SB SOFTWARE


On Your Marks ... Get Set ... Single Walk!


Simon Black MD of SB Software, the Makers of Vendmanager


Imagine a race. Starting near a hospital. Joe and Fred each stop their vans as close as they can, side by side - parking and access are always difficult in busy environments like this. You tell Joe to go to the vending machines inside, check what


they need, come back, get the right stock from his van, then return and refill them. Fred is also told to do a refill. But you tell him in advance exactly


what the machine actually needs, so he only makes one trip there and back. Would anyone bet on Joe winning? Of course not. Because he


has more information, Fred simply has less to do. And that in a nutshell is what we are doing with Single Walk -


turning every Joe into a Fred. With the added advantage that it is Vendmanager supplying the information automatically - whenever it is most useful - about what each machine needs. And often just as importantly, what it does not need. The data can be put to work at the site itself, as in this example, or


even before. Increasingly our Vendmanager clients are pre-packing. Where it makes sense for their business model, staff back in the warehouse are using the on-tap information from Vendmanager to allocate and prepare stock in advance of the vans setting out. When the drivers arrive on location, everything is already there on-hand per machine. As well as making things simpler and faster on site, pre-packing


increases the efficiency of the van fleet. You can get more done with the same number of vans. If your estate is expanding, you can delay the next van purchase. We even have Vendmanager clients who have reduced the size of their vans across the board: when they know exactly what to load in advance, they don’t need all that space just to transport surplus stock. And this makes things easier manoeuvring through traffic and parking, as well as reducing the fuel and maintenance bills, alongside your carbon footprint. Better all round.


TIME IS MONEY. In vending, having the right data to hand at the right time means that you can do more with the same number of people and the same van fleet. So, “quicker” is good. But how fast you do things is not the ONLY


measure of success. “Earlier” and “better” - they are good too. And sometimes “not yet” can be best of all. Using the data on tap from Vendmanager, some of our clients are now replacing regular routes altogether. They are attending only when things actually need doing


- VoD (Visit on Demand) is our preferred term - although many also like to call the approach “Dynamic Routing.” VoD is based on absolute faith in the data. It also requires significant changes to operations and daily routines across the company, because Vendmanager effectively becomes the brain behind what happens when.


DATA ADDS VALUE. ALL our clients are using data far more than they ever did before - for commercial gain. That is how they generate the added value that not only pays our bills but contributes far more as well. As Mark Booth, director of Wilkes Vending, and self-confessed “tight Yorkshireman” says: “In the first six months alone, we have saved more than the whole Vendmanager contract is going to cost us”. But the specific ways in which they each use data? That varies


from client to client, depending on priorities - and even for each individual client over time as they progress to leverage ever-more advantage from data and technology. At Vendmanager, we are not into “one size fits all”. We are not even into “one size will fit you forever.” Clients have distinct needs, and the needs of each in turn evolve over time. “VoD” is usually not the right approach before things have bedded in. But “Single Walk” is proven to deliver benefits across the board - for everyone who tries it. And often it’s a good innovation to introduce early on with Vendmanager. Because it does not require processes in the warehouse itself to be changed, it can be especially straightforward and fast to implement. If you are not doing Single Walk yet, you are missing out. And one day, maybe VoD will be right for you too.


18 | vendinginternational-online.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36