InformationWeek

January 29, 2001

Printer ready

Vending Machines Get A High-Tech Makeover

Aramark drivers use handhelds that plug into machines and extract data on what sells best

By Cheryl Rosen

More on supply-chain management:

EBN: Asian Electronics Market Wrestles With SCM (12/19/00)

EBN: Nokia Dodges Wireless Downturn (EBN10/30/00)

Visit Our Redefining Business Resource Center

Send Us Your Feedback

he vending machine is getting a technology face-lift. New markets and back-end systems have convinced food manufacturers to take a fresh look at a ubiquitous but stodgy distribution channel.

Aramark Refreshment Services, one of the nation's largest food-service suppliers, is partnering with Frito-Lay, Kellogg's, Mars, Pepsi, and TastiCakes on Project Refresh, a $10 million technology initiative designed to improve the route efficiency, warehouse management, and customer service of the participants' mutual vending-machine businesses.

In the past, drivers on each vending-machine route spent the early part of their shifts wandering through warehouses and selecting the items they thought would sell best. But new software tracks sales of the vending machines on their route and chooses the best-selling items for them, so all drivers need to do is pick up a prepacked canister for each machine. Early results show a 40% increase in route productivity, says Richard Wykoff, president of Aramark Refreshment Services.

Richard Wykoff Photo by Bill Cramer Drivers use handheld Palm devices that plug into each vending machine and extract data on what's been sold. Eventually, Aramark will transmit the data wirelessly. The devices also note scheduled maintenance and track service problems, so Aramark can see patterns of breakdowns that indicate external problems, such as excessive heat, that frequently cause machines to fail.

Data from the handhelds is fed through servers in any of Aramark's 58 geographical centers back to an Oracle-based data center. Analytic software then calculates which products sells best in each machine. For example, the software can tell if personnel on a company's warehouse floor need more chips or that the folks in the corner offices are always low on bottled water. It also tracks which products often sell together.

With 90% of American workers employed in offices of less than 500 people, vending machines often take the place of a company cafeteria, Wykoff says. And for suppliers, "the workplace has become a strategic place to penetrate," offering up a captive audience nine or 10 hours a day--much more than the hour a week consumers spend at the grocery store.