular vending machine from any device on the planet with an active Web connection. Business leaders can track current inventory levels, see who is checking out certain items, see when (or if) they’re being promptly returned and more. It’s a system that can be used to manage as many machines as necessary given the needs of a business, so long as each machine is connected to the Internet.

In addition to preventing theft, IQ-enabled solutions are also adept at preventing fraud. All transactions are 100% encrypted, so both consumers and business owners don’t have to worry about things like credit card fraud or identity theft when using these machines.

Thanks to the engineers and designers at Intelligent Dispensing Solutions and similar companies all over the world, security concerns are now a thing of the past. Businesses can depend on vending machines to help with everything from inventory control to efficiency and productivity management, all without having to worry about theft and similar issues that were prominent in an era not too long passed.

Have You Heard of Oasis? Robotic Retail Food Units to Bring Healthy Options to Food Scarce Areas

Posted on by John Van Horn

Have you ever wondered what type of benefits would be offered if healthy foods were available from a vending machine? While this may seem like something right out of “Back to the Future,” this is something you could be seeing in your area and very soon. Increased technology and the need to make good food accessible in food desert areas, has led to the development of this revolutionary product.

The latest Robotic Retail units will be stocked with foods such as eggs, milk, bread and healthy, prepared foods, such as salads that would otherwise only be found in a grocery store. The pricing in these units will not be astronomical either.  In fact, they’ll be right on par with what you would pay at your local grocery store. This makes getting healthy foods much easier for people who don’t live near a grocery store, don’t have a car to get there, or simply live in food scarce area.

When you shop a Robotic Retail vending machine you can pay with cash, a credit card, or a debit card, as well as with a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program card, or other food assistance cards.

These machines, which are being called the Oasis 24seven are approximately the size of a shipping container. They hold between 200 and 800 different items, weighing anywhere between one ounce to 10 pounds. When you shop with the machine you will make your selection on a computer screen, and then a robotic arm will deliver your selected items.

While there are similar machines currently on college campuses, the goal of the Oasis 24seven is to provide access to food for those who may not have it.  And not just any food – but healthy, quality foods for those who may otherwise only have access to processed options.

In addition to benefiting those in areas where access to healthy foods may be low, these machines can help to reduce issues of theft. The inventory control in this machine is superior to even the highest quality grocery store security systems. Why? Because patrons do not have access to the actual groceries. Instead, they will enter their selections into the computer screen, and then have it delivered by the robotic arm and conveyor belt.

The first Oasis 24seven healthy food vending machine is going to be located in the Greater Des Moines area. However, if the trial run goes well, there is a good chance you will see one in your local area before you know it.

New Social Commerce: Vending Machines

Posted on by John Van Horn

TweetShirt-02It’s no secret that social media is more popular than ever. Twitter in particular is taking the world by storm, boasting hundreds of millions of dollars and a true billion dollar valuation to its credit. It seems that Twitter users can’t get enough of the “micro blogging” service and companies in many different industries are finding bold new ways to meet that demand. One possibility for social media interaction in the not too distant future has to do with the pairing of the vending machine manufacturer and social media-enabled vending machines.

Brands like Old Navy and Nike have zeroed in on an idea that is brilliantly simplistic. Patrons can walk by a Twitter-enabled vending machine, post a tweet about a product or service that the company offers and get some type of reward for their trouble. Old Navy has already begun rolling out these social commerce twitter vending machines in Japan to great success. After posting a tweet about Old Navy brand flip flops, users of the vending machines can actually get a pair of those flip flops to call their own.

Old Navy has had similar success with these types of campaigns in the United States. In years past, the brand had installed 28 machines in strategic locations in major cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Not only did the company get promotion via the tweets, but the media attention also funneled directly into its big summer sale.

According to Evigo.com, these types of digital media vending machines accounted for 3,500 different tweets and 12 million impressions. Though that may not necessarily sound like much for a social networking site with hundreds of millions of users, it’s important to keep in mind that these campaigns were limited in their scope to this initial roll-out. Representatives from the companies involved were very clear that driving traffic wasn’t the goal – building excitement and displaying true innovation in the realm of social media is the prize that they were after and it’s definitely a prize they seem to have obtained.

These social media vending machines are a true example of “out of home advertising” and taking marketing campaigns and word of mouth to bold new heights in a digital age. One of the major factors that brands love about Twitter is that it is a great way to get customers involved in their marketing campaigns. Tweets can be seen by millions of people all over the world, creating the type of brand awareness in an instant that most companies only dream of. If social media campaigns like the type that Old Navy, Westin Hotels and other major brands like Nike are any indication, “social commerce” isn’t an idea that always seems to be just over the horizon – it’s one that is already here.

Vending Security and Control: How Software is Revolutionizing the Industry

Posted on by John Van Horn

The vending industry is currently in a state of expansion. Spreading outward from its core of foods, beverages, and entertainment, vending machines are finding their way into a number of professions. The reason is a unique combination of inventory control and advances in technology that give vending machine management several advantages. As vending machine manufacturers adopt these security features, the potential solutions vending machines offer continue to grow. Below are several of the most promising examples and what they can offer:

Controlled Substances and Healthcare Supplies

Vending machine manufacturers are making inroads into the healthcare system for one primary reason: The importance of supply management for hospitals, clinics, and similar organizations. Healthcare organizations deal with a number of products that require tight controls, particularly drugs and similar controlled substances. Despite their best efforts, many hospitals see losses due to mismanagement and ongoing troubles with employee theft.

