Meet Our Experts
Scott EwartSr Product Manager, ServiceMax
Gordon BenzieDirector of AR & Market Intelligence
Aly PinderProgram director, service innovation & connected products, IDC
Meet Our Experts
How organized is your team’s supply closet? From every day tools and office supplies to replacement parts, field service organizations have a lot of equipment to track and inventory. According to Aly Pinder, research analyst at Aberdeen, more than 50 percent of field service visits require a service part. “The efficient delivery of service is dependent on a number of inter-related functions working together — for example, ensuring the right parts are available when a technician arrives at a customer site, yet the parts depot isn’t overrun with excess inventory,” says Pinder.
Industrial supp
ly and service provider Fastenal hopes to solve this problem for organizations with its line of industrial vending machines. Unlike the typical coin-operated vending machine stocked with candy and drinks, Fastenal’s FAST 5000 industrial vending machine can disperse and track the usage of parts, tools, safety glasses, gloves, tapes, batteries, lubricants, and other items.
Automated Tracking of Tools and Parts
How does it work? “Members swipe their cards, applying the charges to their membership accounts,” explains Engadget contributor, Brian Heater. Fastenal provides the tools stocked in the machine, preventing service techs from having to run to the hardware store when they need a tool or part. Field service isn’t the only industry to put a modern spin on the vending machine. Companies such as Facebook are using similar vending machines to dispense and track IT supplies such as power supplies, keyboards and computer screen wipes for their employees.
The FAST 5000 industrial vending machine provides easy access to tools and parts, and it also allows organizations to track frequently checked out items for real-time inventory management with the machine’s digital report system. Managers can even set up automated inventory reports. If a stock falls below the minimum level or if the machine malfunctions, the system automatically alerts Fastenal so the company can re-stock or repair the machine.
Check out the Fastenal industrial tool and parts vending machine below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tNrfZ0R950?wmode=Opaque]
Amusingly, TechShop tried some of those. They failed, because TechShop’s underpaid IT staff couldn’t get them integrated with TechShop’s customer billing system.
Fastenall has a good idea there. Worth knowing: you don’t pay until the item is vended. Fastenall pays for the inventory and tries to keep the machines filled.
I know of 2 other situations personally where IT staff could not properly integrate a billing or book keeping system, and it really boils down to the disconnect between the specialized knowledge of accounting vs that of IT. Knowing one does not mean you can integrate the other into your system properly. Both fields require a lot of schooling to be fluent.
I would like a quote on a machine for vending items in a shop