Automatic Merchandiser

OCT-NOV 2016

Automatic Merchandiser serves the business management, marketing, technology and product information needs of its readers including vending operators, coffee service operators, product brokers, and product and equipment distributors in print.

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equipment, so it was a natural move to integrate," said Nester. Though it was initially predicted to take Smith Vending 18 months to see a return on investment, the company saw one in just nine. "Streamware helped us take control again," said Nester. "There was cash accountability and we knew exactly which products were selling. Plus, there was DEXing at a SKU level and data was coming in that we had not seen before. It took away the human error." This information gave them the ability to make edu- cated decisions. The company continued to ask "Why wouldn't we do that?" and in 2010 it began prekitting on paper and then in 2012, LightSpeed's mobile system. The mobile system continued to eliminate human error and created efficiencies for the company. Although Nester believed change to be an expectation and not a sur- prise, technology integration was a hard transition for many employees. Route drivers, who once had control over their machines, were finding that their roles were changing. With the exception of one, Smith Vending turned over every route driver and several support staff as it added more technology. Nester, however, kept his mantra that change should always be an expectation and so the company continued to move forward. "We used to do everything the old way and we decided we weren't going to do that anymore," said Nester. Learning from that experience, Nester believes that in order to bring about change in a company, all team members should be involved, which helped immensely when Smith Vending opened a second facility. With the company's territory expanding so far north into Iowa, Smith Vending opened a Denison, IA, warehouse branch in 2012, about two hours — 100 miles — north of the headquarters. Though it had the ability to be a huge challenge for employees, Nester knew it would be cost effective and the best decision for his customers and the company. "Technology is a challenge with two branches but to make it succeed you need to get all of your team members together, get input and put a plan in place from the start on how you're going to get things from 'the current way' to 'the NEW system'," he said. Consumer-driven change In order to provide customers with the best possible vending experience, Nester decided it necessary to invest in machines that have capabilities the consumer wants. This includes top of the line machines that also come with cashless payment options. About 50 percent of Smith Vending machines are cashless, a high number consid- ering where some of the machines are placed. "Cashless was actually a difficulty because of how rural some of our locations are," Nester said. "Getting a signal is tough sometimes, but that's where it's important to use your relationships with your equip- ment providers." Cash reconciliation was an issue as cashless grew, too, so the company switched to using Crane Navigator to work with Streamware and make transaction reconciliation seamless. 40 Automatic Merchandiser VendingMarketWatch.com October/November 2016 O P E R A T I O N P R O F I L E Suzette Reed, market manager, Jenn Sands, office manager and Ashilyn Sunderman, Clarinda branch manager, are an integral part of Smith Vending's success. Tammy Luna and Larry Veither use LightSpeed to help eliminate human error in the warehouse.

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