Secure medical vending machines offer a solution to these issues by allowing medical professionals to access exactly what goods they need without worrying about theft or mistakes. The system uses a mix of timestamps, access protocols, and unit tracking to control exactly who has access to drugs and valuable medical supplies, while keeping them safe. As a bonus, medical vending machines also provide solutions for dealing with scrubs using software like ScrubTrak to pick up new scrubs and return soiled versions.

Office Management and Accountability

In some respects, office supplies face the same losses that medical supplies do thanks to mismanagement, theft and miscommunication. A vending machine tracking software system for appropriate office supplies can solve corporate problems with these losses.

Office vending machines can be customized to offer everything from simple pens and notes to flash drives and electronics. Items are provided to employees who scan their IDs, helping to create more accurate accountability and removing human error from the process – as well as getting employees their solutions without requiring a lengthy request process.

Kitchens and Similar Workplaces

Busy kitchens found in large-scale restaurants and hospitality industries may seem like an odd choice for vending solutions, but the right kind of machine can provide a help to managers dealing with a balance of inventory control and workplace safety requirements.

Knives and other cutlery or expensive preparation supplies, vending machines can offer simple control answers to environments that are inherently different to closely regulate because of high turnover or sudden changes in volume and activity.

Law Enforcement Controls

While law enforcement may not suffer from the same turnover rates as the hospitality industry, these organizations do have plenty of sensitive products to monitor. Vending machines can help these agencies track ammunition, weapons, and similar products to increase safety and prevent deadly mistakes.

There is no better time to join the vending industry. With strict monitoring and inventory control, vending machine owners can rest assured that the technology is on their side.

Inventory and Tracking through iQ Technology

Posted on by John Van Horn

The iQ Technology inventory tracking system is more technologically advanced than anything that has come before it. Through the use of iQ technology, you can ensure that your inventory is properly maintained within your vending machines with limited administrative effort.

A Cloud-Based Inventory Management Solution
iQ lets you connect to the inventory on-the-fly through its cloud-based system. A cloud-based system allows access from mobile and desktop devices, so you always know whether the machine needs something. Even expiration dates can be tracked through your cloud-based inventory and information.

Manage Multiple Machines through IQ Inventory Control Software
Have more than one vending machine? iQ lets you track all of them at once. You can quickly pull reports and find out the status of multiple vending machines as desired, without having to physically go to the machines or switch through accounts. 

Completely Secure Transactions
The transactions stored through the iQ inventory management system are protected and encrypted. You never need to worry about your customer’s credit card data falling into the wrong hands; both the machine itself and the server are safe.

iQ technology can easily reduce the amount of time you spend on tracking your vending machine inventory. Through iQ technology, you can manage all of your vending machines, pull up reports from anywhere in the world and track your sales transactions.

iQ Technology Takes the Hassle out of Inventory Control

Posted on by John Van Horn

Vending can be a profitable and satisfying business, but one of the aspects many vending owners find most cumbersome is having to travel to each machine to check inventory levels – especially when it turns out there’s no need to replenish that inventory.

vending machine mobile inventory control

At Intelligent Dispensing Solutions, we’ve done away with that hassle by equipping every machine we manufacture with our state-of-the-art iQ inventory control system. iQ lets vending business operators perform inventory control and management activities remotely, from any device that has a connection to the Internet.

If you have a tablet, a laptop or a cell phone, you can connect with each of your machines to check product levels – even while you’re on vacation. iQ makes it easy to know when it’s time to restock, and it also makes it easy to track the use of each machine so you can determine the time of day and day of the week when each machine is most profitable.

iQ inventory control technology can also help you serve your customers more efficiently by determining which products are most popular and by tracking the popularity of new items as they’re added. That means you can be more responsive to your customers’ needs with remote inventory reports and stock management, building your brand while you build your profits – and iQ lets you do it all remotely.

Ways to Keep Track of Inventory

Posted on by John Van Horn

Keeping track of your vending machines’ inventory is a vitally important part of maintaining strong sales: No one wants to see a half-stocked machine, and when an item is really popular, you want to make sure levels stay high so you can take advantage of that popularity.

There are three primary ways to track and control inventor:

  • Go “old school” and track by hand: Grab that clipboard and pen and get to counting. Tracking by hand may have once been the standard, but by today’s standards, it’s tedious and an unproductive use of time.
  • Use a spreadsheet: Excel offers lots of customizability and it’s certainly more efficient than keeping track by hand. But this method still requires manual entry, and that means it can still be time-consuming.
  • Tap into vending machine inventory tracking and management technology: IDS’ iQ technology vending machines represents the most advanced inventory tracking system available for vending machine operators. iQ lets you track your inventory remotely from your computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone – any device that has an Internet connection. You can even check the income from cashless machines that let customers use credit cards to securely make purchases.

Inventory control has come a long way in the last few years. Using an inventory tracking system like iQ lets vending business owners spend less time counting stock and more time building a successful vending business.