Craig Melia, National Vending Manager
Craig has worked with hundreds of customers to successfully implement industrial vending solutions across a wide range of industry sectors. He is passionate about providing customers not just with a vending machine, but a transformative solution that has positive impacts on productivity, efficiency, and costs.
The vending solutions team has continually strived to deliver the optimum vending solutions to customers, many of which are either multi-site organisations or those with particularly complex requirements. Our Hayley SmartVend™ range of machines has continually enabled us to provide businesses with a lean, controlled flow of product at the point of use. Hayley SmartVend™ customers benefit from the support of our dedicated in-house team who are responsible for the specification, configuration, installation, and maintenance of the machines and their intelligent cloud-based technology.
Once installed at the customers’ site, be it a quarry, food processing facility, or line-side across a multitude of production settings, Hayley SmartVend™ will begin to immediately offer a range of valuable benefits. A selection of the key benefits is what I wanted to highlight here.
1. Minimise time wasted
Workers rely on many items sourced from the workplace inventory, including critical spares, hand or power tools, consumables (e.g., tapes, abrasives, sprays) or key items of personal protective equipment. This process consumes valuable time from the working day, as staff are often forced to travel from their workstation and wait for products to be allocated or sourced. This time wasted can soon add-up when scaled-up across the operation, representing a major point of lost productivity.
By installing a vending machine at the point of use, walking and waiting time can be significantly reduced. As a result, the productivity of the workforce across the business is improved, having a positive impact on operational efficiency. An industrial vending solution such as Hayley SmartVend™ unlocks this potential for higher output, something that can lead to sustained revenue growth for the business.
2. Reduce inventory
One of the main draws for new customers of vending solutions such as Hayley SmartVend™, is the considerable improvement they can make to inventory management. Having a solution that gives the business total control over their inventory and the capability to accurately track and measure usage, enhances how supplier-consigned stock is managed and consumed. Tighter access restrictions help to tackle the tendency of staff to overestimate their requirements and therefore over-consume available items, reducing replenishment costs.
With new insight, businesses are empowered to reduce the amount of money tied-up in products that could end-up becoming damaged in storage, or simply not used by the expiry date. To combat the problem of products (e.g., disposable gloves, adhesives) reaching the end of their shelf life before being used, Hayley SmartVend™ machines can be configured to dispense old or reconditioned items before new ones.
3. Ensure product availability
Hayley SmartVend™ machines eliminate the threat of stock not being available when it’s needed. No more will staff be faced with the situation where a spare part or tool, critical to the success of work being carried-out, is simply not available. Smart re ordering technology, with machines connected to a cloud-based management portal, means that alerts are sent when stock of a particular item is running low. The fully-automated reordering of these items can be easily configured with Hayley SmartVend™ solutions, giving businesses complete peace of mind.
The elimination of stock-out scenarios improves staff productivity and output, with products constantly and immediately accessible for the approved people at the point of use.
4. Improve user accountability
As access to items within Hayley SmartVend™ machines is controlled through the use of login credentials, proximity, barcode or pin code access, and usage is measured and reported with cloud-based technology, staff become more accountable for the products that they use. The increased accountability helps to prevent stock piling or misuse; something that is a common affliction to businesses.
The intensified monitoring of usage also serves to reduce the number of items simply being misplaced. This is especially important in environments where misplaced goods may present a health and safety hazard, or risk mechanical failure.
5. Reduce administrative burden
Procurement and reordering processes can be complex, especially if the supply of goods to your business involves multiple vendors. The inconsistencies between the processes required to replenish your stock can lead to unnecessary delays that slow productivity. Inefficient reordering can become a thing of the past by implementing a Hayley SmartVend™ system as part of your operations.
The issue of dealing with multiple vendors is eliminated as Hayley SmartVend™ machines are stocked by Hayley Group – one of the UK’s foremost value-added suppliers of leading-brand engineering components, consumables, and related support services. The time taken in administering reorders is saved, as the system automatically reorders products when they reach a preconfigured level of depletion. The incorporation of automated reordering and improved consumption tracking means Hayley SmartVend™ customers not only save time and effort for their purchasing team, but also enable them to make more intelligent data-driven purchasing decisions.
In conclusion, businesses using an industrial vending solution such as Hayley SmartVend™, can enjoy a number of benefits. They can improve how they manage and control their inventory, both from a purchasing and usage point of view, save time currently spent sourcing and purchasing products, and save money spent on replenishing items. As a result, Hayley SmartVend™ solutions have the ability to increase productivity, improve operational efficiency, and lower costs.
Speak to your local Hayley Group branch for more information.
This article features in Issue 7 of Maintenance Essentials. Hit the button below to access a digital copy.